PS, they ALL know it’s over-reach. It’s just that a majority doesn’t care.
As expected, the SC has ruled that companies can sue their employees for losses due to a strike without first getting approval from the National Labor Relations Board.
Since workers staying home causes losses – that’s the point of a strike – the NLRB used to investigate if workers acted reasonably when leaving the job site. When they did, the NLRB would declare the strike protected and companies wouldn’t have standing to sue. This ruling removes that power, giving another weapon for strike-breaking companies.
So they can strike, they just need approval from the NLRB first?
No, companies no longer need to clear a hurdle with the NLRB before suing workers for the economic losses from a strike.
But it seems like this is about cases where the NLRB hasn’t already made a ruling, so if the NLRB gave prior authorization then it’d be fine.
Per Kavanaugh’s psuedo-dissent above, this was also a particularly egregious rewriting of the actual text of the law.
A company is always going to be able to file a case before a federal agency has ruled the strike protected, which is what happened here.
This. The prevailing legal view prior to this decision is that, essentially, no company can sue until and unless the NLRB gives them the green light to sue. This is because the law established that the NRLB, not the courts, are the arbiter of which kinds of strike actions are protected actions and which are not. This decision reverses that long-standing precedent, allowing companies to sue and forcing the courts to deal with the suit before the NLRB can weigh in.
So per this ruling, it’s not just that the NLRB has to rule the strike “justified” or whatever before the workers actually walk out, but also before any company legal filing about damages? Am I understanding this right?
Old regime:
Workers didn’t need permission from the NLRB before striking.
Companies did need permission from the NLRB before suing.
New regime:
Workers don’t need permission from the NLRB before striking.
Companies don’t need permission from the NLRB before suing.
State courts can still decide to hold the legal action until getting a ruling from the NLRB, but it isn’t clear they will wait, or that they have to wait.
Under “New regime” did you mean to write “before working” there? Did they have to get permission from the NLRB to go back to work before?
Nope, fixed. Sorry.
Ah OK, I figured.
So the upshot of this is that the union (potentially) now needs to deal with a legal hassle on top of taking care of its members and negotiating with the employer, no matter how justified the strike.
In the future, could the workers receive approval for a strike from the NLRB prior to actually engaging in the strike?
The dream of all employers:
- Capture NLRB
[??? Step 2 redacted] - Profit!
I don’t think the NLRB pre-approves strikes. It just rules whether a strike was protected or not in response to a complaint, like the union raising a complaint that the company is suing them for striking.
I started watching the PBS Frontline episode on Clarence and Ginni Thomas last night (I’ve got about 30 minute left, I hadn’t realized it was 2 hours long!). It’s a really fascinating look into their early lives and influences, and how they changed over time.
Clarence had a really hard go of it early, but it seems like he really drew the wrong conclusion about an early life event that spiraled him down an unlikely path that helped put him where he is today. Also, despite any hard life events that might make him seem sympathetic, as he gets older and starts to get a little bit of power he seems to turn into a tremendous power-hungry abusive asshole (long before he joins the court.) It’s his willingness to be a racist (a number of people interviewed talked about how he would be the first person to say racist shit to “break the ice”) that is a huge surprise to me. He is one fucked up person. As one person says “He’s a bundle of contradictions”.
Ginni seems to have started out being brought up by awful parents, and just continued along her early trajectory. There are comparisons made to what someone growing up today will be like if both their parents are huge Qannon believers.
Worth checking out if you have the time: