TheNorris–La Guardia Act (also known as theAnti-Injunction Bill) is a 1932United States federal law relating toUnited States labor law.[1] It bannedyellow-dog contracts, barred thefederal courts from issuinginjunctions against nonviolent labor disputes, and created a positive right of noninterference by employers against workers joiningtrade unions. The common title comes from the names of the sponsors of the legislation:SenatorGeorge W. Norris ofNebraska andRepresentativeFiorello H. La Guardia ofNew York, bothRepublicans.
In the 1917United States Supreme Court caseHitchman Coal & Coke Co. v. Mitchell,245 U.S. 229 (1917), the court established the Hitchman doctrine, which held that yellow-dog contracts were enforceable. In the aftermath of that case, the number of judicial injunctions against labor increased substantially, and organizing a union without the employer's consent became extremely difficult.[2]
The law is formally the Act of March 23, 1932 (Ch. 90, 47 Stat. 70). It is currentlycodified at29 U.S.C. ch. 6, starting at29 U.S.C. § 101 et. seq.
The Act states thatyellow-dog contracts, where workers agree as a condition of employment not to join alabor union, are unenforceable in federal court. It also establishes that employees are free to form unions without employer interference and prevents thefederal courts from issuinginjunctions in nonviolent labor disputes. The three provisions include protecting worker's self-organization and liberty or "collective bargaining", removing jurisdiction from federal courts vis-a-vis the issuance of injunctions in non-violent labor disputes, and outlawing the "yellow-dog" contract.
Section 13A of the act was fully applied by theSupreme Court of the United States with a 1938 decision,New Negro Alliance v. Sanitary Grocery Co., in an opinion authored byJusticeOwen Roberts. The Court held that the act meant to prohibit employers from proscribing the peaceful dissemination of information concerning theterms and conditions of employment by those involved in an active labor dispute, even when such dissemination occurs on an employer's private property.
TheLiving Theater playInjunction Granted features a scene in which a judge grants injunctions against many trade unions. There follows a scene in which the Norris - La Guardia Act is passed.[3]