Legal Dictionary

Wagner Act

Legal Definition of Wagner Act

Noun

A 1935 American federal statute which recognized employee rights to collective bargaining, protected the right to belong to a union, prohibited many anti-union tactics then used by employers, and set up the National Labor Relations Board. The NLRB was given wide enforcement powers. It was later amended by the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947.

Synonyms

National Labor Relations Act

Definition of Wagner Act

Further reading

The National Labor Relations Act or Wagner Act (after its sponsor, New York Senator Robert F. Wagner) (Pub.L. 74-198, 49 Stat. 452, codified as amended at 29 U.S.C. § 151-169), is a 1935 United States federal law that limits the means with which employers may react to workers in the private sector who create labor unions, (also known as trade unions) engage in collective bargaining, and take part in strikes and other forms of concerted activity in support of their demands. The Act does not apply to workers who are covered by the Railway Labor Act, agricultural employees, domestic employees, supervisors, federal, state or local government workers, independent contractors and some close relatives of individual employers.

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