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Title 29, LaborRelease 119-110

§164 Construction of Provisions

Title 29 › CHAPTER 7 — LABOR-MANAGEMENT RELATIONS › SUBCHAPTER II — NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS › § 164

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

Supervisors may join or stay in a labor union. Employers covered by this law do not have to treat supervisors as regular employees for collective bargaining. The law also does not let anyone force workers to join a union where a State or Territory bans that kind of rule. The National Labor Relations Board can choose not to take a labor dispute for a whole group of employers if the Board thinks the dispute does not affect commerce enough. The Board cannot refuse cases it would have taken under the rules in effect on August 1, 1959. If the Board steps back, state or territorial agencies and courts (including Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands) may handle those disputes.

Full Legal Text

Title 29, §164

Labor, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Supervisors as union members
Nothing herein shall prohibit any individual employed as a supervisor from becoming or remaining a member of a labor organization, but no employer subject to this subchapter shall be compelled to deem individuals defined herein as supervisors as employees for the purpose of any law, either national or local, relating to collective bargaining.
(b)Agreements requiring union membership in violation of State law
Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed as authorizing the execution or application of agreements requiring membership in a labor organization as a condition of employment in any State or Territory in which such execution or application is prohibited by State or Territorial law.
(c)Power of Board to decline jurisdiction of labor disputes; assertion of jurisdiction by State and Territorial courts
(1)The Board, in its discretion, may, by rule of decision or by published rules adopted pursuant to subchapter II of chapter 5 of title 5, decline to assert jurisdiction over any labor dispute involving any class or category of employers, where, in the opinion of the Board, the effect of such labor dispute on commerce is not sufficiently substantial to warrant the exercise of its jurisdiction: Provided, That the Board shall not decline to assert jurisdiction over any labor dispute over which it would assert jurisdiction under the standards prevailing upon August 1, 1959.
(2)Nothing in this subchapter shall be deemed to prevent or bar any agency or the courts of any State or Territory (including the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands), from assuming and asserting jurisdiction over labor disputes over which the Board declines, pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection, to assert jurisdiction.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification In subsec. (c)(1), “subchapter II of chapter 5 of title 5” substituted for “the Administrative Procedure Act” on authority of Pub. L. 89–554, § 7(b), Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 631, the first section of which enacted Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.

Amendments

1959—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 86–257 added subsec. (c). 1947—Act June 23, 1947, amended section generally by inserting new subject matter. Section formerly referred to conflict of laws, see section 165 of this title.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1947 AmendmentFor

Effective Date

of amendment by act
June 23, 1947, see section 104 of act
June 23, 1947, set out as a note under section 151 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

29 U.S.C. § 164

Title 29, Labor

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110