Political Quotes

“Madam President, in 1935 Senator Robert Wagner of New York introduced the National Labor Relations Act. Also known as the Wagner Act, this bill would prove to be one of the most important pieces of legislation in our Nation's history. This desk at which I sit was used by Senator Hugo Black of Alabama, who was Franklin Roosevelt's favorite southern Senator, they said, who later became a member of the Supreme Court. Senator Black sat at this desk and helped draft legislation with the National Labor Relations Act. In fact, he did some of the early work on what would be the Fair Labor Standards Act. What he proposed as a 30-hour workweek later helped Senator Wagner pave the way for the Fair Labor Standards Act. Before President Roosevelt signed the National Labor Relations Act into law, American workers were routinely harassed and fired for organizing unions. American workers were often intimidated and prevented from bargaining collectively. The Wagner Act changed that. One year after its passage in 1936, this law gave rubber workers in Akron, OH, the legal tools needed to protect against poor working conditions and to protest the conditions under which they were working. The bill authorized an independent Federal agency consisting of Presidential appointees confirmed by the Senate. The National Labor Relations Board protects American workers.…”