Business Week Magazine celebrated the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act (Labor-management Relations Act) in its June 28, 1947 issue, placing Republican Senator Taft of Ohio on the cover to note his major role in the law’s passage. The law was a major amendment to the Labor Management Relations Act of 1935, commonly known at the Wagner Act.
The Republican 80th Congress passed this Act on June 1947. President Truman vetoed it shortly after that. His veto was over ridden by Congress on June 23 and the Act became effective 60 days later in August.
The new law was and still is viewed by unions as an essentially anti-union Act.
See the note in small print at the bottom of the Business Week cover: “Guide to the Taft Law: see page 15.” A seven page article outlines for the business community the virtues of the law that replaced and overcome the Wagner Act.
The new law created the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service as a replacement for the United States Conciliation Service in the Department of Labor. It also added a list of Unfair Labor Practices that prohibited actions by unions, added a new process to resolve national emergency disputes to prevent strikes, and allowed states to pass right-to-work laws.
