Modern state labor relations legislation dates from the
1930's after federal legislation in the field was held to be consistent
with the Constitution. In 1937, the year in which the Supreme Court
sanctioned the Wagner Act, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania,
Utah, and Wisconsin adopted legislation patterned on the Wagner Act.

In 1939, however, the Pennsylvania and Wisconsin laws were
amended to incorporate restrictions on employers and unions, as well as
on employees, thus foreshadowing the Taft-Hartley Act. "Little Taft-
Hartley" acts were also adopted by Minnesota and Michigan in 1939,
Colorado and Kansas in 1943, Hawaii in 1945, and North Dakota in
1961. In 1947, Utah also converted its law to a Taft-Hartley type, but
laws modeled on the Wagner Act were passed by Rhode Island in 1941
and by Connecticut and Puerto Rico in 1945. Oregon passed a labor
relations act in 1953, repealed it in 1959, and then in 1961 passed a
new labor-management relations act which provides for the selection of
bargaining agents and mild restraints against both employers and
unions. ¹ The Massachusetts Act remains basically a Wagner Act type,
although it limits union entrance requirements and union security pro-
visions, as noted in the previous chapter. ²

Figure 2 shows the states having laws of the Wagner or Taft-
Hartley type. In addition to these comprehensive labor relations laws, a
number of states have enacted special or limited-purpose laws, some of
the Landrum-Griffin type, as well as legislation designed to prevent dis-

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