Brief Description of Employees’ and Employers’ Associations
Trade unions constitute the largest and most influential employee organisations in the United States. A majority of trade unions are organised under two umbrella organisations: the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organisations (“AFL-CIO”) and the Strategic Organising Center, formerly known as the Change-to-Win Federation.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, an organisation dedicated to representing employers’ interests by engaging in lobbying campaigns, is the largest employer organisation in the United States. In certain heavily unionised sectors (e.g., healthcare), employers can and do create multi-employer bargaining organisations to collectively negotiate the terms of collective bargaining agreements with employee-elected unions.
Rights and Importance of Trade Unions
Due to the United States Constitution’s guarantee of a freedom of association, employees are free to form and join trade unions. As of late 2025, 14.7 million workers, or 10.0% of the workforce, are members of a trade union. Public-sector employees are unionised at a much higher rate (32.9%), than private-sector employees. Only about 5.9% of private industry employees are unionised. Industries with high unionisation rates included utilities (17.8%), transportation and warehousing (13.6%), and educational services (13.4%). Among occupational groups, the highest unionisation rates in 2025 were in education, training, and library occupations (32.5%) and protective service occupations (31.3%). While only a small portion of the U.S. workforce is unionised, trade unions wield significant lobbying power.
Types of Representation
Generally, most employers’ first exposure to unionisation comes in one of two ways: they notice signs of union organising activity taking place in their establishment or they are confronted with a request by a union to be recognised as the exclusive representative of their employees. If a union demands recognition based upon claimed support from a majority of employees (generally, using signed authorisation cards) in an appropriate bargaining unit, an employer that refuses to recognise the union will violate the NLRA unless, the employer “promptly” files a petition with the NLRB requesting an election to test the union’s majority status or the appropriateness of the unit. It is important to note, however, that if the employer commits an unfair labour practice that would require the election to be set aside, the NLRB will dismiss the petition without an election and order the employer to recognise and bargain with the union.
The election is conducted by way of a secret ballot that is supervised by an NLRB agent. No member of management or the union is allowed in the voting area and no electioneering can be conducted there, but both the employer and union may appoint observers to be present during the balloting process.
If a majority of the employees in the bargaining unit who cast their votes voted in favour of union representation, the union gets the right of “exclusive” representation of all the employees in the bargaining unit (not only the employees who voted in favour of the union).
Tasks and Obligations of Representatives
The NLRA’s stated purpose is “…to promote the full flow of commerce, to prescribe the legitimate rights of both employees and employers in their relations affecting commerce, to provide orderly and peaceful procedures for preventing the interference by either with the legitimate rights of the other, to protect the rights of individual employees in their relations with labour organizations whose activities affect commerce, to define and proscribe practices on the part of labour and management which affect commerce and are inimical to the general welfare, and to protect the rights of the public in connection with labour disputes affecting commerce.”
In furtherance of that purpose, the NLRA provides that employees shall have the right to self-organisation, to form, join or assist labour organisations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection. In addition, it protects the right of employees to refrain from any or all such activities.
Employees’ Representation in Management
Once certified by the NLRB as the exclusive bargaining representative of the employees in the bargaining unit, the employer must begin bargaining for a collective bargaining agreement in good faith with the union as the employees’ exclusive bargaining agent.
Other Types of Employee Representative Bodies
Outside of the representation by a union, or as otherwise provided by a negotiated collective bargaining agreement, employees do not have an independent right to management or board representation. U.S. law does not recognise works councils or other forms of employee representation.
