<Li> entering into "hot cargo" agreements (refusing to handle goods from an anti-union employer) </Li> <Li> striking or picketing a health care establishment without giving the required notice </Li> <P> Applying this general language to the real world requires, in the words of Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, "distinctions more nice than obvious". The substantive law applied by the NLRB is described elsewhere under specific headings devoted to particular topics . </P> <P> Not every unfair act amounts to an unfair labor practice; as an example, failing to pay an individual worker overtime pay for hours worked in excess of forty hours in a week might be a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, but it is unlikely to amount to an unfair labor practice as well . Similarly, a violation of a collective bargaining agreement, standing alone, may not constitute an unfair labor practice unless the employer has not only violated the contract but repudiated all or part of it . </P>

A labor union seeks to protect members from unfair labor practices and poor working conditions