Workers should have the freedom to choose whether or not to join a union. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a union-organizing case in its next term. The Washington Times reports:
The Supreme Court has an opportunity to return from the dark side during its next term. The court on Monday agreed to hear a union-organizing case that casts a fresh spotlight on campaigns to force workers into labor unions. The right result could restore freedom to the workplace.
Union-organizing efforts are usually portrayed as two-dimensional fights between union bosses and business bosses, with employees pushed around as if they were pawns in a chess game. It’s not always so. When the union wanted to organize at Mardi Gras Gaming, a casino, the company was willing to help the union.
The case, Mulhall v. Unite Here, is about company owners and managers who struck a secret deal to turn over employees’ personal contact information to union organizers. The managers promised to remain neutral during a “card check”-style union election that gave the union knowledge of how each employee voted. This is a tactic to intimidate employees into voting “yes” lest the union retaliate later. In return, the union promised not to boycott or picket the business and to make a $100,000 donation to a campaign to make slot machines legal in Miami
