Question

Define "concerted action" under the NLRA. Do you think it could apply to non-union employees and non-unionized workforces?

Answer 1

Concerted action is a legal term used in labor policy to define employee protection against employer retaliation in the United States. The National Labor Relations Act, the main labor policy governing labor relations in the United States, defines concerted activity in Section 7.

Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (the Act) guarantees employees "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.

You have the right to act with co-workers to address work-related issues in many ways. Examples include: talking with one or more co-workers about your wages and benefits or other working conditions, circulating a petition asking for better hours, participating in a concerted refusal to work in unsafe conditions, openly talking about your pay and benefits, and joining with co-workers to talk directly to your employer, to a government agency, or to the media about problems in your workplace. Your employer cannot discharge, discipline, or threaten you for, or coercively question you about, this "protected concerted" activity. A single employee may also engage in protected concerted activity if he or she is acting on the authority of other employees, bringing group complaints to the employer's attention, trying to induce group action, or seeking to prepare for group action. It could apply to non-union employees and non-unionized workforces.