Exact statutory text. Section 7 of the NLRA (29 U.S.C. 157) states what employees may do; Section 8(a) lists what employers may not do about it.
Section 7 rights
The original 1935 text gave employees the right to self-organization, to form, join or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in concerted activities for mutual aid or protection.
The Taft-Hartley amendments of 1947 added one more: the right to refrain from any or all of those activities, except to the extent affected by a lawful union-security agreement authorized under Section 8(a)(3). The refrain clause is the only 1947 addition; the other three are genuine Section 7 rights from the original text.
Section 7 does not require a union. Three non-union employees who jointly email the plant manager about a weekend scheduling rule are engaged in concerted activity for mutual aid or protection. Nothing conditions the right on certification or confines it to an election period, and the provision is expressly about concerted activity, not individual complaints only.
The five employer unfair labor practices
Section 8(a) lists five, not four, not six.
- 8(a)(1) interfering with, restraining or coercing employees in the exercise of Section 7 rights.
- 8(a)(2) dominating or interfering with the formation or administration of a labor organization, or contributing financial or other support to it. An employer-created, employer-funded committee set on wages and scheduling is 8(a)(2), not the broader 8(a)(1).
- 8(a)(3) discrimination in hire, tenure or any term or condition of employment to encourage or discourage union membership. Denying a promotion because the applicant is an active union member is 8(a)(3).
- 8(a)(4) discharging or discriminating against an employee for filing charges or giving testimony under the Act. Reprisal for NLRB testimony is 8(a)(4), never 8(a)(3).
- 8(a)(5) refusing to bargain collectively with employee representatives, subject to Section 9(a). This is the fifth.
Carry this in: refrain clause 1947, five ULPs, and 8(a)(2) is support while 8(a)(4) is reprisal for testifying.