National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)

Scope

The Act prohibits both employers and unions from violating these employee rights. As an example, an employer may not discriminate against employees with regard to hiring, discharge, or working conditions because of their union activities. A union may not engage in acts of violence against employees who refrain from union activity.

Regulatory citations

• None

Key definitions

• None

Summary of requirements

To ensure that employees can freely choose their own representatives for the purpose of collective bargaining, or choose not to be represented, the Act establishes a procedure by which they can exercise their choice at a secret-ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Further, to protect the rights of employees and employers, and to prevent labor disputes that would adversely affect the rights of the public, Congress has defined certain practices of employers and unions as unfair labor practices.

The Act sets forth the basic rights of employees as follows:

• To self-organization.
• To form, join, or assist labor organizations.
• To bargain collectively about wages and working conditions through representatives of their own choosing.
• To engage in other protected “concerted activities,” that is, to act together for purposes of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.
• To refrain from any of these activities. (However, a union and employer may, in a state where such agreements are permitted, enter into a lawful union-shop clause.)

How the Act is enforced. The NLRA is administered and enforced principally by the National Labor Relations Board and the General Counsel acting through 52 regional and other field offices located in major cities in various sections of the country. The General Counsel and the staff of the Regional Offices investigate and prosecute unfair labor practice cases and conduct elections to determine employee representatives. The five-member Board decides cases involving charges of unfair labor practices and determines representation election questions that come to it from the Regional Offices.