Unfair labor practices

In order to protect the right of workers to join and participate in unions the Wagner Act prohibited certain unfair labor practices by the employer. An employer would commit an unfair labor practice should he or she attempt to interfere with, coerce, dominate or discriminate against employees in the exercise of their right to organize and bargain. Examples of unfair labor practices are threatening discharge, demotion or loss of job if an employee persists in union activity - interrogating prospective or present employees about their union sympathies or affiliations and discriminating against an employee because of the filing of a grievance or unfair labor practice charge. A firm also commits an unfair labor practice if it refuses to bargain in ‘good faith’ with the union in an attempt to reach a collective bargaining agreement - sound familiar?

A very fine line often separates what is and what is not an unfair labor practice by the employer. The law does not require that an employer remain neutral in a union-organizing campaign. It is legal for an employer to explain and defend its labor policies and to present the advantages and disadvantages of unions in speeches and written communications to its workers as long as it does not threaten reprisals or loss of benefits. Thus an employer may legally publicize the fact that it is operating at a loss - you have heard this one from MTA  and that other unionized companies in its industry have recently gone out of business. It cannot state that if it is unionized it will close its doors and the workers will lose their jobs.