A Counterfeit Liberty? The Wagner Act and its critics: an assessment

Once seen as the cornerstone of a legislative revolution that brought liberty and democracy to the workplace, the New Deal labor relations regime and its centerpiece, the 1935 Wagner Act, have come under increasing criticism in the last 20 years. In the 1960s and 1970s when labor unions still seemed well entrenched in the American political economy, their legitimacy accepted and their contribution acknowledged, it was still natural to celebrate the achievements of a law which, since 1935, had..