What was the main purpose of the NLRA?

The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), enacted in 1935, was primarily designed to enhance the bargaining power of employees in the workplace. Its main purpose was to protect workers' rights to organize, engage in collective bargaining, and participate in activities for their mutual aid and protection. By empowering employees to form unions and negotiate with their employers, the NLRA aimed to address the power imbalance that existed between workers and management.

This emphasis on increasing employees' bargaining power is foundational to labor relations. The NLRA established the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which supervises and enforces the law, ensuring that workers can freely exercise their rights to unionize without fear of retaliation. The protection and encouragement of collective bargaining created a framework through which employees could negotiate terms of employment that improved their circumstances, opposed to the employer-centric focus of labor practices before the NLRA.

The other options, while they touch on various labor issues, do not capture the essence of the NLRA's primary intent. The act was not focused on establishing a minimum wage or ensuring worker safety, although such protections are important aspects of labor relations. Instead, the central goal of the NLRA was to empower workers to collectively advocate for their rights and interests.