Rideshare drivers and food delivery workers are organizing to secure their employee rights against Uber, Lyft, Doordash, and Instacart. Hear how workers across the globe are battling not only their employers, but also a fundamental attack on what it means to be a worker.
Bosses break the law all the time, especially when workers are not yet unionized. They get away with it because workers don't know the law. Learn the basics about employers' unfair labor practices and how to use the National Labor Relations Board as part of your campaign, plus how to tell the difference between a grievance and an unfair labor practice and when to do what.
Did you know that under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, you have free speech rights within your union? Learn what your speech rights are, how to know if they have been violated, and how to enforce them.
(Part of the Railroad Workers United convention, but open to all.) During the national freight rail contract fight of 2022, upwards of 90 percent of railroad workers were poised for a national strike for the first time in three decades... but no strike materialized. Government officials use the Railway Labor Act to limit worker actions and undermine our rights, including the fundamental right to strike. Hear how airline workers have built the power to resist despite these constraints, and how railroad workers can likewise build effective bargaining campaigns.
Employers impose aggressive discipline policies like “zero tolerance” to reinforce their authority. Unions must be equally aggressive in insisting on the time-honored principles of just cause. This workshop will help you to prepare and present grievance and arbitration cases, raising defenses such as disparate treatment, lax enforcement, and double jeopardy. A model request for information will be distributed.
For as long as unions have waged strikes, bosses have fought to restrict them using no-strike clauses, lawsuits, and labor laws. Today most union members face some restriction of our most powerful weapon: our right to strike. So how do we get around no-strike clauses while minimizing potential harm to the union, leaders, and members? How do we challenge restrictive laws without giving bosses a free shot at our bargaining rights and assets? There are no easy answers, but we'll start the conversation.
Despite the Trump administration's best efforts to scare immigrant workers into the shadows, you still have rights, whether you're a citizen or not. Learn well-kept secrets about the rights that nonunion and immigrant workers have under federal labor law, and strategies to defend yourself from no-match letters, E-Verify, and I-9 audits.
The Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act provides a bill of rights for union members, requires unions to publicly disclose certain details about governance, and regulates union elections and trusteeships of locals by international unions. Learn how to use the law to build rank-and-file power in your union, and how to defend that power once you’ve built it.
What do I need to know about the law and striking? What is an economic strike? What is a ULP strike? Can I be fired for striking? What does it mean to be permanently replaced? What is a secondary strike or boycott? Find out the answers to these and many other legal questions.
