Absolutely. If you can talk about sports, movies or what you did over the weekend, you can talk about the union. It is illegal to discriminate against union activity. In fact, if you are engaged with other workers in pushing to address workplace issues, your concerted activity will be protected by law. That being said, here are some guidelines:
- When you are on paid work time (not including breaks) you can be expected to do your work. Your supervisor can ask you to stop talking and to get back to your job as long as he or she would do the
same if you were talking about anything else. - If you are meeting with a union steward or representative to discuss a grievance or investigation, you can be required to have that meeting outside of working hours.
- If you want to solicit someone to join the union at a workplace, you should do that on breaks (whether paid or unpaid), or on other non-work time.
- If you are soliciting for other union-related matters (chapter raffles, petitions, etc..) you would need to comply with the solicitation rule for the workplace involved.
- If you want to attend a union meeting, you should do it on your own time.
- If you are attending a meeting or doing union work in a capacity that is eligible for union leave, you should notify your supervisor and take any other steps that are needed to make that clear. You should also be able to account for the time you take off, including being clear on rules governing travel to and from the meeting.
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