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 You are here: Home >> Labor Law >> Specific Union Tactics >> Picketing and Handbilling

Picketing and Handbilling

Consumer appeals

  Picketing is an attempt to publicize existence of a dispute
  Picketing is treated differently from other forms of free speech since it's more limited in efforts to reach consumers/public.

Does picketing work?

  Pickets cannot urge a total boycott of a business
  Product must have separate identity from business of secondary employer
  Access to private property must be considered (Lechmere case)

Is picketing distinct from handbilling?

  Appearance
  Level of coercion
  Whether used in conjunction with one another

Common Situs Picketing
This is the usual case in construction where there is more than one employer engaged in normal business operations at a specific work site.

Moore Dry Dock Standards

  Location (situs) of dispute is on secondary employer's property.
  Employer must be present (or normally would have been present, but for a change in schedule due to the dispute)
  Signs must clearly state identity of primary employer.
  Pickets must remain reasonably close to primary.

General Electric Standards - picketing at a primary site to insulate secondary employers from effects of picketing

  The employer must establish and maintain a separate gate.
  Work of secondary employer is unrelated to normal operations of primary.
  In the absence of the dispute, work of secondary must not require curtailment of the normal operations of primary.


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