Listening to: "You've got to hide your love away" - Eddie Vedder
Mood: Well rested
Article dujour: Why Card Check is Unconstitutional - WSJ Opinion piece
The Supreme Court has interpreted the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech, along with the Fifth and 14th Amendment due process clauses, to protect a variety of expressive and associational rights. The right to speak and associate anonymously is among those rights.
Who'd-a-thunk-it? The Supreme Court as a check and/or balance to a run-away legislature and executive.
Labor organizing has been one of the most contentious exercises in modern American history, often leading to violence and employee intimidation on both the management and union side. Demanding that workers state publicly (by checking "yes" or "no" on a card) whether they support unionization would involve real and immediate dangers of intimidation, and would deprive workers of their right to anonymous expression. The fact that individuals could refuse to sign a card is unavailing, since a refusal to choose, in this instance, is an effective no.
