George W. Norris was a member of the House of Representatives for 1 0 years and then
represented Nebraska as a Senator for 30 years. During that time, he fully supported the rights
of the individual, especially "the right of men to organize for the improvement of conditions under
which their labor." 1 The passage of the Norris/LaGuardia Act in 1932 established Mr. Norris,
as a proponent of equal rights for labor in the early 20th Century.
The Norris/LaGuardia Act "banned yellow-dog contracts, barred the federal courts from
issuing injunctions against nonviolent labor disputes, and created a positive right of
noninterference by employers against workers joining trade unions." 2 Yellow-dog contracts
were written agreements that required workers as a condition of employment not to join a labor
union, and therefore, not to strike for better working conditions and benefits. The Norris/
LaGuardia Act "established that employees are free to form unions without employer
interference and prevented the federal courts from issuing injunctions in nonviolent labor
disputes (strikes, picketing and boycotts). The three provisions included 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." 2 Imposing strict procedural limitations on issuing injunctions against
strike activity, the act pointed the direction towards a more even-handed relationship between
the judiciary and the nation's labor relations systems.
The Norris/LaGuardia Act started the change in attitude about labor relations in the
government. Even before the New Deal began, Senator George W. Norris from Nebraska and
Congressman Fiorello H. LaGuardia from New York City, both progressive Republicans,
introduced new labor reform legislation, the Norris-LaGuardia Act. "It set out to regulate the
nation's labor relations. It granted unions fundamental rights and powers, including the right of
collective bargaining, defined unfair labor practices, and established penalties for violating them.
Passed in 1932, the Norris-LaGuardia Act marked a profound change in U.S. government
oversight over labor relations. It was the most favorable legislation to date for a U.S. labor
movement that had always had to fight for its very existence."3
Mr. Norris was a front runner for equal rights in the US. With the passage of his bill, he
changed the course of labor relations and brought better working conditions and benefits to the
laborers of our country. From Mr. Norris' autobiography Fighting Liberal: "The right of men to
organize for the improvement of conditions under which they labor should not be open to
question. The right of collective bargaining has been determined in this country. The
opportunity of labor to fight for its rights should not be limited by court restrictions that in
practical effect impose a condition of servitude upon men who daily go down into the bowels of
the earth to extract the fuel that heats millions of homes and turns the wheels of American
industry. All the Norris-LaGuardia bill did was to give the miner emancipation from the slavery
that had prevailed for years in the coal mines of America."1
1 Fighting Liberal by George W. Norris page 315
2 Wikipedia-Norris LaGuardia Act
3 Society for Human Resources Management article dated 4/28/16
Further research with Britannica