"Yellow-Dog" Contract, introducing a dog into the Society's premises

Were used by employers during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to keep their employees from joining labor unions. Such contracts made it a condition of employment that the worker not belong to any union. Under such agreements, union membership was grounds for dismissal. In operation, yellow dog contracts coerced workers into staying out of unions; a prospective employee contracted on this condition or lost the chance to work. Labor organizers deeply resented these agreements and labeled them “yellow dog” (i.e., contemptible) contracts. To assist the union movement, Congress and many state legislatures outlawed yellow dog contracts, but in Adair v. United States (1908) and Coppage v. Kansas (1915), the Supreme Court, relying on the freedom of contract doctrine, struck down both state and federal bans on the contracts. During the New Deal era, Congress and state legislatures revived the prohibitions. The Norris‐LaGuardia Anti‐Injunction Act of 1932 declared such agreements contrary to public policy and unenforceable in federal courts. By adopting “little Norris‐LaGuardia acts,” various industrial states copied this restriction on yellow dog contracts. In 1935 the National Labor Relations Act, which forms the basis of modern labor law, recognized an employee's right to join a union. It also labeled interference with this right as an unfair labor practice. Today, therefore, yellow dog contracts are implicitly outlawed.

— Richard F. Hamm

Spotlight:

Dog

Who let the dogs in? It may have been your boss, your assistant, or the guy who works down the hall. Today, like the first Friday after Father's Day every year, is Take Your Dog to Work Day. This canine version of Casual Friday has been going on since 1996 in the United Kingdom and since 1999 in the United States. The idea behind the event is to demonstrate to pooch-less colleagues what great companions dogs can be and thus to promote adoptions of shelter dogs. Health benefits of dog ownership include lower blood pressure, less stress, and a stronger immune system.

Quote:

"Any member introducing a dog into the Society's premises shall be liable to a fine of one pound. Any animal leading a blind person shall be deemed to be a cat." — Oxford Union Society, London, Rule 46