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WAR LABOR DISPUTES ACT

The Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act of 1943, known more commonly as the War Labor Disputes Act (WLDA), was a measure enacted by the U.S. Congress, despite President Franklin D. Roosevelt's (1933–1945) veto. It gave the president the power to seize and operate privately owned industrial war plants, during World War II (1939–1945), when and if an actual or threatened strike interfered with war production efforts. Any strikes by unions or by employees in any of the designated war plants were prohibited. Any war-industry unions failing to give 30 days notice of intent to strike were held financially liable for all damages. This was one of the many efforts Congress initiated to bring order out of the chaos generated as U.S. industries converted to full-time war production. The general success of the WLDA, as well as other governmentinitiated controls of industry and production, enabled U.S. industry to produce twice as much as all enemy countries combined by 1944. The WLDA of 1943 expired after the end of World War II, and previous labor-dispute techniques used by American organized labor were gradually resumed.

See also: Military-Industrial Complex, Strike, World War II