Trade Union Employee, Members, Steward and Worker Rights, Union Reform and Employment Rights

Union Rights

Without the establishment of union rights, both management and labor would be challenged in their roles of operating a business and performing a job.Labor management ensures that union rights are protected with a contract.

Management Rights

Since no union contract could adequately cover every possible situation that could arise, the following two general clauses were developed:

• "Management Rights"– outlines general rights of management

• "Recognition"–deals with union rights

According To Federal Law

According to federal law, the union rights afforded to protect union interests include the following:

• To organize a labor union and bargain collectively with an employer with regard to wages, benefits and working conditions

• To discuss the union during work; distribute union literature, and to wear union buttons or stickers

• To sign a union card– which demonstrates the first step in securing union representation that essentially protects union rights

In an effort to curtail management violating these union rights, employer restrictions were put into place to ensure that a union is able to continue to operate without management interference.

An Employer Cannot Undermine Union Rights by:

• Firing, punishing, intimidating or coercing employees seeking to organize, or join, a union
• Threatening to close the facility or lay off employees if they organize a union
• Telling employees that unionization will take away benefits and privileges currently in place
• Bribing employees to vote against the union, or promising other benefits or privileges in order to influence their vote.

With union rights securely in place, an organization can approach negotiations of wages, benefits, work rules, compliance procedures, and procedures for hiring, firing and promoting employees, as instructed by federal law. And by the same token,labor workers know their interests are protected.