Originally from Dispute Resolution Journal

When the NLRA was amended in 1947 by the Taft-Hartley Act, one of the announced purposes was to protect the rights of individual employees in their relation with unions. Section 302 of the Act which, among other things, made it a criminal offense for an employer to pay money to a union or its agents where that union represents or would represent any of the employees of such employer, was one of the most significant Congressional efforts to implement such protection. The primary purpose of this provision was to prevent interference with employee rights and diversion of employee wages through collusive agreements between employers and unions. The broad scope of this general prohibition made it necessary to exempt from its reach certain kinds of legitimate payments to unions and union representatives, for example, wages, judgments, awards, checkoff union dues and initiation fees.