State’s Right to Modify Collective Bargaining Rights

Our friend and accomplished labor lawyer Barbara Collins provided us with the answer to this week’s question:

Yes- if you are a state or local public employee.  The right to bargain collectively (be in a union) is a statutory right contained in the state law; that is, a right that can be removed by the state legislature.  Since 1965, the State of Connecticut has allowed its employees to bargain collectively, and not every state provides this right.

Only Congress can revoke the right of private sector employees to bargain collectively.