Background Of The National Labor Relations Act Of 1935

The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 is a foundational statute of United States labor law which guarantees basic rights of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining for better terms and conditions at work, and take collective action including strike if necessary. The act also created the National Labor Relations Board, which conducts elections that can require employers to engage in collective bargaining with labor unions . 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.
Background
President Franklin Roosevelt signed the legislation into law on July 5, 1935.
It also has its roots in a variety of different labor acts previously enacted:
National War Labor Board est 1918
Norris–La Guardia Act 1930
National Industrial Recovery Act 1933
National Labor Board
Senator Robert F. Wagner
WPA
The Act aims to correct the "inequality of bargaining power between employees who do not possess full freedom of association or actual liberty of contract and employers who are organized in the corporate or other forms of ownership association". To achieve this, the central idea is the promotion of collective bargaining between independent trade unions, on behalf of the workforce, and the employer.
Various definitions are explained in section 2, including 2 defining "labor organization" and 2 defining "labor dispute". The Act aims to protect employees as a group, and so is not based on a formal or legal relationship between an employer and employee.