Smith–Connally Act

Smith–Connally Act

Other short titles	National War Labor Board Abolition Act Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act
Long title	An Act relating to the use and operation by the United States of certain plants, mines, and facilities in the prosecution of the war, and preventing strikes, lock-outs, and stoppages of production, and for other purposes.
Acronyms (colloquial)	WLDA
Nicknames	War Labor Disputes Act
Enacted by	the 78th United States Congress
Effective	June 25, 1943
Citations
Public law	78-89
Statutes at Large	57 Stat. 163
Codification
Titles amended	50 U.S.C.: War and National Defense
U.S.C. sections created	50a U.S.C. § 1501
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as S. 796 by Tom Connally (D-TX), Howard W. Smith (D-VA) on September 5, 1942 Passed the Senate on May 5, 1943 (63-16) Passed the House on June 4, 1943 (233-141) Reported by the joint conference committee on June 10, 1943; agreed to by the House on June 11, 1943 (220-130) and by the Senate on June 12, 1943 (55-22) Vetoed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 25, 1943 Overridden by the Senate on June 25, 1943 (56-25) Overridden by the House and became law on June 25, 1943 (244-108)

The Smith–Connally Act or War Labor Disputes Act (50 U.S.C. App. 1501 et seq.) was an American law passed on June 25, 1943, over President Franklin D. Roosevelt's veto. The legislation was hurriedly created after 400,000 coal miners, their wages significantly lowered because of high wartime inflation, struck for a $2-a-day wage increase.

The Act allowed the federal government to seize and operate industries threatened by or under strikes that would interfere with war production, and prohibited unions from making contributions in federal elections.

The war powers bestowed by the Act were first used in August 1944 when the Fair Employment Practices Commission ordered the Philadelphia Transportation Company to hire African-Americans as motormen. The 10,000 members of the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Employees Union (PRTEU), a labor union unaffiliated with either the American Federation of Labor or the Congress of Industrial Organizations, led a sick-out strike, now known as the Philadelphia transit strike of 1944, for six days. President Roosevelt sent 8,000 United States Army troops to the city to seize and operate the transit system, and threatened to draft any PRTEU member who did not return to the job within 48 hours. Roosevelt's actions broke the strike.

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