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118 W. Va. L. Rev. 841 (2015-2016)
Awakening the Spirit of the NLRA: The Future of Concerted Activity through Social Media

handle is hein.journals/wvb118 and id is 857 raw text is: 






    AWAKENING THE SPIRIT OF THE NLRA: THE FUTURE OF
        CONCERTED ACTIVITY THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA


I.    INTRODUCTION        .................................... ......842
II.   THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS ACT.....................845
      A. History and Purpose of the NLRA    .................  .....845
      B. Implementation, Interpretation, and Enforcement of the NLRA:
         The National Labor Relations Board... ........................849
III.  EMPLOYEES' RIGHTS UNDER THE NLRA AND THE RULE OF
      PROTECTED CONCERTED ACTIVITY..........         ...................852
      A. Employees' Right to Communicate    ................    .....854
      B. Protected Concerted Activity ......................... 856
      C. The Bounds ofProtection   ....................... .....860
      D. The NLRB's Position on Analogous Modalities of
         Communication       ............................ .......861
IV.   THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN EMPLOYEES' EFFORTS TO
      ORGANIZE         ........................................ ......863
V.    ANALYSIS: MAY THE ODDS BE EVER IN THE EMPLOYER'S FAVOR?....865
     A.  The Shift in Worker Organization and the Disparate
         Distribution ofPower   ..............................867
      B. Political Influences and Oscillation in Board Precedent..............868
         1. Conversation and Individual Speech as Concerted Action......869
         2. Narrowing Employees' Rights to Communicate: Register-
            Guard...........................           ............872
         3. A Change of the (Register) Guard: Purple Communications .. 874
      C. The Lost Purpose    .................................876
VI.   THE SOLUTION-DENTURES  FOR AN OLD ACT: A LIBfRAL
     APPLICATION OF THE PROTECTED CONCERTED ACTIVITY
     DOCTRINE WILL RESTORE THE LOST BITE AND SPIRIT OF THE
     NLRA................................................. 877
     A.  The Board Has Shown a Willingness to Take the Jurisprudence
         in this Direction  .......................... .........879
     B.  Considering the Demographical Changes in Worker
         Organization, Concerted Action Is the Future of the NLRA..........881
VII. THE ARGUMENTS  AGAINST WORKERS' RIGHTS .......     ..........884
VIII. CONCLUSION       ................................................. 885


841

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