The NLRA is the grandfather of employee rights legislation in the United States. Although passed primarily to create a peaceful system for unionization and collective bargaining, the NLRA was also the first federal employment discrimination statute-making it illegal for employers to discipline or discharge employees because they engage in union activity and other protected concerted activities. The NLRA went through significant changes in 1947 when the Taft-Hartley Act added a set of provisions designed to regulate and disempower unions. Lawyers who specialize in labor law become familiar with the NLRA and the NLRB very early in their careers. Virtually every aspect of the relationship between unions and employers is regulated by the NLRA-from the procedures for conducting union elections to the process of collective bargaining and contract administration.
Employees also have the right to refrain from engaging in union activities.
It is an unfair labor practice for an employer or a union to interfere with any of these rights, or to discriminate against any employee who engages in these activities. This includes running for union office, opposing the policies or practices of union leaders, and supporting dissident candidates. This means that the employee must be acting with or on the authority of other workers, not solely on her own behalf. This definition includes situations where individual employees seek to initiate, induce, or prepare for group action, as well as where an individual brings a truly group complaint to the attention of management. To be protected, concerted activity must have a specific purpose.