Labor Unions

Do I have the right to join a union?

YES!

In order to equalize the disproportionate power between employers and employees, American labor law grants employees the right to unionize and the right to strike, picket, seek injunctions, and other actions to have their demands fulfilled.

The major exception to this rule is if you are considered a "supervisor." A "supervisor", under the National Labor Relations Act is:

"any individual having authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or responsibly to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or effectively to recommend such action, if in connection with the foregoing the exercise of such authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment. (29 USC 152 (11))"

Some employers misclassify their employees as supervisors in order to prevent them from joining a union.

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Major American Labor Unions

National Education Association

Service Employees International Union

United Food and Commercial Workers International Union

International Brotherhood of Teamsters

American Federation of Teachers

Laborers' International Union of North America

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers

Communications Workers of America

United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America

United Steelworkers of America

UNITE HERE

International Union of Operating Engineers

National Postal Mail Handlers Union

United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of the United States and Canada

National Association of Letter Carriers

Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Engineering Workers International Union

International Association of Fire Fighters

American Postal Workers Union

American Federation of Government Employees

Amalgamated Transit Union

United American Nurses

Sheet Metal Workers International Association

Office and Professional Employees International Union

International Union of Painters and Allied Trades

International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers

Transport Workers Union of America

Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union

American Association of Classified School Employees

Screen Actors Guild

International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States and Canada

National Rural Letter Carriers' Association

United Mine Workers of America

International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers

What is a labor union?

A labor union is a group of employees that decide to bargain collectively (as opposed to individually) about their terms and conditions of employment. 

Unions are democratic organization. Workers, under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)  have the right to vote, by law,  for collective representation by a labor union.

Workplaces that are represented by labor unions generally have higher salaries and  better benefits packages than than their non-union counterparts (i.e. those that are not unionized within the same occupation).

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