Talk Show hose and author Thom Hartmann shares The Right-to-Work for less chapter from his book The Hidden History of The American Dream. You may remember that Missouri is the only state to vote down RTW for less two times. The latest defeat of RTW for less was in 2018 when 67%! voted it down.
In 1935, Congress passed, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed, the National Labor Relations Act, often referred to as the Wagner Act, legalizing labor unions in the United States for the first time. It was referred to as “the most radical piece of legislation ever passed by the United States Congress.
St. Antoine wrote that the goals, “of the Wagner Act were (1) to advance social justice and (2) to channel protest and defuse potential rebellion,” adding that, “it was essentially a ‘conservative’ measure.”[lx] He added that Senator Wagner thought it was high time America joined the rest of the developed world in offering union protections to workers, as unions were by that time widespread across the world, particularly in Europe.
The social justice part of the equation had to do with lifting working people out of poverty and into the American Dream of what would become known over following decades as the middle class. The legislation established the right of workers to unionize a business and then require all of the company’s hourly workers to join or pay dues to the union.
(Image by International Union of Bricklayers)
