In 1947, Congress passed the Taft-Hartley amendments83 to the 1935 National Labor Relations Act. The amendments were aimed at enhancing the legal rights of individual employees under the law and preventing excessive coercion and abuses of the rights of workers on the part of unions. These amendments recognized the right of employees to refrain from union activities, added new provisions to prohibit unfair labor practices, and set forth the duties of each party in collective bargaining.