Steward Basics: Your Protections

When you're dealing with management on union business, you deal with the employer as an equal.

You can imagine how happy that makes them. That's why the Federal Labor Relations Authority, National Labor Relations Act and state labor boards specifically protect you (and other union leaders) from punishment or discrimination by management because of your union activity. It's illegal for an employer to:

Deny you promotions or pay opportunities.
Isolate you from other workers.
Saddle you with extra work or unusually tough assignments.
Deny you overtime opportunities.
Enforce work rules unfairly against you or harass you with extra supervision.

If your employer tries to discriminate against you in this way, it's a violation of federal law.