These sample sentences are automatically selected from various online information sources to reflect the current use of the word “yellow dog contract.” The opinions expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us your feedback. A yellow dog contract is an illegal agreement that an employer enters into with an employee in which the employee agrees not to join the company`s union. For example, “yellow dog contract” is a metaphor used to refer to the employee who signs the document, as in “What person would be such a `yellow dog` who reduces himself to signing his constitutional rights just to get a job”. In more modern terms, a yellow dog clause refers to a non-compete obligation that an employer can include in an employment contract. By signing such a contract, the employee agrees not to work for a direct competitor in the future – which would ultimately harm their current employer. Comments from publications such as the United Mine Workers` Journal were welcomed by many unionized workers at the time when they called for the actions of employees who were willing to sign the rights granted to all by the U.S. Constitution, calling them “yellow dogs” and comparing them to volunteer slaves for their employers. In the spring of 1921, the term “yellow dog” was first published in publications aimed at those who belonged to trade unions. The editor-in-chief of the United Mine Workers` Journal spoke on behalf of many when he commented: So this case becomes an example of a yellow dog contract that ultimately succeeded because the employer who created it was allowed to continue creating it and forced employees to stick to it. However, it is important to note that this case was heard years before the norris-LaGuardia Act was passed.
It is certainly a yellow dog. He reduces every man who signs him to the level of a yellow dog, because he signs all the rights he has under the constitution and laws of the land, making himself a vicious and helpless slave of the employer. In the 1870s, a written agreement promising not to join a union was commonly referred to as a “notorious document.” This reinforces the belief that Us employers have deliberately followed English precedents in their use of individual contracts. This anti-union commitment was also called the “iron document”, and from that time until the end of the 19th century, “iron” was the common name for the non-union promise. Beginning in New York in 1887, sixteen states wrote in their law books that they made it a crime to force employees not to agree not to join unions. The United States Congress included in the Erdman Act of 1898 a provision on airlines engaged in interstate commerce. In 1910, the United International Brotherhood of Leather Workers on Horse Goods organized a major strike. However, this strike failed, leading many companies in the industry to demand verbal and written agreements from workers that they would leave their unions and not join the unions in the future if they wanted to return to work. The term “yellow dog” was originally coined in 1921 and published in a number of important publications aimed at workers who were still members of a union.
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia articles on the yellow dog contract Nowadays, yellow dog contracts most often appear in the form of non-compete obligations. These are usually introduced by employers when they have a legitimate interest in preventing employees from working for a directly competitive company and potentially harming the future success of their business. By adding this “non-adherence” clause to its contracts, Coppage violated state law that prohibited all forms of anti-union contracts. This case is an example of yellow dog treaties violating the Fourteenth Amendment – in particular, the amendment`s due process clause. A yellow dog contract (a yellow dog clause[1] of a contract or an iron oath) is an agreement between an employer and an employee in which the employee agrees not to be a member of a union as a condition of employment. In the United States, until the 1930s, these contracts were widely used by employers to prevent the formation of unions, primarily by allowing employers to take legal action against union organizers. In 1932, Yellow Dog treaties were banned in the United States under the Norris-LaGuardia Act. [2] [3] A yellow dog contract is used to prevent employees from engaging in activities with a union while they are on a company`s payroll.3 min read A yellow dog contract is sometimes called an iron oath or a yellow dog clause. These contracts stipulate certain contracts and working conditions and, in particular, that a worker is in no way involved in a trade union in the course of his employment. It is an employment contract that requires workers not to join a union as a condition of employment.
The Norris-LaGuardia Act, also known as the Anti-Injunction Bill, was a federal law passed in 1932. The Norris-LaGuardia Act declared yellow dog contracts illegal and prohibited federal courts from ruling on nonviolent labor disputes. Moreover, it prevented the federal government from interfering with a worker`s right to join a union if it so wished. The Norris-LaGuardia Act takes its name from its Republican sponsors: Senator George W. Norris of Nebraska and New York Representative Fiorello H. La Guardia. In 1932, however, a new school of thought emerged, proposing the idea that the government should not be involved in banning workers` rights of association. .