The Norris–LaGuardia Act (also known as the Anti-Injunction Bill) was a 1932 United States federal law that banned yellow-dog contracts, barred federal courts from issuing injunctions against nonviolent labor disputes, and created a positive right of noninterference by employers against workers joining trade unions. The common title followed from the names of the sponsors of the legislation: Senator George W. Norris of Nebraska and Representative Fiorello H. La Guardia of New York, both Republicans.
The Act stated that yellow-dog contracts were unenforceable in federal court. It also established as United States law that employees should be free to form unions without employer interference, and also withdrew from the federal courts jurisdiction relative to the issuance of injunctions in nonviolent labor disputes. No federal court can offer jurisdiction. The three provisions include protecting worker's self-organization and liberty, removing jurisdiction from federal courts, and outlawing the "yellow dog" contract.
Section 13A of the act was fully applied by the Supreme Court of the United States in New Negro Alliance v. Sanitary Grocery Co., in which the Court held that the Act prohibits employers from barring the peaceful dissemination of information concerning the terms and conditions of employment by those involved in an active labor dispute, even when such dissemination occurs on employer property.
The Authors of the Act
George Norris and Fiorello LaGuardia
Senator George W. Norris and Representative Fiorello H. LaGuardia were the chief sponsors of the Act.
George William Norris (1861 – 1944) was a U.S. politician from the state of Nebraska and a leader of progressive and liberal causes in Congress. He served five terms in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican from 1903 until 1913 and five terms in the United States Senate from 1913 until 1943, four terms as a Republican and the final term as an Independent.
Fiorello Henry LaGuardia (1882 – 1947) was Mayor of New York for three terms from 1934 to 1945 as a Republican. Previously he was elected to Congress in 1916 and 1918, and again from 1922 through 1930. He is often acclaimed as one of the three or four greatest mayors in American history. Only five feet tall, he was called "the Little Flower". LaGuardia was a Republican who appealed across party lines, was very popular in New York during the 1930s. As a New Dealer, he supported President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat, and in turn Roosevelt heavily funded the city and cut off patronage from LaGuardia's foes. La Guardia revitalized New York City and restored public faith in City Hall.