Frequently asked questions

 

Listed below are some of the most frequently asked questions we receive. If you have additional questions about our Union, your rights, or how PROA National Union can become your Union Representative, contact our office, or email us, and we will gladly address your inquiry!

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Employee Rights to Form a Security Union

 

Employees covered by the National Labor Relations Act are afforded certain rights to join together to improve their wages and working conditions, with or without a union.

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Union Activity

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Employees have the right to attempt to form a union where none currently exists, or to decertify a union that has lost the support of employees.

Examples of employee rights include:

• Forming, or attempting to form, a union in your workplace;

• Joining a union whether the union is recognized by your employer or not;

• Assisting a union in organizing your fellow employees;

• Refusing to do any or all of these things.

• To be fairly represented by a union

 

Activity Outside a Union

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Employees who are not represented by a union also have rights under the NLRA.  Specifically, the National Labor Relations Board protects the rights of employees to engage in “concerted activity”,  which is when two or more employees take action for their mutual aid or protection regarding terms and conditions of employment.  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.

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A few examples of protected concerted activities are:

• Two or more employees addressing their employer about improving their pay.

• Two or more employees discussing work-related issues beyond pay, such as safety concerns, with each other.

• An employee speaking to an employer on behalf of one or more co-workers about improving workplace conditions.

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Employer/Union Rights and Obligations

 

The National Labor Relations Act forbids employers from interfering with, restraining, or coercing employees in the exercise of rights relating to organizing, forming, joining or assisting a labor organization for collective bargaining purposes, or from working together to improve terms and conditions of employment, or refraining from any such activity. Similarly, labor organizations may not restrain or coerce employees in the exercise of these rights.

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Examples of employer conduct that violates the law:

• Threatening employees with loss of jobs or benefits if they join or vote for a union or engage in protected concerted activity.

• Threatening to close the plant if employees select a union to represent them.

• Questioning employees about their union sympathies or activities in circumstances that tend to interfere with, restrain or coerce employees in the exercise of their rights under the Act.

• Promising benefits to employees to discourage their union support.

• Transferring, laying off, terminating, assigning employees more difficult work tasks, or otherwise punishing employees because they engaged in union or protected concerted activity.

• Transferring, laying off, terminating, assigning employees more difficult work tasks, or otherwise punishing employees because they filed unfair labor practice charges or participated in an investigation conducted by NLRB.

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What rules govern collective bargaining for a contract?

 

After employees choose a union as a bargaining representative, the employer and union are required to meet at reasonable times to bargain in good faith about wages, hours, vacation time, insurance, safety practices and other mandatory subjects. Some managerial decisions such as subcontracting, relocation, and other operational changes may not be mandatory subjects of bargaining, but the employer must bargain about the decision's effects on unit employees.

It is an unfair labor practice for either party to refuse to bargain collectively with the other, but parties are not compelled to reach agreement or make concessions.

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If after sufficient good faith efforts, no agreement can be reached, the employer may declare impasse, and then implement the last offer presented to the union. However, the union may disagree that true impasse has been reached and file a charge of an unfair labor practice for failure to bargain in good faith. The NLRB will determine whether true impasse was reached based on the history of negotiations and the understandings of both parties.

If the Agency finds that impasse was not reached, the employer will be asked to return to the bargaining table. In an extreme case, the NLRB may seek a federal court order to force the employer to bargain.

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The parties' obligations do not end when the contract expires. They must bargain in good faith for a successor contract, or for the termination of the agreement, while terms of the expired contract continue.

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A party wishing to end the contract must notify the other party in writing 60 days before the expiration date, or 60 days before the proposed termination. The party must offer to meet and confer with the other party and notify the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service of the existence of a dispute if no agreement has been reached by that time.

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How is "good faith" bargaining determined?

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of NLRB cases dealing with the issue of the duty to bargain in good faith. In determining whether a party is bargaining in good faith, the Board will look at the totality of the circumstances. The duty to bargain in good faith is an obligation to participate actively in the deliberations so as to indicate a present intention to find a basis for agreement. This implies both an open mind and a sincere desire to reach an agreement as well as a sincere effort to reach a common ground.

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The additional requirement to bargain in "good faith" was incorporated to ensure that a party did not come to the bargaining table and simply go through the motions. There are objective criteria that the NLRB will review to determine if the parties are honoring their obligation to bargain in good faith, such as whether the party is willing to meet at reasonable times and intervals and whether the party is represented by someone who has the authority to make decisions at the table.

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Conduct away from the bargaining table may also be relevant. For instance if an Employer were to make a unilateral change in the terms and conditions of employees employment without bargaining, that would be an indication of bad faith.

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•What Difference Does it Make Which Union Represents Me?

 

Having the right Union to represent you makes a great deal of difference. Your Union is responsible for negotiating and enforcing your rights and terms and conditions of employment in the workplace. PROA National Union is committed to providing to you elite and expert representation, including legal representation whenever necessary!

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•What PROA National Union Can Do For You?

 

PROA National Union is a full service National Union. We provide assistance in organizing employees throughout the nation who seek representation of security guards, whether such guard units service government or private locations. PROA-NU can provide the legal and technical assistance needed to transition employees into representation by our Union.

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Once we become the Union who represents your interests, we will work tirelessly for you to negotiate the most advantageous collective bargaining agreement possible on your behalf. Not only will PROA National Union negotiate a contract to serve your best interests, but we will also provide the expert legal representation necessary to enforce the contract, as well as state and federal laws which protect and promote our employees’ interests.

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