The Right to be a Recalcitrant Union Member

Abstract

In 1954, the United States Supreme Court considered the problem of union discipline in the case of Radio Officers\u27 Union v. NLRB. The Court clearly stated that the policy of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) insures the right of each employee who chooses to join a union to be a good, bad, or indifferent member. Although the validity of this phrase seems to be generally accepted, it has never been enforced as an affirmative right. The purpose of this Note is to analyze the embryonic right to be a recalcitrant union member. Since most studies have examined this area in terms of the validity of union discipline against the member, this Note will necessarily assume a different approach. The question is what affirmative rights does a member have to subvert union authority. In order to examine this question more thoroughly, the scope of this Note will be limited to an analysis of the legal developments in two areas: (I) union restrictions on employee production; and (2) union discipline for filing with the NLRB. Following this analysis, decisions of both the NLRB and the courts will be examined to determine the existence and scope of the right to be a recalcitrant union member

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