Be Your Own Labor Lawyer

Labor Lawyers can be quite useful, but they are also often overworked and relatively expensive. It is wise to try and do as much research as you can on your own before you decide to contact a labor lawyer. this site is designed to help you do that.

Introduction by Staughton Lynd:

"This is a do-it-yourself manual. Its goal is to help you deal more effectively with the law: to protect yourself more effectively when the law is against you, and to get more accomplished when the law is on your side."

"My point of view is that whenever a problem can be solved without the help of a lawyer, do it. Besides being expensive, the law takes a long time. And it is written and administered by individuals who for the most part do not understand or sympathize with the experience of working people."

"Lawyers, like doctors, make their profession seem more mysterious than it really is. They use big words when short words would do just as well. They encourage workers to feel helpless unless a lawyer is representing them."

"My aim is not to teach you the law. It is to teach you how to teach yourself at least the broad outlines of the law, so that you can diagnose a labor law problem, just as you might size up what's wrong with the car engine."

Table of Contents

• I. On Being Your Own Lawyer
• II. Where Do Workers' Rights Come From
• III. The Basic Labor Laws

• The Norris-LaGuardia Act (1932)
• The National Labor Relations Act (1935)
• The Fair Labor Standards Act (1938)
• The Taft-Hartley Act (1947)
• The Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (1959)
• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (1964)
• The Occupational Safety and Health Act (1970)
• Employee Retirement Income Security Act (1974)

• IV. A Rank and Filer's Bill of Rights

• A. Individual Rights
• • The Right to Leaflet
  • The Right to Refuse Unsafe Work
  • The Right to be Represented
  • The Right to be Fairly Represented
  • The Right to Equal Treatment
  • The Right not to be Sexually Harassed
  • The Right to be Radical
• B. Communal Rights
• • The Right to Engage in Concerted Activity for Mutual Aid or Protection
  • The Right to Strike
  • Inside Strategies
  • The Right to Boycott
  • The Right to Receive Promised Fringe Benefits
  • The Right and Duty not to Work Overtime when Brothers and Sisters are Laid Off
  • The Right to do Something about It when the Company Tries to Leave Town

• V. Conclusion