§151 Findings and Declaration of Policy

Summary

The United States aims to remove things that block the free flow of trade and to encourage workers and employers to bargain together. When some employers stop workers from organizing, it can lead to strikes and unrest that slow or stop moving goods, harm safety or operations, change the supply or price of raw materials and products, or cut jobs and wages enough to hurt markets. When workers cannot freely join together, employers gain too much power, which can lower wages, reduce workers’ buying power, and make economic downturns worse. Allowing workers to organize and bargain together has been shown to protect trade by reducing industrial conflict, encouraging peaceful resolution of disputes about pay and hours, and restoring more equal bargaining power. At the same time, certain harmful practices by some labor groups can also block trade, and getting rid of those practices is needed. The national policy is to prevent and lessen big disruptions to trade by promoting bargaining together and protecting workers’ rights to join, organize themselves, and pick their own representatives to negotiate work terms.