Massachusetts law about unions and collective bargaining

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Massachusetts laws

MGL c.150 Conciliation and arbitration of labor disputes

MGL c.150A Labor relations

MGL c.150C Collective bargaining agreements to arbitrate

MGL c.150E Public employee labor relations

Massachusetts regulations

456 CMR Mass. Department of Labor Relations

Federal laws

29 USC §§ 151-169 National Labor Relations Act

Selected cases

Selected court cases on the topic of unions and collective bargaining

Forms

Department of Labor Relations forms, includes forms for: public employment, private employment, conciliation, mediation, and arbitration.

Agencies

Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations

National Labor Relations Board

Web sources

A guide to the Massachusetts public employee collective bargaining law, Mass. Dept. of Labor Relations.
This well-known book is now available online full-text. Includes detailed procedures, summary of law, and more.

Memorandum concerning Boston Housing Authority v. National Conference of Firemen and Oilers, Local 3, 458 Mass. 155 (2010), Chief Counsel Memorandum 2010-1, Department of Labor Relations, December 2, 2010.
If a public union contract expires, the terms and conditions in effect at the end of the contract will remain in effect.

NLRB bench book, National Labor Relations Board, 2021.
This bench book "sets forth Board precedent and other rulings and authorities on certain recurring procedural and evidentiary issues that may arise during the hearing. It is not a digest of substantive law. Nor should it be cited as precedent or considered a substitute for issue-specific research."

NLRB manuals, National Labor Relations Board. Includes:

• NLRB Casehandling Manual: Compliance Proceeding, 2020.
  Long (over 300 p.) document covers all facets of compliance proceedings.
• NLRB Casehandling Manual: Representation Proceedings, 2020.
  Long (over 300 p.) document covers the whole process from pre-election through post-election, including voting privacy.
• NLRB Casehandling Manual: Unfair Labor Practice Proceedings, 2021.
  Extremely lengthy (almost 300 p.) online version of book covers everything you need to know about unfair labor practice.

Union basics, U.S. Dept. of Labor.

Your right to form a union, National Labor Relations Board.

Print sources

"Enabling employee choice: a structural approach to the rules of union organizing," by Benjamin I. Sachs, Harvard law review, Vol. 123, Issue 3 (January 2010), pp. 655-729.

How to take a case before the NLRB, BNA, 2016.

Labor and employment in Massachusetts, Jeffrey L. Hirsch, LexisNexis, loose-leaf.
Chapter 12: Unions and Collective Bargaining.

Massachusetts employer's guide, Aspen Publishers, loose-leaf.
Chapter 10: Unions and Government Contractors.

Massachusetts employment law, MCLE, loose-leaf.
Chapters 21.

Massachusetts labor cases, Massachusetts Landlaw, monthly.

Massachusetts labor relations reporter, Massachusetts Landlaw, monthly.
Massachusetts public sector labor law and research companion to Massachusetts labor cases.

Municipal law and practice (Mass. practice v.18), Douglas A. Randall and Douglas E. Franklin, Thomson/West, with supplement.
Chapter 12: Labor Relations.

Your rights in the workplace by Sachi Barreiro, Nolo, 2018. (eBook available here with library card).

Last updated:	September 6, 2023