The National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA" or the "Act") is the major federal law governing the relationship of employers, employees and labor unions to one another. Employees are authorized to organize to bargain about wages, hours, and working conditions. Specifically, the purpose of the NLRA is:
to promote the full flow of commerce, to prescribe the legitimate rights of both employees and employers in their relations affecting commerce, to provide orderly and peaceful procedures for preventing the interference by either with the legitimate rights of the other, to protect the rights of individual employees in their relations with labor organizations whose activities affect commerce, to define and proscribe practices on the part of labor and management which affect commerce and are inimical to the general welfare, and to protect the rights of the public in connection with labor disputes affecting commerce.
In furtherance of that purpose, the NLRA provides that employees shall have the right to self-organization, to form, join or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection. In addition, it also protects the right of employees to refrain from any or all such activities.
The Act ensures the protection of these rights by prohibiting certain conduct by employers and unions called "unfair labor practices" and by establishing specific procedures for determining the employees' wishes as to exclusive representation by a labor organization by way of a secret ballot election.
The National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB" or the "Board") is the government agency charged with administration and enforcement of the Act. Its main headquarters is in Washington but there are regional offices throughout the country which initially handle all cases arising in that area. In New York City, Region 2 covers Fairfield County (Connecticut), Bronx, New York, Orange, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester Counties. Region 29 covers Kings, Nassau, Queens, Richmond and Suffolk Counties. For more details, see http://www.nlrb.gov/nlrb/home/default.asp.