Conflicting Statutory Purposes: Another Look at Fifty Years of NLRB Law Making

Abstract

The author describes how in 1947 Congress incorporated two conflicting statements of purpose in Taft-Hartley: a restatement of the Wagner Act's policy of encouraging collective bargaining, and a new statement stressing the rights of individual employees and making no mention of collective bargaining. As a result, the author argues, both liberal and conservative Boards can justify their policies by choosing between the Taft-Hartley Act's inconsistent statements of intent. The author's analysis draws on the language and histories of the Wagner and Taft-Hartley Acts, the comments of seven former chairmen of the NLRB who attended a conference at Cornell commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Board and the Wagner Act, interviews with several of those chairmen, and writings by former chairmen.