The answers to these questions show how few rights nonunion workers have on the job. Federal labor laws do not require employers to provide sick leave or paid sick time off. Payment for time not worked, including attending a funeral, is also not required of the employer. Federal law does not require an employer to provide paid vacations or holidays (federal or otherwise). This is all left up to the discretion of the employer. What about meals and breaks? They’re not required to be given to workers! Some states have their own requirements, but in states that do not require these breaks, the “benefits” are a “matter of agreement” between the employer and employee. Pay raises to amounts above the federal minimum wage are also not required. What about overtime? Federal law only requires that certain employees working more than 40 hours in a work week be paid overtime. Furthermore, the overtime laws have been chipped away at by politicians over the years so that there are many exclusions and exemptions to it. What about health care and retirement? Federal law does not require the employer to provide any health care, pensions or retiree health care. Whether to provide such benefits is, again, left entirely up to the employer.  

In short, whether workers can eat, leave their work station to use the restroom, take time off for a funeral, receive holiday pay, paid vacations, health care, pensions or even earn a living wage is currently all up to the employer.

By way of comparison, a union contract provides negotiated binding rules that both employers and workers have to abide by. While each contract is different and specific to the needs of particular groups of workers, Teamster contracts typically establish wage rates, wage increases, health and welfare benefits, holiday and vacation leave/pay, bereavement leave, sick time, hours of employment, safety standards, grievance procedures, seniority rights, retirement benefits and more. Employers of nonunion work forces have greater leeway to take advantage of weak labor law, and thus, of their employees. 

That’s why the Employee Free Choice Act is so important. This Act would make certain that workers who want a union for protection of their rights can have their union, and bargain an equitable contract in a reasonable amount of time. “Reasonable” means months, not years! The Act levels the playing field for workers who want nothing more than to simply be treated fairly on the job.

With a new administration in Washington, and the daughter of a former Teamster shop steward heading the Department of Labor, there is the great hope that our political leaders will rise to the challenge, and create a greater balance in the workplace. It’s time that all workers have the opportunity to choose to form a union for the protection of their rights.