I would like to know about the Taft Hartley Act. I"m a union steward
for the local 1900 IBEW / Mirant. I ran across this title in the news
paper today in the business section. Pacific Maritime Associations
which represents shipping companies.

It sounds like you may have been reading about the current lockout
surrounding the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and
the  Pacific Maritime Association.   In short, the Taft Hartley Act
(which came about in 1947) allows the President to intervene in a
labor dispute if it "imperils the national health or safety."  To
many, the Act is seen as being anti-labor or at least being labor's
"ball and chain."

First, the actual raw text of the Act can be read on this page:
http://vi.uh.edu/pages/buzzmat/tafthartley.html

Right after World War II, there were a number of strikes by workers in
various industries.  They wanted increasing living standards,
especially since the corporations were sitting on war-time profits. 
Big business though mounted "an attack on New Deal legislation that
had given workers some of their newfound strength."  And soon
thereafter the Taft-Hartley Act became law.
http://lpa.igc.org/lpv26/lp05.htm

In summary, the main part of the Act is, as mentioned above, allows
the president to seek an injunction ending strikes that "imperil the
national health."  But it also:
-outlawed the closed shop
-let states enact "right-to-work" laws
-defined "employee" in such a way that supervisors and independent
contractors were excluded from union organizing activity.

A good read is the following article by Ralph Nader, who has called
Taft-Hartley Act "one of the great blows to American democracy."
http://www.nader.org/interest/071802.html

A general article about the Act is available at:
http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/bus/A0847620.html

With regard to the west coast port lockout, you may want to read this
very recent Forbes about about how the Taft-Hartley Act applies to the
lockout:
http://www.forbes.com/work/newswire/2002/10/02/rtr739458.html

Also, with regard to the current lockout, here are links for the
official sites of some of the sides:

International Longshore and Warehouse Union:
http://ilwu.org/

Pacific Maritime Association:
http://www.pmanet.com/

If you were interested in knowing more specific information about a
section of the Taft-Hartley Act, please let me know and I'll attempt
to clarify my answer.  I hope the above links are useful.

Search terms used:
"Taft-Hartley Act"


-lee p.

Perhaps one of the most controversial provisions of the law (at least
for union folks) is the section that allows states to pass "right to
work" laws.
http://www.nilrr.org/qanda.htm
http://www.iowaaflcio.org/right_to_work.htm