The question is - and you would need to be more of a labor lawyer than I am to answer this one - are other forms of labor organization PROHIBITED? Or merely disincentivized? Suppose, for example, I say that I want to organize all the workers of this office building, regardless of job description, into one big union, which will bargain with and/or pressure all the employers in this building? Is this something which is -illegal- in the sense that I can be jailed for it? Or is it just that by proceeding in this unconventional way, the new labor organization can't take advantage of the 'protections' of the act, which, however, have been subverted by 70 years of employer and government action, and may not be worth it?  * * * You can't be jailed for organizing a nonstandard labor organization, but the organization will not be recognized unless its membership satisfies NLRA requirements. That means the govt won't compel the boss to negoiriate with it, recognize you, etc. jks <hr size=1>Do you Yahoo!? <a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/finance/mailsig/*http://tax.yahoo.com">Yahoo! Tax Center</a> - File online, calculators, forms, and more