You should contact those agencies for information regarding the timing and procedure for filing the charge. Can I Organize and Join a Union? Activities that are protected include: attending meetings to learn about the union, devise organizing strategies and support each other. Your employer is violating the law if it: threatens to or actually fires, lays off, refuses to hire, disciplines, harasses, transfers or reassigns you because of your support of a union, or for reading and distributing union literature in non-work areas such as parking lots during nonwork time for example, breaks, lunch, after work , or for getting on a union information mailing list, or for signing petitions or file grievances about wages, working conditions, and other job issues.
Wear union buttons, T-shirts, stickers, hats, or other items on the job. Sign a card asking your employer to recognize and bargain with the union. Sign petitions or file grievances related to wages, hours, working conditions, and other job issues. For example, your employer cannot legally do the following: Threaten to or actually fire, lay off, discipline, harass, transfer, or reassign employees because they support the union.
Shut down the work site or take away any benefits or privileges employees already enjoy in order to discourage union activity. Promise employees a pay increase, promotion, benefit, or special favor if they oppose the union. You can help protect your legal rights by: Keeping written notes of any incidents in which company officials or supervisors threaten, harass, or punish workers because of union activity Immediately reporting any such incidents to your organizing committee and the union staff.
Member or Non-Member, we are here to help! Use the form below to Share your story, ask a question, or request information. A local may be confined to union members in a particular geographic area or company, or it may cover multiple contracts with various employers in the same business sector.
They are often numbered to distinguish each local from each other. Locals have their own governing bodies which represent the interests of the national or international union but are able to organize regular meetings and be responsible to their constituents. Within the local governing body is usually an executive board elected to look over the interests of the union, control finances including union dues, and manage interactions between workers and employers.
Local branches may also affiliate with a local trades council or district council, an organization of local unions involved in all aspects of a particular trade or industry in a particular geographic area. An example of this is a local building trades organization comprised of many union locals.
Most unions have a paid staff that operates and runs the union. This staff is paid by the dues you pay as members of the union. Each union varies in size, so amount of staff will also vary. Frequently, there will also be member volunteers - so your co-workers and fellow union members may decide to volunteer their time to assist in the efforts of the union. There is a fee associated with being a member of a union. Union dues are what you pay to help support the unions' operating costs, which include union support staff, field staff, legal costs, negotiation costs, arbitrator's fees, and other related costs.
Many unions also use dues to create strike funds, and to support union organizing and political activity.
Although there is no law that specifically designates the amount, the fee must be reasonable. Dues structures vary widely from union to union based on needs. Some unions charge a fixed monthly rate while others charge of a percentage of members paychecks. In addition, many unions charge an initiation fee when an individual first joins. The NLRA provides that "any employee who is a member of and adheres to established and traditional tenets Workers whose religious beliefs don't allow them to pay dues are entitled to alternative arrangement, allowing them to be exempt from paying dues.
However, these individuals may be required to make a contribution in the same amount to a nonreligious organization or a non-labor organization, and still may be required to pay reasonable costs for grievance claims on their behalf if handled by the union. Whether or not you must join the union to work at a particular job depends on what type of "shop" is present in your workplace.
The type of shop that exists within a union bargaining unit will generally be included in the contract between the union and the employer. There are four typical kinds of shops in unionized workplaces, which are:. A "closed shop" requires its employees to be union members as a condition to being hired for a position covered by the bargaining unit and does not allow the employer to hire anyone not willing to join the union.
The most extreme example of the closed shop is the hiring hall, where employers are required to recruit union members from the hiring hall, and cannot hire employees directly.
The Taft-Hartley Act made a closed shop illegal in With a "union shop," an employee is not required to join a union in order to be hired, but must join the union within a certain period of time after starting work, generally within thirty 30 days of starting work.
You should realize that although you may not be "officially" required to join the union, you may suffer a cold shoulder from other union members and officials. If you are part of an "agency shop," you are required to pay union dues and fees, but you are not required to have an actual membership in the union.
So you can choose not to be an official member of the union, but you still have to pay dues as though you are a member. The dues you pay, however, only cover the costs of activities related to collective bargaining, contract administration and grievance adjustment, and not other items such as organizing and political activity. If you object to your dues being spent on a particular purpose, you have the right to object until it is determined whether the money being spent is used for activity related to representing you in bargaining with the employer.
Under a US Supreme Court decision known as "Beck," unions cannot force non-members to pay a full agency fee if any portion is used to pay the costs of union political activities.
As a result, unions may be required to calculate that percent of their total budget allocated to political activities, and refund that portion of your agency fee which may be very small. If you pay agency fees, the union, in return, must represent you in negotiations with the employer, as in an open shop bargaining unit. However, the union's duties end there - if you are not an official member then you do not receive the broader protections, such as disciplinary processes, included in union contracts.
This arrangement is legal as long as your state has not passed a "right to work" law. Most examples of these types of shops are public sector unions including teachers unions. If you are in a "right to work" state, you may be part of an "open shop," where the unit represents the entire bargaining unit regardless of whether or not all employees are members of the union. Right to work laws guarantee that no person can be compelled to join or not join a union, or pay dues.
Generally, most open shops are in right to work states where employees are not required to join a union and pay dues, but the union is still charged with fair and equal representation of all members of the bargaining unit - not just the union members. There are two types of elections associated with unions.
There is an initial election to determine if the majority of employees in a bargaining unit want to be represented or discontinue representation by a union or whether or not to switch their union affiliation.
Once the initial election establishes the union's presence in a particular workplace, then the union is supposed to be run democratically, where majority rules - so there will be elections and voting to choose officers and make decisions.
For more information about democratic principles and unions, see the Association for Union Democracy. In short - yes, but it must be careful. The company has the right to express its opinions.
However, the NLRA has rules that somewhat limit that freedom - companies cannot violate their employees' right to unionize if they so choose. It is often a fine line between expressing a policy preference for no unions, which is permitted, and telling employees they cannot unionize, which is illegal.
If the company goes too far to discourage its employees from joining a union, it will violate the NLRA and may have to account for its actions to the NLRB. Companies that do not want unions in their workplace often go to great lengths to discourage union activity, hiring "unionbusters," professional consultants or lawyers who specialize in advising employers on how to thwart union organizing drives or how to decertify unions.
Unionbusters usually self-identify as "union avoidance firms," "management consultants," or "labor consultants. For more information, see the Jobs with Justice page " Unionbusters Generally, if you have a problem at your workplace and you are a member of a union - your first contact is the union representative. Often, many disputes can be resolved with the help of the union.
After you speak with the union representative, the representative usually speaks with other union officials. If the officials believe that you have a valid claim, then it will assist you and guide you through a complaint or grievance procedure. If you disagree with the ultimate resolution by the union, you can then appeal that decision. In addition, whenever management begins to ask you questions that you reasonably believe could result in a disciplinary action, you have thea right to refuse to answer questions until a union representative is present and you have had an opportunity to discuss the situation with that representative.
You have a right to have the union representative present during questioning, to have that representative advise you, to ask your supervisors for clarifications, and to ask for any additional information after questioning.
These are referred to as your Weingarten Rights. Under the NLRB, a union that is your exclusive representative with your employer owes a duty of fair representation to employees in the bargaining unit, which means that it must treat all bargaining members fairly and equally in representing them before the employer. This duty arises when you have an individual dispute with your employer, such as a disciplinary matter or termination, and may be violated if the exclusive bargaining representative the union fails to properly represent you in that dispute.
If the union refuses to get involved to protect your rights as guaranteed by the union contract, you may be able to file a claim against the union for violating your " duty of fair representation ," also known as a "DFR claim.
Some factors to be considered are:. Whether the union can rationally explain its conduct;. Whether the union followed or deviated from its past practices in the manner in which it processed the dispute and dealt with you personally. The duty of fair representation does not require your union to file a grievance on your behalf, take your grievance to arbitration, or appeal it every step of the way, if it feels your grievance does not have merit. Either way, you must file your DFR claim within six months of the union activity which you claim violated your duty of fair representation.
Check with your local NLRB office , or a private attorney who has expertise in working with labor issues, for more information to help you determine whether you may be able to bring a DFR case.
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