PHR · Question #119
As an HR Professional you must be familiar with particular labor-based acts of congress. One such act is the Taft-Hartley Act which addressed right-to-work states and unions. What does right-to-work…
The correct answer is C. Employees are not required to join a union to work. The Taft-Hartley Act authorized states to enact right-to-work laws, which prohibit making union membership a mandatory condition of employment.
Question
As an HR Professional you must be familiar with particular labor-based acts of congress. One such act is the Taft-Hartley Act which addressed right-to-work states and unions. What does right-to-work states mean for unions and employees?
Options
- AAn organization can fire employees if they're members of aunion.
- BUnion conducts the hiring process for an organization.
- CEmployees are not required to join a union to work.
- DEmployees must join the union in order to work.
How the community answered
(55 responses)- A11% (6)
- B5% (3)
- C80% (44)
- D4% (2)
Why each option
The Taft-Hartley Act authorized states to enact right-to-work laws, which prohibit making union membership a mandatory condition of employment.
Firing employees for union membership would violate the NLRA's protections against anti-union discrimination; Taft-Hartley did not grant employers that right.
Union-controlled hiring arrangements (closed shops) were specifically prohibited - not established - by the Taft-Hartley Act.
The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 amended the NLRA to allow individual states to pass right-to-work legislation, which forbids union-security agreements that would compel workers to join a union or pay dues as a condition of getting or keeping a job. This preserves each employee's individual choice regarding union membership regardless of the workplace's union status.
Requiring employees to join a union as a condition of employment is exactly the practice that right-to-work laws in Taft-Hartley states prohibit.
Concept tested: Taft-Hartley Act right-to-work provisions
Source: https://www.nlrb.gov/guidance/key-reference-materials/national-labor-relations-act
Topics
Community Discussion
No community discussion yet for this question.