Exploring the Legal Status of America's Most Marginalized Workers

Arthur N. Read, Friends of Farmworkers

© 2003 Arthur N. Read, Material to be reproduced only with permission

Table of Contents

NLRA Rights

Marginalized Workers

Marginalization of agricultural & domestic service workers

Basis for NLRA Exclusion of Agricultural Workers

Organizing without NLRA Protection 

State Agricultural Labor Relations Acts

Labor Relations Acts Not Excluding Farmworkers

State Labor Relations Acts Excluding Farmworkers

Anti-injunction Statutes and Labor Disputes

Anti-injunction Statutes and Labor Disputes – State Statutes

Argument that public policy declarations of state Norris-La Guardia law confers substantive recognition of right to organize

Protections in Right to Work Laws

Defining Excluded Agricultural Workers  

FLSA Definition Agriculture, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 203(f)

Status of Nursery, Greenhouse, Mushroom Workers

State Labor Relations Acts – Definition of Agriculture  

NLRA, Sec. 10(a) Deferral to State Labor Jurisdiction

Flexible Alternatives to NLRB Procedures

Changes to NLRA Appropriation Rider Definition of Agriculture

Protections for Nursery, Greenhouse & Mushroom Workers

The Right to Organize is an Inherent Right of Workers

International Law Protection

First Amendment Speech Protections

Marginalization of Undocumented Workers – Hoffman Plastics

Workers Compensation: Undocumented Workers

FLSA Claims for Unpaid Wages for Undocumented Workers

Retaliation Protections

FLSA Claims for Retaliation

FLSA Claims for Retaliation and Undocumented Workers

Other Retaliation Protections

Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act

Occupational Safety and Health Act

Claims Before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

Retaliation Protections: 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1981

State Law Tort Claims for Wrongful Discharge and Other State Law Claims

Organizing the Unorganized

AFL-CIO Executive Council: Immigration February 16, 2000

Alternative Organizing Models

Contingent Work Abuse

Independent Contractors

“Self-Employed Workers”  

Temporary Guestworker Programs

Subcontracting: the Legal Framework

National Labor Relations Act: Employers

Laws With a Broad Definition of Employment Relationships

The Occupational Safety & Health Act:  Employers

The Equal Employment Opportunity Act: Employers

Legislative Action to Address Hoffman Plastics and the Legal Marginalization of Immigrant and Temporary Workers

International Law Appendix: Treaty Provisions Protecting Labor Rights of Workers in the United States

Table 1:      Binding Treaty Provisions Protecting the Right to Freedom of Association to Protect Labor Union Interests

Table 2      Binding Treaty Provisions Protecting the Rights to Equality Before the Law, Equal Protection and Non-Discrimination

Table 3      Binding Treaty Provisions Protecting the Right to Fair Remuneration

Table 4       Binding Treaty Provisions Protecting the Right to Proper Working Conditions

Table 5      Binding Treaty Provisions Protecting the Right to Effective Recourse Through Legal Aid