Under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) you have the right to:

• Join a union

• Talk to you coworkers about unions

• Pass out literature/ digitally communicate about joining a union (in non-work areas and during non-work times)

• Circulate petitions in non-work areas and during non-work times

• Create an organization with the purpose of forming a union to improve working conditions in your place of employment

Under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), your employer cannot:

• Intimidate you from exercising your rights

• Question you about the union or any union-related activities or actions

• Form a company union that is financed or controlled by an employer, instead of by you and your coworkers

• Discriminate against you or your co-workers in hiring and firing based on union activity

• Fire you because you have exercised any of your NLRA rights, including your right to file complaints and testify against your employer if you believe they have violated your rights

• Refuse to bargain collectively with you and your coworkers’ union

Rights of International Student Workers

to Unionize:

• All student employees, regardless of their immigration status, have the federally-protected rights to 1) engage in activity with their co-workers concerning their working conditions, 2) form a union, and 3) collectively bargain with their universities. It is illegal for an employer to retaliate against any student employees for exercising their rights under the National Labor Relations Act. If anything, international students face particular vulnerabilities that can be best addressed through a union, such as the protections of a grievance procedure.

• The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) cannot ask you questions about your union membership or participation in lawful union activity. In addition, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recognized the importance of enforcing labor laws and signed an agreement with the Department of Labor (DOL) that states it is essential to ensure proper wages and working conditions for all covered workers regardless of immigration status. It is your right to belong to a union and being a union member cannot and should not affect your visa application.

• Political activities such as picketing, rallies, leafleting, demonstrations, etc., are forms of expression and free association, which are protected for foreigners in the U.S. (including international students with visas) as they are for U.S. nationals. It is against the law for your employer (the university) to retaliate against you for participating in these protected activities.

• All international students enjoy the same rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association as U.S. nationals. Federal law protects your right to join a union. The only relevant restriction on political activity by international students is that they cannot make financial contributions to political organizations in the United States.

Rights of Undocumented Workers to Unionize:

• If you are an undocumented worker who doesn’t work for the government, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protects your right to organize a union, elect a union, and collectively bargain with employers. It also allows you to engage in “concerted activity” to improve working conditions for all employees even if there is no union yet. Concerted activity occurs when two or more employees act, with their employer’s knowledge, to improve working conditions on behalf of all employees, or if one employee acts on behalf of others.

• Regardless of immigration status, any worker whose employer has 15 or more employees is protected by federal employment discrimination laws. This includes protection under the following laws:

  • Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, and national origin;

  • the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA). The EPA prohibits employers from discriminating against employees of the opposite sex performing equal work in one workplace;

  • the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA). The ADEA protects individuals age 40 and older from employment discrimination because of age;

  • Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). Title I prohibits employment discrimination against individuals with disabilities based on their disability.

  The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) protects undocumented workers specifically. The INA prohibits:

  • citizenship status discrimination in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee;

  • national origin discrimination in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee;

  • unfair document practices in the employment eligibility verification (Form I-9), and E-Verify processes; and

  • retaliation or intimidation.

• Under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) it is illegal for employers to knowingly employ undocumented workers.  When employees are hired, their employer is required to ask for documents. The documents must show their identity and authorization to work in the U.S. Those documents must “reasonably appear to be genuine.”

  Employers must terminate, or refuse to hire, an undocumented worker if the find the worker is unauthorized to work. But, the employer cannot use immigration status as an excuse to fire undocumented workers who make discrimination complaints. Undocumented workers are covered by federal discrimination laws. The law prohibits employers from retaliating against workers who assert their legal rights. If an employer retaliates against an employee for exercising their right to file a discrimination complaint, the employer is breaking the law.

  • The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Hoffman Plastic Compounds v. NLRB, 535 U.S. 137, 122 S.Ct. 1275, 152 L.Ed.2d 271 (2002), that undocumented workers are not entitled to back pay awards if they are illegally fired from their jobs in retaliation for union activities

  • Moreover, employer use of workers' immigration status to threaten, intimidate or remove workers in retaliation for their union activities constitutes an unfair labor practice in violation of §8(a)(3) of the NLRA. (same source as above)