The National Labor Boards

Abstract

SINCE August 1933 there have been three successive national labor boards, each engaged in applying the principle, first embodied in Section 7 (a) of the Recovery Act, that employees should have the right to bargain collectively and to organize and select representatives for that purpose, free from the interference of their employers. There were also, during that period and until the Recovery Act was voided, seven or eight boards, some set up under codes, others specially appointed by the President, applying the same principle in certain specific industries. Within the confines of this article I can make only passing reference to these industry boards,' important though some of them were. The national boards were: (1) The National Labor Board of August 1933, appointed by the President under the general authority of the Recovery Act -a bipartisan body of leading industrialists and labor representatives 2 under the chairmanship of Senator Wagner; (2) its successor, the National Labor Relations Board of July 1934, appointed by the President under a joint resolution of Congress of June 19, 1934-an impartial three-man board 3 of which I was the first chair-