yellow-dog contracts

(noun)

An agreement between an employer and an employee in which the employee agrees, as a condition of employment, not to be a member of a labor union. Such contracts were used in the U.S until the 1930s to prevent the formation of unions, most often by permitting employers to take legal action against union organizers.

Related Terms

Examples of yellow-dog contracts in the following topics:

  • Norris–La Guardia Act

    • The Norris–LaGuardia Act (also known as the Anti-Injunction Bill) was a 1932 United States federal law that banned yellow-dog contracts, barred federal courts from issuing injunctions against nonviolent labor disputes, and created a positive right of noninterference by employers against workers joining trade unions.
    • The Act stated that yellow-dog contracts were unenforceable in federal court.
    • The three provisions include protecting worker's self-organization and liberty, removing jurisdiction from federal courts, and outlawing the "yellow dog" contract.

  • The Labor Movement's Early Years

    • Sometimes they signed workers to what were known as yellow-dog contracts, prohibiting them from joining unions.
    • The labor movement suffered a setback in 1905, when the Supreme Court said the government could not limit the number of hours a laborer worked (the court said such a regulation restricted a worker's right to contract for employment).

  • Depression and Post-War Victories

    • In 1932, Congress passed one of the first pro-labor laws, the Norris-La Guardia Act, which made yellow-dog contracts unenforceable.

  • The Decline of Labor

    • In addition, the practice of forcing employees (by threat of termination) to sign yellow-dog contracts that said they would not join a union was common at this time.

  • The Rise of Big Business

    • Some imposed yellow dog contracts, under which an employer could dismiss a worker who participated in union activity.

  • Competing Solutions

    • The law curbed "yellow dog" contracts (hiring replacement workers to break strikes), curtailed the ability of federal courts to issue injunctions against non-violent labor disputes (e.g., strikes), and supported the right of laborers to organize.

  • Setbacks for Unions

    • Endorsed by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) in 1920, the plan promoted union-free "open shops" and the practice of forcing employees to sign "yellow-dog contracts" in which they promised not to join unions.

  • Leptospirosis

    • Leptospirosis (also known as Weil's Syndrome, canicola fever, canefield fever, nanukayami fever, 7-day fever, Rat Catcher's Yellows, Fort Bragg fever, black jaundice, and Pretibial fever) is caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira, and affects humans as well as other animals.
    • If the infection causes the person to turn yellow, have kidney failure and bleeding it is then known as Weil's disease.
    • Dogs may lick the urine of an infected animal off the grass or soil or drink from an infected puddle.
    • There have been reports of "house dogs" contracting leptospirosis from licking the urine of infected mice that enter the house.
    • Surfers and whitewater paddlers are at especially high risk in areas that have been shown to contain the bacteria, and can contract the disease by swallowing contaminated water, splashing contaminated water into their eyes or nose, or exposing open wounds to infected water.

  • The Mythical Period

    • The Yellow River and the Huai and Yangtze Rivers, created fertile land, ripe for experimentation with agriculture.
    • They also domesticated animals, such as pigs, dogs, and chickens.
    • The Five Emperors began with Huangdi, or the Yellow Emperor, whose reign is believed to be from 2698-2599 BCE.

  • Negative-Strand RNA Viruses of Animals

    • This virus family includes pathogens—the rabies virus, vesicular stomatitis virus, potato yellow dwarf virus, etc.
    • Paramyxoviruses cause a range of diseases in animal species: canine distemper virus (dogs), phocine distemper virus (seals), cetacean morbillivirus (dolphins and porpoises), Newcastle disease virus (birds), and rinderpest virus (cattle).
    • Note the salivia dripping from the dog's mouth, a typical sign of a rabies infection.