The Taft-Hartley amendments to the National Labor Relations Act turn 60 years old on June 23. In the first of what is likely to be several labor-written articles on the subject, the openly Marxist Political Affairs website weighs in:

Marking that infamous anniversary is appropriate: The Democratic-run House this year passed the Employee Free Choice Act, designed to undo some abuses that have arisen in the 60 years since Taft-Hartley became law. The Employee Free Choice Act (HR 800/S1041) is pending before the Democratic-run Senate, but faces a GOP filibuster and--if that fails--a veto by anti-worker GOP President George W. Bush.

As we noted earlier, one of the complaints about Taft-Hartley continues to be the provision that expressly recognizes an employer’s right to free speech:

Taft-Hartley enshrined in labor law the so-called “free speech” provision, letting employers campaign against unions. “Although unions are limited in campaigning on company time and property, employers are not,” writes noted St. Louis labor law attorney Bruce Feldacker in Labor’s Guide To Labor Law.

“An employer has the right to speak to employees on company time and require employees to attend the meeting. This is the so-called ‘captive audience’ doctrine. An union does not have the right to reply on company time,” Feldacker adds. It was cemented into labor law, other specialists say, by Taft-Hartley. The Employee Free Choice Act outlaws that captive-audience meeting.

Please note the last sentence in the above quote. “Captive audience meetings,” are not forbidden by the EFCA, but the card-check provisions are certainly designed to limit an employer’s opportunity to speak with employees about unionization.