ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at what moral considerations have had a bearing on the development of national labor policy, including judicial and legislative development. It offers a general hypothesis concerning some of the major philosophical and ethical influences on labor policy in the United States. By the beginning of the twentieth century, federal involvement in labor matters was well established, and a national labor policy began to emerge as labor legislation at the federal level was enacted. The chapter deals with the avowed rationale for instituting governmental involvement in the labor market. When legislatures or judges were concerned with matters of social life, especially questions about social progress and economic prosperity, the natural rights or individualist framework was superseded. It seems likely that the Wagner Act’s preference for democratic determination of working conditions and other terms of employment derives from the fact that the US political system includes a large measure of democracy.
