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
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 Federation of Government Employees
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
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).
