(Source: Alternet.org, February 28, 2012)
The growing trend of legislators in Southern states that already have low union density and so-called “right-to-work” laws on the books proposing harsher anti-union laws has now spread to Georgia.
In a move that could impact non-labor groups engaged in direct action, picketing, or protest, Georgia’s Senate Bill 469 includes felony penalties for “criminal trespass” and, unbelievably, “conspiracy to commit criminal trespass” — the punishment being a $10,000 fine or a year in jail, or possibly both. That this is specifically included in a bill that cracks down on organizations’ right to picket outside a workplace or company seems to indicate that a union or other group engaged in picketing could be charged with a crime for the activity of one member who crosses the line.
Full story: www.alternet.org