Know Your Weingarten Rights
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Your Weingarten Rights are your legal rights to have Union Representation in any meeting
with your supervisor, store manager, company representative, or security personnel when
you believe that anything you might say in the meeting could result in any kind of
disciplinary action against you.
Immediately call your Steward or your Union Representative. Don’t be tricked out of your rights
by a supervisor (or other company employee) who may tell you that if you bring your Steward
or Union Representative into the meeting, the company will take stronger action against you –
this is an unfair labor practice.
You must know about your Weingarten rights to use them. You must request Union
representation. Your supervisor or store manager is NOT required to inform you about your
Weingarten rights.
If you get a call at home from a store manager who wants to ask questions that you believe
could lead to some kind of disciplinary action, demand your Weingarten Rights and refuse to
answer any questions until you talk to your Union Representative.
Union Representative Dave Young says the issues that companies are investigating are often
the company’s own fault. “Usually it’s a computer mistake or an over-zealous store manager
who thinks he’s going to get points for bagging a part-timer.”
Imagine this. You’re still feeling new to your job and you don’t know all
your Union rights. You’re supervisor comes up to you and says he wants
to meet with you. You get a little scared. You follow him into his office. You
see a security officer (or a “loss prevention specialist”) sitting there, too.
They want to talk to you. They start to ask questions. What do you do?
YOU DEMAND YOUR RIGHTS! They’re called your Weingarten Rights. And they protect you in a situation like this. While older Union members know about their Weingarten Rights, newer members and part-timers sometimes don’t know about them – and every Union member should know them.
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