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Mayor's Office of Worker Power
New York City is a city of workers. Workers have rights on the job and power in numbers.
Right to Organize
The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protects the rights of most private-sector employees to organize, to engage in group efforts to improve their wages and working conditions, to determine whether to have a union as their bargaining representative, to engage in collective bargaining, and to refrain from any of these activities. The law protects the rights of workers to act together to address workplace conditions, with or without a union. By law, employers cannot fire, discipline, demote or penalize workers in any way for engaging in these activities.
Can workers take collective action without a union?
Federal law protects the rights of workers to act together to address workplace conditions, with or without a union. These protections extend to certain work-related conversations on social media and give workers the right to act with co-workers to address work-related issues through open conversations with one or more coworkers. Protected conversations can include talking about wages, benefits and working conditions, or joining with co-workers to talk directly to the employer to address concerns. By law, employers cannot fire, discipline, demote or penalize workers in any way for engaging in these activities.
Organizing and Health and Safety
The National Labor Relations Act protects the right of most private-sector workers to act together (called “protected concerted activity”) to advocate for stronger workplace safety and health protections. Retaliation against workers for engaging in this sort of protected activity may be illegal under both the National Labor Relations Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
Protection from Retaliation
In response to union organizing, most employers cannot:
- Fire, demote or transfer employees for expressing pro-union views or reward employees for expressing anti-union views.
- Impose new paperwork requirements to maintain employment. Reduce pay, hours or benefits.
- Make work more difficult or less desirable—like changing work schedules, denying overtime or separating employees.
- Tell employees that it's pointless to choose a union. Hire third parties to do or say the things that it is prohibited from doing and saying.
If an employer is interfering with your right to form, join or assist a union, you can file an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB.