What are your rights as an employee under the NLRA?

The NLRA is the National Labor Relations Act. These federal laws protect you and your right to join a union.

Examples of your rights as an employee under the NLRA are:

• Forming, or attempting to form, a union among the employees of your employer.
• Joining a union whether the union is recognized by your employer or not.
• Assisting a union in organizing your fellow employees.
• Engaging in protected concerted activities. Generally, "Protected concerted activity" is group activity which seeks to modify wages or working conditions.
• You may read, distribute, and discuss union literature (as long as you do this in non-work areas during non-work times, such as breaks or lunch hours).
• You may wear union buttons, t-shirts, stickers, hats, or other items on the job.

Examples of Employer Conduct which violate the NLRA are:

• Threatening employees with loss of jobs or benefits if they join or vote for a union or engage in protected concerted activity.
• Threating to close the plant if employees select a union to represent them.
• Questioning employees about their union sympathies or activities in circumstances that tend to interfere with, restrain or coerce empoyes in the exercise of their rights under the Act.
• Promising benefits to employees to discourage their union support.
• Transferring, laying off, terminating or assigning employees more difficult work tasks because they engaged in union or protected concerted activity.

If you would like more detailed information on the subject of your workplace rights, or if you have a question about a specific situation, please feel free to talk to a local Alliance@IBM organizer, call the local office, or send us a question by e-mai (see Contact Us).

More information on this subject is available at the Federal Government site for the National Labor Relations Board, http://www.nlrb.gov