I don't know what free speech is

Did you know that refusing to work is a free speech right?

So, again, to repeat, free speech does not mean that whatever you do is okay as long as you're trying to say something with what you're doing. It means that if something you do is okay, it is also okay if you're saying something.

So, for instance, if UC said workers could strike to protest Stanford, but not to protest, say, Harvard, that would be a free speech violation.

Putting this aside, we're also talking about a contract. If the unions sign a contract that says they cannot strike for a particular reason, that's that. The 1st ammendment doesn't apply.

posted by Beetle Aurora Drake 9/21/2005 11:48:00 AM #
Comments (2)

. . .

Comments:

If the unions sign a contract that says they cannot strike for a particular reason, that's that.

I believe it is slightly more complicated than that, and there are certain rights that you cannot sign away.

The major case about this that I recall (although possibly not with one hundred percent accuracy) was a contract that forbade the workers from getting married. One got married, and was fired, and sued and won because the right to marriage is something you can't sign away in a contract. So even if it is in the contract, it can't be enforced.

I believe the right to strike might be a similar situation.

# posted by  Andy : 2:05 AM, September 22, 2005

 

I doubt that sympathy striking is one such right, but meh, IANAL.

# posted by  Beetle Aurora Drake : 12:49 PM, September 22, 2005

 

Post a Comment