ACLU using DEI strategy to attack Biden NLRB and preserve arbitration agreements w/employees

[All Along The Watchtower]

Matt Breunig has a write-up. Here are some highlights:

Earlier this week, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a two-page decision denying the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) request to appeal an administrative law judge’s (ALJ) decision to not defer a dispute with one of its former employees to arbitration. Like most progressive organizations, the ACLU has historically supported access to the courts and opposed forcing workers and consumers into arbitration. Yet this case reveals that the ACLU has arbitration agreements with its employees and is doggedly trying to use those agreements to keep them from accessing the NLRB.

Digging into the case reveals something even more surprising than run-of-the-mill hypocrisy from a progressive employer. In this proceeding, the ACLU is not merely attempting to have the case deferred to arbitration under existing Board law. It is also trying to expand Board law to force workers into arbitration in circumstances where they currently have a right to have their disputes heard by the NLRB.

Best part:

Given that the ACLU is a progressive organization that sits in a broader ecosystem that includes the labor movement, it is hard to understand why it is pursuing such aggressive and reckless legal theories at the NLRB. Their posture becomes even more puzzling after you read the details of the underlying dispute, which seems to have no real stakes for the practical operation of the organization and appears to just be the result of a DEI-crazed HR department.

The dispute centers around the termination of ACLU staffer Katherine Oh. According to the ACLU:

[Ms. Oh was] terminated for violation of her obligation to maintain a workplace free of harassment, including in her engaging in repeated hurtful and inciteful conduct for colleagues that impugns their reputation and her demonstration of a pattern of hostility toward people of color, particularly black men, and her significant insubordination.

What exactly did Ms. Oh, an Asian woman, do that is being characterized like this?

After the national political director, a manager that Ms. Oh and her colleagues had submitted complaints against, left the organization, Ms. Oh joked in a meeting announcing the departure that “the beatings will continue until morale improves.” The ACLU DEI officer said this comment was racist because the former national political director is a black man.

Ms. Oh said in a phone meeting that she was “afraid to raise certain issues” with her direct supervisor. This was also described as racist because that supervisor is a black man.

Ms. Oh claimed that another manager “lied to her when she identified the members of management who had ultimate responsibility over whether to proceed with a particular campaign.” This was also racist because that manager is a black woman.

ACLU: Advocating for your rights as a worker is racist if your manager is black, oh and also, all Biden-era NLRB decisions should be thrown out.  

[free my dawg]

Truly amazing that the Oppression Olympics have not only made its way off Tumblr, but into mainstream Dem politics.

And people wonder why Asians feel distant in the party.

[Devils30]

If Biden wins this year, the DEI complex is going to crash and burn spectacularly with Kamala's 2028 nomination and general election loss. All of the voters who can't stomach Trump but hate wokeness will find an outlet in a post-Trump Republican.

[lfromnj]

IIRC there was a study that showed more diversity reduced unionization. This is why I support ESG in my investments.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

If Biden wins this year, the DEI complex is going to crash and burn spectacularly with Kamala's 2028 nomination and general election loss. All of the voters who can't stomach Trump but hate wokeness will find an outlet in a post-Trump Republican.

A Harris nomination is far from guaranteed whether Biden wins or not. If she were the star that K-Hive talks up so much, she'd be making a name for herself right now instead of being kept in the shadows and awkwardly laughing/talking like a stoner in public appearances. If Biden loses, she'll be Quayle '00 revamped.

[GP270watch]

Most people who sign arbitration agreements have no idea they signed one, had no legal counsel before signing one, and have no choice if they want service or employment than to sign one. The widespread use of arbitration agreements is corporate garbage that has been allowed to flourish because of corporate power with lawmakers. Arbitration agreements are anti-justice and favor the powerful.

[Devils30]

If Biden wins this year, the DEI complex is going to crash and burn spectacularly with Kamala's 2028 nomination and general election loss. All of the voters who can't stomach Trump but hate wokeness will find an outlet in a post-Trump Republican.

A Harris nomination is far from guaranteed whether Biden wins or not. If she were the star that K-Hive talks up so much, she'd be making a name for herself right now instead of being kept in the shadows and awkwardly laughing/talking like a stoner in public appearances. If Biden loses, she'll be Quayle '00 revamped.

Very true, just saying you can see the storm clouds coming.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Felix Frankfurter was many things, not all of them good, but he's spinning in his grave so fast he could be a turbine for a clean energy plant.

[DaleCooper]

The ACLU still has some professionals in it, but for the most part it has been completely captured by these types of activists. I don't think they're even in favor of protecting harmful speech anymore.

[Benjamin Frank 2.0]

Without commenting on the substance but on the subject line, Holy acronyms, Batman!

[Horus]

The ACLU is a complete joke of an organization. They do not care about economic justice in the slightest and are obsessed with trans stuff. Free speech advocacy? Please. The days of a non-partisan, morally upright ACLU are long gone.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I don't think they're even in favor of protecting harmful speech anymore.

I believe that they are indeed not. I think strong arguments can be made against the ACLU's position in, say, the Skokie case, but that was their traditional stance and clearly no longer is.

My mother is a leftist lawyer and I grew up idolizing the ACLU's legacy in many ways. I'm glad she's not really following the doings of the organization anymore now that she's retired, because this would seriously disillusion and disturb her.

[All Along The Watchtower]

I don't think they're even in favor of protecting harmful speech anymore.

I believe that they are indeed not. I think strong arguments can be made against the ACLU's position in, say, the Skokie case, but that was their traditional stance and clearly no longer is.

My mother is a leftist lawyer and I grew up idolizing the ACLU's legacy in many ways. I'm glad she's not really following the doings of the organization anymore now that she's retired, because this would seriously disillusion and disturb her.

More like American Clowns and Losers Union amirite

[DaleCooper]

I don't think they're even in favor of protecting harmful speech anymore.

I believe that they are indeed not. I think strong arguments can be made against the ACLU's position in, say, the Skokie case, but that was their traditional stance and clearly no longer is.

My mother is a leftist lawyer and I grew up idolizing the ACLU's legacy in many ways. I'm glad she's not really following the doings of the organization anymore now that she's retired, because this would seriously disillusion and disturb her.

I haven't followed them closely in a while but if I had to guess, I imagine that the lawyers protecting people from warrant-less searches or convictions using illegally acquired evidence are probably still okay, but the free speech ones are compromised.

I remember one of their head lawyers a couple years ago was on Twitter (bad sign on its own right there) ranting about how some Jordan Peterson or other anti-trans book should be banned because it's dangerous. If that's what a growing percentage of their lawyers believe then I can't imagine them fighting hard to defend the free speech rights of people like neo-Nazis, pedophiles, or religious extremists again.