United States & Labour Relations
The country that wrote the modern union rulebook — then spent decades erasing it
The United States gave the world the Wagner Act model of collective bargaining — the framework of secret ballot elections, exclusive representation, and mandatory good faith bargaining that influenced labour law across North America and beyond. Yet the American labour movement has experienced one of the steepest declines of any industrialized nation, falling from representing a third of the workforce in the 1950s to barely 10% today. The gap between the legal framework and the lived reality of American workers is one of the most consequential stories in modern labour history.
10 Things That Stand Out About Labour Relations in United States
- The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (Wagner Act), signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, established the fundamental framework of American labour law: workers’ right to organize, union certification through secret ballot elections, employer duty to bargain in good faith, and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to administer and enforce these rights.
- The labour movement’s greatest period of growth coincided with the New Deal era and World War II, during which union density rose from approximately 10% to over 30%. The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), founded in 1935, organized mass production workers in steel, rubber, and automobiles through industrial unionism, dramatically expanding the reach of organized labour.
- One of the most iconic figures in American labour history is César Chávez, co-founder of the United Farm Workers (UFW). Through the Delano grape strike and national boycott of the late 1960s, Chávez brought the cause of migrant agricultural workers — historically excluded from the Wagner Act’s protections — to national attention, winning collective bargaining rights for farmworkers in California.
- The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, passed over President Truman’s veto, significantly restricted union power by prohibiting secondary boycotts, requiring union officers to sign non-communist affidavits, allowing states to pass right-to-work laws, and permitting the President to seek injunctions against strikes threatening national health or safety.
- Right-to-work laws — permitted under the Taft-Hartley Act and adopted by 27 states — prohibit requiring union membership or dues payment as a condition of employment, weakening the financial foundation of unions in those states. The Supreme Court’s 2018 Janus v. AFSCME decision extended this principle to all public sector unions nationwide, eliminating agency fees for non-members.
- President Ronald Reagan’s dismissal of 11,345 striking air traffic controllers (PATCO) in 1981 and decertification of their union was a watershed moment in American labour relations. It signalled that the federal government would side with employers in labour disputes and emboldened private sector employers to take a more aggressive stance toward unions through the 1980s and beyond.
- The AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations), formed by merger in 1955, is the largest union federation in the United States, representing approximately 60 affiliated unions and 12.5 million workers. A 2005 split saw major unions including the Teamsters, SEIU, and UFCW leave to form the Change to Win federation, reflecting strategic disagreements about organizing priorities.
- Union density in the United States has declined from a peak of approximately 35% in the mid-1950s to around 10% today — 6% in the private sector and 33% in the public sector. This decline represents the most dramatic collapse of union representation in any major industrialized democracy.
- The Fight for $15 movement, launched in 2012 by fast food workers in New York City, represents a significant evolution of American labour organizing — using direct action, political advocacy, and public pressure rather than traditional NLRB certification to win minimum wage increases. It has succeeded in raising minimum wages in numerous states and cities without formal union recognition.
- The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a wave of labour organizing in the United States, including successful union drives at Amazon warehouses, Starbucks locations, and major media companies. The Starbucks Workers United campaign, which organized hundreds of stores beginning in 2021, demonstrated that younger workers in service industries are willing to organize despite the legal and practical obstacles, suggesting a potential turning point in American labour’s long decline.
