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Strike and You're Out: The Supreme Court's Destruction of the Right to Strike

Ann C Hodges and Prof. Ellen Dannin, Truthout News Analysis Truthout
The strike has long been labor's most powerful weapon. Strikes put pressure on the employer - which needs the employees' labor to run the business. Congress understood the importance of the strike to labor unions, so it protected strikes in two ways in the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Although Congress made it clear that it viewed the strike as a right of utmost importance, the Supreme Court wasted no time in limiting and weakening the right to strike.

In Another Blow to NLRB, Court Says Bosses Don't Have To Notify Workers of Rights

Moshe Marvit Working In These Times / In These Times
Appeals Court rules NLRB cannot require employers to post notices informing employees of their labor rights. The decision, which comes less than three weeks after lack of regulatory enforcement led to a fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas that killed 14 and left about 200 injured, opens the door for businesses to challenge requirements that workers be informed of their health, safety and employment rights.

Judicial Amendments and the Attack on Worker Rights

Ellen Dannin and Ann Hodges, Truthout Op-Ed Truthout
NLRB passed by Congress and later amended by Congress - weakened by the courts - judges who are not elected. The answer is that the strong protections in the law Congress passed have been weakened by "judicial amendments" - that is, by court decisions that weaken or even eliminate worker rights and protections created by Congress.
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