29 U.S.C. § 157
Section 157 · Right of employees as to organization, collective bargaining, etc.
This is § 7 of the National Labor Relations Act
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 2,500 court decisions — leading case San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon (1959)
Most recently applied in Apple v. NLRB (July 2025)
Applied most in the Ninth Circuit Circuit (208 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 29 U.S.C. § 158 · 29 U.S.C. § 160 · 29 U.S.C. § 152
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment and consequential amendments — watch for a citation surge after a change. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Employees shall have 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 other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, and shall also have the right to refrain from any or all of such activities except to the extent that such right may be affected by an agreement requiring membership in a labor organization as a condition of employment as authorized in section 158(a)(3) of this title.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1947—Act June 23, 1947, restated rights of employees to bargain collectively and inserted provision that they have right to refrain from joining in concerted activities with their fellow employees.
Effective Date of 1947 Amendment
For effective date of amendment by act June 23, 1947, see section 104 of act June 23, 1947, set out as a note under section 151 of this title.
Communist Organizations and Members
Prohibitions placed on Communist organizations, and members thereof, with respect to labor, see section 781 et seq. of Title 50, War and National Defense, particularly sections 782(4A), 784, 792a, and 841 to 844 of that title.