Union 101 | AFT Washington, AFL-CIO

What Is Union 101?

This page is a guide to what we think of as "union basics". The information on it is loosely organized as either union protections or as further resources. This is not a comprehensive guide, but we have made the attempt to link to the comprehensive guides for Washington workers.

Union Protections: Loudermill Rights

The Supreme Court in Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill held that most public employees are entitled to a hearing before they are discharged. However, the "hearing" is not a full evidentiary hearing and need not include the opportunity to cross-examine your accusers.

Union Protections: Weingarten Rights

The right of employees to have union representation at investigatory interviews was announced by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 1975 case (NLRB vs. Weingarten, Inc. 420 U.S. 251, 88 LRRM 2689). These rights have become known as the Weingarten rights. They are a crucial part of our union protections.

Union Protections: The Seven Tests of Just Cause

The seven tests are the accepted standard for defining whether a boss has acted with just cause in a disciplinary event.

The Labor Movement

When working people come together in a union, it enables workers to negotiate for higher wages and benefits and improve conditions in the workplace. In the same way, our unions come together in the larger labor movement to improve working conditions and build worker solidarity. Being part of the labor movement means being part of a much larger labor universe than just your local or even your union.

The Labor Education Resource Center and the Workers' Rights Manual

The Labor Education and Resource Center (LERC) at South Seattle College provides education, training, events, and applied research on labor issues to working people in Washington State. Along with trainings and events of interest to working people, the LERC also produces the Workers' Rights Manual for Washington State.

Labor History Organizations

There are several labor history organizations in Washington, dedicated to promoting and preserving public and scholarly awareness of labor and working-class history.

The Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies (and the Labor Archives at UW) supports students and faculty at the University of Washington in the study of labor in all of its facets. Through education and research, their mission is to develop labor studies - broadly conceived to include working people everywhere - as a central concern in higher education. The Center cultivates connections with labor communities locally and around the world, and informs policymakers about issues confronting workers. In addition, the Bridges Center founded the Labor Archives of Washington within the University of Washington Libraries, which works to preserve and make accessible the history of working people and their organizations.

The Labor and Working-Class History Archive (LAWCHA) promotes labor and working-class history within the history and social studies curricula in public schools as well as at community colleges, colleges, universities, and unions. LAWCHA also produces the journal Labor: Studies in Working-Class History, maintains a blog of labor history topics, and works with primary documents to give teachers resources to include in their curricula, among many other components of its mission and work.

The Pacific Northwest Labor History Association (PNLHA) s a non-profit association dedicated to preserving the history and heritage of workers in the Pacific Northwest. PNLHA considers the “Pacific Northwest” to be British Columbia, Oregon and Washington. It is PNLHA's belief the labor movement must know where it’s been to know where it’s going.