Welcome to the website of the NLG Labor & Employment Committee

The Labor & Employment Committee of the National Lawyers' Guild includes lawyers, law students, legal workers, and worker representatives.  It serves as a liaison between the Guild and legal organizations that represent organized labor and workers.  As well, the L&EC works directly with organized labor and other organizations that represent workers.  The Committee collaborates with the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee [LCC], the National Employment Law Association [NELA] , and other professional legal associations on the national and local level.  The L&EC also works closely with and supports the Guild's Sugar Law Center for the Economic and Social Justice [Sugar Law Center] to improve conditions in poor and working communities.

ACTIVISM  L&EC members engage in a range of local, national and international issues and activities

ANTI-WAR  The L&EC provides support for labor anti-war activities.

BOOKS  The committee authors the Employee and Union Member Guide to Labor Law published by West.

CRIMINAL (MASS) DEFENSE  The L&EC supports the labor movement's efforts to defend workers engaged in mass actions.  Guild members represent workers accused criminally.  The L&EC is drafting a mass defense manual for attorneys who do not specialize in criminal law to assist them in situations where workers and union representatives are arrested during mass actions.

ECONOMIC RIGHTS  The L&EC supports various living wage campaigns, fights against sweatshop labor, increasing the number of women in the trades, assuring farmworker rights, etc.

ELECTORAL ACTIVITIES   The committee supports the labor movement's electoral efforts, including recruiting attorneys to assure fair elections.  L&EC members helped draft the AFL-CIO LCC's election law manual.

IMMIGRANT WORKERS   The L&EC supports labor and employment attorneys who represent immigrant workers.  The committee developed an Immigration Manual for Labor and Employment Attorneys to assist attorneys who do not specialize in immigration law to address immigration issues that affect their labor and employment work. The manual is available for a donation of $35.

INTERNATIONAL LABOR ISSUES   The L&EC co-sponsors an annual labor and employment educational seminar in Cuba.  The committee supports the work of the International Commission for Labour Rights [ICLR] and participates in delegations to monitor labor issues in other countries.  It also supports the International Association of Democratic Lawyers [IADL] and participates in their conferences and other activities.  The NLG's International Labor Justice Working Group [ILJWG] is a collaboration between the NLG Labor & Employment Committee and the NLG International Committee.  The L&EC supports efforts to strengthen ties with progressive labor and employment attorneys throughout the world.

NEWSLETTERS   The committee publishes a newsletter twice a year to coincide with the annual AFL-CIO Lawyers' Coordinating Committee conference (usually in April or May) and the annual NLG convention (usually in the fall).  If you would like to contribute an article, contact Fran Schreiberg.

UNION CAMPAIGNS  The L&EC supports labor struggles to unionize workers and our members have provided pro bono assistance to graduate students and recently to car wash workers seeking to organize.

WORKER CENTERS   The L&EC supports efforts to strengthen the ties between labor and worker centers throughout the country.