City seizes union signs

I've made much here lately of corporations' bottomless war chests that they use to fight workers. This was aggravated by the Bush regime's refusal to enforce federal laws that protect the right to form unions - and by last week's Supreme Court ruling creating corporate "rights" from whole cloth.

But now the United Brotherhood of Carpenters is finding its free speech under assault in one Bay Area town.

In communities all over the region, the union has posted signs criticizing builders for paying shitty wages. But in Santa Clara, California, town officials have been confiscating these signs - simply because they disagree with the message.

Now the carpenters' union is quite rightly suing the city for blatantly violating its free speech rights.

The union's banner was taken down when a developer firm complained of feewinghurt. The company also claimed the union was handing out leaflets on company property - but this turned out to be a lie.

This after the company expected workers to take a wage cut in 2008 - when inflation was at the worst it's been in my lifetime.

Unfortunately, the Bay Area is stone at the center of the Ninth Circus, which (despite being thought of as a liberal court) has often been downright hostile to free speech.

(Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_14261037?nclick_check=1)