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Self Help
Practical Law Glossary Item 3-517-3032 (Approx. 3 pages)
Glossary
Self Help
In the labor relations context, a unilateral action by a party in a collective bargaining dispute to:
- Apply economic pressure to its collective bargaining counterpart as leverage in negotiations.
- Pursue its best interests.
Self help typically includes one or more of the following:
- An employer:
- implementing new employment terms and conditions; or
- locking employees out of its facilities and preventing them from working and earning their wages.
- A union:
- striking;
- picketing;
- slowing work or production;
- working to the specific terms of an existing collective bargaining agreement; or
- endorsing boycotts.
Self help may not be lawful in all circumstances. For information about rights and limitations on the rights to engage in self help under the National Labor Relations Act, see Practice Notes, Labor Law: Overview and Employee Rights and Unfair Labor Practices Under the National Labor Relations Act.
For information about the Railway Labor Act, see Practice Note, Railway Labor Act: Overview.
For self help definitions in other contexts, see self-help mechanism.