Our Work

The Committee does its work in several different ways:


  • Represents labor and employment law interests in the broader NLG

  • Organizes and cosponsors educational programming, including Continuing Legal Education for attorneys

  • Works with other organizations to support workers, including know-your-rights training 

  • Engages in policy work

  • Helps provide referrals

  • Submits amici and agency comments

  • Publishes a treatise: "Employee and Union Member Guide to Labor Law”



We communicate with our members primarily through a listserv. If you are a dues-paying member and are not yet on the listserv, please email us at nlglabor@gmail.com to be added. 


International Work


  • Cuba trip: The National Lawyers Guild Labor & Employment Committee (L&EC) serves as program consultant to Marazul Charters, a licensed travel service provider, on an annual research program in Cuba. The program consists of an international conference and a professional research program. Labor lawyers, trade unionists and neutrals have been a part of these delegations since 2000. In the winter of each year, Marazul and the L&EC announce the annual program. The Conference is endorsed by the NLG L&EC, the Labor Law Society of the National Union of Cuban Jurists (UNJC), the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC), the Brazilian Association of Labor Lawyers (ABAL), and the Association of Labor Lawyers of Argentina (AALA). The Conference is preceded by a research project where, consistent with the conference themes, delegates visit Cuban workplaces and interview workers, union leaders and labor lawyers. Upon return to the United States, the delegation publishes a report of the results of their research and conference participation.




Our Treatise

Offering labor’s perspective on significant areas of labor law, the Committee’s treatise, the Employee and Union Member Guide to Labor Law provides proven strategies for labor activists, as well as the text of major federal statutes. It includes approximately 500 pages dealing with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act, and relevant case law, as well as other federal employment discrimination laws.

This three-volume set covers:

  • Opposing discriminatory discharges

  • The right to strike and other forms of economic action

  • The rights of construction workers

  • The WARN Act

  • Representing unions and employees in bankruptcy cases

  • Pensions and other employee benefits

  • Job restructuring as a reasonable accommodation

  • And more!

Check out our new paperback version with a new color scheme!


Yearly NLG #Law4thePeople Convention and AFL-CIO Union Lawyers Alliance Convention 

  • Each year, the National Lawyers Guild hosts a convention to bring together Guild members. The Committee often hosts a membership meeting as well as panel events highlighting current labor and employment events. 

  • The AFL-CIO hosts a yearly conference of lawyers who engage in labor law on behalf of AFL-CIO affiliates. The Committee often hosts a gathering of its membership during the conference. 


Know-Your-Rights Activities

In 2015, the Labor & Employment Committee has created a booklet for picketers, titled You Have the Right to be Heard, a counterpart to the National Lawyers Guild series You Have the Right to Remain Silent and the Know Your Rights booklets that the Guild's National Police Accountability Project has published. 

You can get the original booklet which details the rights of all protestors here.  

Our booklet lays out the basic First Amendment and NLRA rights that workers have, both inside and outside the workplace, with particular emphasis on the rules that apply while picketing, when engaged in civil disobedience, and if arrested.


We have prepared a version of You Have the Right to be Heard (in b/w) that anyone can download, print, fold and cut to make their own booklets.  Click here for folding instructions.  

We also have a Los Angeles version available here.