29 U.S.C. § 151 — Findings and declaration of policy

Page 36 TITLE 29—LABOR § 142 procurements; grants and other direct or indirect Fed- eral investments; tax and trade administration and en- forcement; administration and enforcement of labor, employment, and other relevant laws; property man- agement; and human resources management and labor relations. (b) ‘‘Worker organizing and collective bargaining’’ encompasses the private sector, State and local govern- ments, and the Federal Government. It also includes those sectors of the economy and those workers who have not historically been able to unionize, or whose ability to effectively collectively bargain or organize has been undermined. (c) the term ‘‘agency’’ refers to all agencies described in section 3502(1) of title 44, United States Code, except for the agencies described in section 3502(5) of title 44. SEC. 4. Revocations. (a) Executive Order 13845 of July 19, 2018 (Establishing the President’s National Council for the American Worker) [former 29 U.S.C. 3101 note], and Executive Order 13931 of June 26, 2020 (Continuing the President’s National Council for the American Worker and the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board) [former 29 U.S.C. 3101 note], are revoked. (b) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the heads of executive departments and agencies shall promptly consider taking steps to re- scind any orders, rules, regulations, guidelines, or poli- cies, or portions thereof, implementing or enforcing Executive Order 13845 or Executive Order 13931, as ap- propriate and consistent with applicable law, including the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 551 et seq.). In addition, they shall abolish any personnel positions, committees, task forces, or other entities established pursuant to Executive Order 13845 or Executive Order 13931, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law. SEC. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: (i) the authority granted by law to an executive de- partment or agency, or the head thereof; or (ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Man- agement and Budget relating to budgetary, administra- tive, or legislative proposals. (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appro- priations. (c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforce- able at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person. J.R. BIDEN, JR. § 142. Definitions When used in this chapter— (1) The term ‘‘industry affecting commerce’’ means any industry or activity in commerce or in which a labor dispute would burden or obstruct commerce or tend to burden or ob- struct commerce or the free flow of commerce. (2) The term ‘‘strike’’ includes any strike or other concerted stoppage of work by employ- ees (including a stoppage by reason of the ex- piration of a collective-bargaining agreement) and any concerted slowdown or other con- certed interruption of operations by employ- ees. (3) The terms ‘‘commerce’’, ‘‘labor disputes’’, ‘‘employer’’, ‘‘employee’’, ‘‘labor organiza- tion’’, ‘‘representative’’, ‘‘person’’, and ‘‘super- visor’’ shall have the same meaning as when used in subchapter II of this chapter. (June 23, 1947, ch. 120, title V, § 501, 61 Stat. 161.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT Subchapter II of this chapter, referred to in par. (3), was in the original ‘‘the National Labor Relations Act as amended by this Act’’ [29 U.S.C. § 151 et seq.]. § 143. Saving provisions Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to require an individual employee to render labor or service without his consent, nor shall any- thing in this chapter be construed to make the quitting of his labor by an individual employee an illegal act; nor shall any court issue any process to compel the performance by an indi- vidual employee of such labor or service, with- out his consent; nor shall the quitting of labor by an employee or employees in good faith be- cause of abnormally dangerous conditions for work at the place of employment of such em- ployee or employees be deemed a strike under this chapter. (June 23, 1947, ch. 120, title V, § 502, 61 Stat. 162.) § 144. Separability If any provision of this chapter, or the applica- tion of such provision to any person or cir- cumstance, shall be held invalid, the remainder of this chapter, or the application of such provi- sion to persons or circumstances other than those as to which it is held invalid, shall not be affected thereby. (June 23, 1947, ch. 120, title V, § 503, 61 Stat. 162.) SUBCHAPTER II—NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS Editorial Notes CODIFICATION This subchapter is comprised of the National Labor Relations Act, and is not part of the Labor Manage- ment Relations Act, 1947, which comprises this chapter. § 151. Findings and declaration of policy The denial by some employers of the right of employees to organize and the refusal by some employers to accept the procedure of collective bargaining lead to strikes and other forms of in- dustrial strife or unrest, which have the intent or the necessary effect of burdening or obstruct- ing commerce by (a) impairing the efficiency, safety, or operation of the instrumentalities of commerce; (b) occurring in the current of com- merce; (c) materially affecting, restraining, or controlling the flow of raw materials or manu- factured or processed goods from or into the channels of commerce, or the prices of such ma- terials or goods in commerce; or (d) causing diminution of employment and wages in such volume as substantially to impair or disrupt the market for goods flowing from or into the chan- nels of commerce. The inequality of bargaining power between employees who do not possess full freedom of as- sociation or actual liberty of contract, and em- ployers who are organized in the corporate or other forms of ownership association substan- tially burdens and affects the flow of commerce, and tends to aggravate recurrent business de- Page 37 TITLE 29—LABOR § 152 pressions, by depressing wage rates and the pur- chasing power of wage earners in industry and by preventing the stabilization of competitive wage rates and working conditions within and between industries. Experience has proved that protection by law of the right of employees to organize and bar- gain collectively safeguards commerce from in- jury, impairment, or interruption, and promotes the flow of commerce by removing certain rec- ognized sources of industrial strife and unrest, by encouraging practices fundamental to the friendly adjustment of industrial disputes aris- ing out of differences as to wages, hours, or other working conditions, and by restoring equality of bargaining power between employers and employees. Experience has further demonstrated that cer- tain practices by some labor organizations, their officers, and members have the intent or the necessary effect of burdening or obstructing commerce by preventing the free flow of goods in such commerce through strikes and other forms of industrial unrest or through concerted activities which impair the interest of the pub- lic in the free flow of such commerce. The elimi- nation of such practices is a necessary condition to the assurance of the rights herein guaranteed. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States to eliminate the causes of certain substantial obstructions to the free flow of com- merce and to mitigate and eliminate these ob- structions when they have occurred by encour- aging the practice and procedure of collective bargaining and by protecting the exercise by workers of full freedom of association, self-orga- nization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing, for the purpose of negoti- ating the terms and conditions of their employ- ment or other mutual aid or protection. (July 5, 1935, ch. 372, § 1, 49 Stat. 449; June 23, 1947, ch. 120, title I, § 101, 61 Stat. 136.) Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 1947—Act June 23, 1947, amended section generally to restate the declaration of policy and to make the find- ing and policy of this subchapter ‘‘two-sided’’. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1947 AMENDMENT Act June 23, 1947, ch. 120, title I, § 104, 61 Stat. 152, provided that: ‘‘The amendments made by this title [amending this subchapter] shall take effect sixty days after the date of the enactment of this Act [June 23, 1947], except that the authority of the President to ap- point certain officers conferred upon him by section 3 of the National Labor Relations Act as amended by this title [section 153 of this title] may be exercised forth- with.’’ § 152. Definitions When used in this subchapter— (1) The term ‘‘person’’ includes one or more individuals, labor organizations, partnerships, associations, corporations, legal representa- tives, trustees, trustees in cases under title 11, or receivers. (2) The term ‘‘employer’’ includes any per- son acting as an agent of an employer, di- rectly or indirectly, but shall not include the United States or any wholly owned Govern- ment corporation, or any Federal Reserve Bank, or any State or political subdivision thereof, or any person subject to the Railway Labor Act [45 U.S.C. 151 et seq.], as amended from time to time, or any labor organization (other than when acting as an employer), or anyone acting in the capacity of officer or agent of such labor organization. (3) The term ‘‘employee’’ shall include any employee, and shall not be limited to the em- ployees of a particular employer, unless this subchapter explicitly states otherwise, and shall include any individual whose work has ceased as a consequence of, or in connection with, any current labor dispute or because of any unfair labor practice, and who has not ob- tained any other regular and substantially equivalent employment, but shall not include any individual employed as an agricultural la- borer, or in the domestic service of any family or person at his home, or any individual em- ployed by his parent or spouse, or any indi- vidual having the status of an independent contractor, or any individual employed as a supervisor, or any individual employed by an employer subject to the Railway Labor Act [45 U.S.C. 151 et seq.], as amended from time to time, or by any other person who is not an em- ployer as herein defined. (4) The term ‘‘representatives’’ includes any individual or labor organization. (5) The term ‘‘labor organization’’ means any organization of any kind, or any agency or employee representation committee or plan, in which employees participate and which ex- ists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of employment, or conditions of work. (6) The term ‘‘commerce’’ means trade, traf- fic, commerce, transportation, or communica- tion among the several States, or between the District of Columbia or any Territory of the United States and any State or other Terri- tory, or between any foreign country and any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, or within the District of Columbia or any Ter- ritory, or between points in the same State but through any other State or any Territory or the District of Columbia or any foreign country. (7) The term ‘‘affecting commerce’’ means in commerce, or burdening or obstructing com- merce or the free flow of commerce, or having led or tending to lead to a labor dispute bur- dening or obstructing commerce or the free flow of commerce. (8) The term ‘‘unfair labor practice’’ means any unfair labor practice listed in section 158 of this title. (9) The term ‘‘labor dispute’’ includes any controversy concerning terms, tenure or con- ditions of employment, or concerning the as- sociation or representation of persons in nego- tiating, fixing, maintaining, changing, or seeking to arrange terms or conditions of em- ployment, regardless of whether the dispu- tants stand in the proximate relation of em- ployer and employee.