Stacked Deck: How the NLRA Favors Organized Labor and Fails Workers

Click here to download the report. 

Stacked Deck: How the NLRA Favors Organized Labor and Fails Workers
by Karen Harned, I4AW Visiting Fellow

In 2025, America commemorated the 90th anniversary of the National Labor Relations Act which was enacted with the promise of industrial peace that would be accomplished by, among other things, leveling the playing field between employers and employees.

The Act provided employees the right to collectively bargain and created a process for resolving labor disputes through the National Labor Relations Board- a new government agency at the time.

Today we find a law of unintended consequences. The interests of the workers are often buried under legal precedents and arcane labor rules that make it hard, if not impossible, to make informed decisions regarding unionization. Moreover, the NLRA’s legal landscape is unpredictable and so complex that only the largest employers have a chance of successfully navigating it.

For Main Street America, the Act has become a series of landmines. The imbalance in the law is stark when you look at how the NLRA is applied to unions as compared to employers— the majority of which are small businesses. This report details that imbalance, which gives privileges to unions unlike almost any private organization in the country and prohibits job creators from exercising their rights.

Click here to download the full report.