The National Labor Relations Board says any “aggrieved” person (not just an employee) can file a complaint of unfair labor practices against an employer. So does that include any old Internet troll? We may soon find out now that a Twitter rando has filed a NLRB complaint against Ben Domenech, editor of the online opinion journal The Federalist, over his joke tweet saying that if any employees unionize he would “send you to the salt mine.” [New Civil Liberties Alliance]
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Way back in the 60’s, when the union representing NLRB professionals was nascent, I was working in Region 22 (Newark, NJ) under the late John Cuneo as the Regional Director. When word reached us of the organizing efforts in the regional offices, Cuneo’s reaction was priceless, as he said that “Any union in my region is going to be company dominated!”
I left before the union got in, so I don’t know if his prediction came true.
There is a First Amendment defense here.