Taft-Hartley Act

The Taft-Hartley Act emerged from a post-World War II wave of strikes and a conservative backlash against the Wagner Act's pro-union tilt. Sponsored by Senator Robert A. Taft and Representative Fred A. Hartley Jr., the bill passed both chambers in 1947 with strong Republican and Southern Democratic support. President Truman vetoed it on June 20, 1947, but Congress overrode the veto on June 23, marking a significant legislative defeat for the administration and organized labor.¹

The act's passage reflected broader Cold War anxieties, including concerns about communist influence in unions, and it was part of a series of anti-union measures that also included the 1947 Portal-to-Portal Act.²

The act outlawed the closed shop, permitted states to pass right-to-work laws, and required union officers to sign non-communist affidavits. It also prohibited secondary boycotts, jurisdictional strikes, and mass picketing, and it gave the federal government the power to seek 80-day injunctions against strikes that endangered national health or safety.

It established the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service as an independent agency, and it required unions to give 60 days' notice before striking. The act also made unions subject to damages for breach of contract and allowed employers to sue unions for unlawful activities.

The Taft-Hartley Act has been blamed for the decline of private-sector union density in the U.S., as right-to-work laws have spread to 27 states, weakening union finances and bargaining power. Critics argue that the act tilted the playing field toward employers, while supporters contend it corrected union excesses and protected individual workers' rights.³

The act's national emergency strike provisions have been invoked only 35 times, most recently in 1978, and its ban on political spending by unions was partially lifted by the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. FEC (2010).⁴

The act's Section 14(b) explicitly allowed states to pass right-to-work laws, a provision that was a last-minute addition by Senator Taft to secure Southern votes. The non-communist affidavit requirement led to the expulsion of the CIO's communist-led unions in 1949, a pivotal event in U.S. labor history.⁵

The act also created the little-known 'free speech' provision (Section 8(c)), which allows employers to express anti-union views as long as they contain no threat of reprisal. Additionally, the act's definition of 'supervisor' excluded many low-level managers from union coverage, a provision that has been criticized for excluding workers of color and women from bargaining units.⁶

Closed shop

A workplace where union membership is a condition of employment.

Right-to-work law

A state law that prohibits union security agreements, allowing workers to opt out of union dues.

Secondary boycott

A boycott aimed at a neutral party to pressure it to stop doing business with the primary employer.