N.L.R.B. v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., 301 U.S. 1 (1937)

"The right of employees to self-organization and
to select representatives of their own choosing
without restraint or coercion is a fundamental right."

Steel strike following Supreme Court decision

Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, 1935. Ten workers at Jones & Laughlin Steel are fired. All are leaders in the local labor union -- that, they say, is why they were fired. After hearing both sides, the newly formed National Labor Relations Board orders the company to rehire the men. The company refuses. The government, even a Federal Court of Appeals, will not enforce the Labor Board's order. Until in 1937, when the U.S. Supreme Court rules.

"A single employee [is] helpless in dealing with an employer..." writes Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, "Union [is] essential to give laborers opportunity to deal on an equality with their employer... The right of employees to self-organization and to select representatives of their own choosing for collective bargaining or other mutual protection without restraint or coercion by their employer... is a fundamental right. Employees have as clear a right to organize and select their representatives for lawful purposes as the respondent has to organize its business and select its own officers and agents. Discrimination and coercion to prevent the free exercise of the right of employees to self-organization and representation is a proper subject for condemnation by competent legislative authority."

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AMENDMENT 1 Freedom of Religion, Speech, and Assembly

Passed by Congress September 25, 1789. Ratified December 15, 1791.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. [^].

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