Know Your Rights!

You have the legal right to join and support a union and to:

• Attend meetings during non-work time (like during lunch, during coffee breaks, etc.)  to discuss union-related issues,

• Talk about the union whenever other non-work talk is allowed (like at lunch, etc.),

• Read and distribute union literature as long as you do this in non-work areas during non-work times such as breaks, lunch hours or before or after work,

• Sign a petition to show support for a union or a union-related issue,

• Ask other employees to support the union or to sign petitions.
  
  

It is illegal for your employer to:

• Threaten to or actually fire, lay off, discipline, harass, transfer, or reassign employees because they support the union,

• Favor employees who don’t support the union over those who do in promotions, job assignments, wages, hours, enforcement of rules or any other working condition,

• Shut down the work site or take away any benefits or privileges employees already enjoy in order to discourage union activity,

• Promise employees a pay increase, promotion, benefit or special favor if they oppose the union,

• Ask employees if they attended a union meeting, if they support the union or any other questions about their union activity,

• Refuse to deal with the union once employees vote to be represented.

You also have Weingarten rights if you are called into a meeting that could lead to discipline with HR or your supervisor.

If you are called into a meeting that could lead to discipline (i.e., an "investigatory interview"), you can ask for a union representative to be part of this meeting. A union representative can be someone from OPEIU, a shop steward (i.e., an IFES employee who represents you), or both.

If you are called into a meeting with HR and/or your supervisor, you can ask: 

"Could this meeting lead to me being disciplined, terminated, or affect my working conditions?" 

If the answer is yes, you can say: 

"I request that my union representatives be present at the meeting. Without union representation, I choose not to answer any further questions at this time."

If you have any questions about your Weingarten rights/when they can be invoked, please reach out to union leaders or to our email at ifesunion@gmail.com.

More information on Weingarten Rights from the NLRB website.