WEINGARTEN RIGHTS

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BARREL

Thinking Outside the Barrel

by

Mike "Kidd Steel" Battista

In 1975 in a US Supreme Court case 420 US 251 NLRB v. J. Weingarten, Inc. decision states that employees have a right to union representation at investigatory interviews. These rights are known as the Weingarten Rights. There are a few rules involved with it.

  1. It is completely up to the employee to request a union representative before or during the interview. The company does not need to inform you of this right. You cannot be punished for this request.
  2. After this request is made by the employee the company must:
    1. Grant the request and wait until the representative arrives.
    2. Deny the request and immediately end the interview
    3. Give the employee the choice of having the interview without representation or ending the interview.
  3. If the company denies the request for representation and continues to ask questions, they are committing an unfair labor practice and the employee has the right to refuse to answer. The employee cannot be disciplined by the company for such a refusal.

What is an investigatory interview? Well, an investigatory interview is when the company questions an employee to obtain information which could be used as a basis for discipline or asks an employee to defend his or her conduct. If an employee has a reasonable belief that discipline or other consequences may result from what he or she says, this is when the employee has the right to use his rights and request union representation.

Sadly, though in the Melt Shop, our elected vice president Tim Gorman is going thru many health issues. He has only been able to work a few days this year. Let's pray for the best for him. In the Hot Strip, our elected vice president L.T. Alsman (a Steel Barrel staff member) stepped down from his position. Neither of these positions has been filled, not even temporarily. We encourage you to speak up at your meetings ("What Meetings" you ask? Well, that is an issue for another article). We need to let OUR union know that we want the full representation that we were given the right to have.

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Created on ... July 13, 2008