[Excerpt] The purpose of this book is to introduce the reader to the federal law of unions and employers. This law is composed of two major elements. The first element is the National Labor Relations Act and the amendments to it. The second element is the decisions of the National Labor Relations Board and of the federal courts; these decisions interpret and apply the statutes. The statutes are long and complex, and the decisions of the Labor Board and of the courts number in the hundreds of thousands. As a result, this book cannot cover all of the law. Only the most important areas of the law are discussed, and the discussion of these areas is purposefully simplified. Although all of the following statements about the law are accurate, many are incomplete. Much more could be said about every topic addressed in this book.