AFT-NH Scholarships - Closes May 1st!

AFT-NH has released their 2022 scholarships. To get an application and other relative information, please visit https://www.nashuatu.org/member-services/scholarships

Weingarten Rights

The right of employees to have union representation at investigatory interviews was announced by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 1975 case (NLRB vs. Weingarten, Inc. 420 U.S. 251, 88 LRRM 2689). These rights have become known as the Weingarten rights.

Employees have Weingarten rights only during investigatory interviews. An investigatory interview occurs when a supervisor questions an employee to obtain information which could be used as a basis for discipline or asks an employee to defend his or her conduct.

If an employee has a reasonable belief that discipline or other adverse consequences may result from what he or she says, the employee has the right to request union representation. Management is not required to inform the employee of his/her Weingarten rights; it is the employees responsibility to know and request.

When the employee makes the request for a union representative to be present management has three options:

1. It can stop questioning until the representative arrives.

2. It can call off the interview or,

3. It can tell the employee that it will call off the interview unless the employee voluntarily gives up his/her rights to a union representative (an option the employee should always refuse.)

Employers will often assert that the only role of a union representative in an investigatory interview is to observe the discussion. The Supreme Court, however, clearly acknowledges a representative's right to assist and counsel workers during the interview.

The Supreme Court has also ruled that during an investigatory interview management must inform the union representative of the subject of the interrogation. The representative must also be allowed to speak privately with the employee before the interview. During the questioning, the representative can interrupt to clarify a question or to object to confusing or intimidating tactics.

While the interview is in progress, the representative can not tell the employee what to say but he may advise them on how to answer a question. At the end of the interview the union representative can add information to support the employee's case.

Source: http://wa.aft.org/resources/weingarten-rights

AFT-NH Bulletin 2022-13 Urgent Action Needed

Still time to take action on HB 1393 (school budget cap bill) This past week the Senate Election Law and Municipal Affairs Committee heard testimony on HB 1393, the bill on local school district budget caps. There was a good turnout of people explaining why this bill would be harmful to our students, families and schools. Budget caps would not be required to be set at a level that provides the current school programs and services. The per pupil spending formulas in this bill would not allow for unexpected increases in costs and would pit families against each other as school programs and services are cut to try to meet budget caps. It is not too late to contact your Senator and tell them why this is a bad bill.

Action Request Please help defeat HB 1393. Please click the following link and TELL YOUR SENATOR TO VOTE NO ON HB 1393.