Labor Management Relations Act Case Study

According to Section 7 of the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA), formerly the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) it is within the employees’ rights 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 (Walsh.2013.p84).” Additionally, Section 8 prevents employers, by making it unlawful, from interfering or otherwise impeding the aforementioned rights of an employee. An employer cannot:

• Threaten employees with adverse consequences;

• Question employees about union activities;

• Discharge, suspend, layoff, or take any other adverse action against employees because of their protected, concerted activities;

• Spy on employees ' union activities, and more (NLRB.org).

A concerted activity is an action performed by two or more employees and it can be in the form of protests, strikes, complaints and more, to call attention to grievances such as

The employees complained about the cold temperature at their workstation to management; however, because most of the other employee were content with the temperature and the thermometer read 72 degrees (in the center of the plant), the manager did not remedy the problem, by closing the door. Drake and Keeler walked out in protest of their working condition and was subsequently terminated. The employees were participating in a LMRA Section 7 protected concerted activity, which is the right to protest, to call attention to a grievance(s). Therefore, by terminating the employees, the firm violate the Act, as Section 8 state that an employer cannot terminate an employee or employees for participating in a protected activity. According to Corbett, in order to be covered by Section 7, a nonunion activity