The Attack On The First Amendment Isn't New -- Employers Have Been Silenced Since The 30s

Forbes ^ | April 28, 2015 | George Leef

[reaganaut1]

Over the last several years, Americans have seen a frightening rise in hostility to freedom of speech. Much of that has occurred on college campuses, where we find that many students, faculty members, and administrators do not want free speech, but only speech that they agree with.

That is not, however, a new phenomenon. Since the enactment of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) in 1935, employers have had to operate in a legal environment that’s hostile to free speech. They can find themselves in trouble for saying things that union advocates and their bureaucratic allies don’t like.

The NLRA doesn’t directly state that employers lose the protection of the First Amendment whenever they say something derogatory about unions, or something that might make their workers less inclined to favor unionization, but its provisions operate that way. While the law is ostensibly intended to allow workers free choice between union representation or not, it stacks the deck in favor of unions and collective bargaining (without which, workers are tendentiously declared not to have “full freedom of contract”).

Under the vociferously pro-union Obama National Labor Relations Board, the assault on the freedom of employers to oppose unionization has been relentless.

[ExTxMarine]

That is TRUE! Having worked in both environments, including companies who were attempting to AVOID becoming union, the NLRB will come down HARD on any company that discredits or “attacks” the union.

Of course, the fact that the Union reps are discrediting the company and attacking the company, and making “promises” (which is ILLEGAL), they NEVER get hammered by the NLRB!

Union rep “mistakes” are chalked up to “oversight” or “low-level operatives” who didn’t know any better! Just like the media and DOJ treat Democrat scandals! See Clinton Foundation as an example of a simple “oversight!” If you or I made such a simple “oversight” (to the tune of a few MILLION DOLLARS), we would be sitting in a Federal Prison right now!!

[tanknetter]

It’s, unfortunately, up to the workers to take it upon themselves educate themselves on both sides of the issue so they can make informed decisions.

However, there are lots of promising signs thats exactly what happened. The VW plant in TN a couple years back that refused to unionize. More recently the Boeing workers in SC that ran union agitators off at gunpoint.

[Impy]

Burn in hell, FDR.