Roosevelt signs the Wagner Act; private workers now have the right to organize, bargain, and strike

By the summer of 1935, American factory workers had spent years watching company-run "unions" mediate disputes in favor of the company. On July 5, 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the National Labor Relations Act, written by Senator Robert F. Wagner of New York, guaranteeing private sector workers the right to organize, bargain collectively, and strike. The law created the National Labor Relations Board to police unfair labor practices and run union elections. Union membership nearly tripled within the decade, reaching close to 8 million workers by the end of the 1930s…