2. Why was the union so insistent on having the ‘‘Definition of a Scab’’ posted on the bulletin board? On August 6, the collective bargaining agreement between the company and the union expired. Two days later, the union called a strike at the company’s facilities, including those at 3303 Express Lane, St. Louis, Missouri.

The strike ended on August 28 with the signing of a new three-year agreement. The following day, employees began returning to work. During the strike, a substantial number of bargaining unit employees at the plant crossed the union’s picket line and continued to work.

On September 2, the union distributed materials to its union stewards for posting on bulletin boards maintained by the union at the company’s facilities. One of the items posted was a commentary by author Jack London, entitled ‘‘Definition of a Scab’’:

After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad, and the vampire, he had some awful substance left with which he made a SCAB. A SCAB is a two-legged animal with a corkscrew soul, a water-logged brain, and a combination backbone of jelly and glue. Where others have hearts, he carries a tumor of rotten principles.

When a SCAB comes down the street men turn their backs and angels weep in Heaven, and the devil shuts the gates of Hell to keep him out. No man has the right to SCAB, so long as there is a pool of water deep enough to drown his body in or a rope long enough to hang his carcass with. Judas Iscariot was a gentleman . . .

compared with a SCAB; for betraying his master, he had the character to hang himself—

a SCAB hasn’t. Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. Judas Iscariot sold his Savior for thirty pieces of silver. Benedict Arnold sold his country for a promise of a commission in the British Army. The modern strikebreaker sells his birthright, his country, his wife, his children, and his fellow man for an unfulfilled promise from his employer, trust or corporation.

Esau was a traitor to himself. Judas Iscariot was a traitor to his God. Benedict Arnold was a traitor to his country. A strikebreaker is a traitor to himself, a traitor to his God, a traitor to his country, a traitor to his family, and a traitor to his class. THERE IS NOTHING LOWER THAN A SCAB. . . .

Union steward Cora Able immediately posted the ‘‘Definition of a Scab’’ along with another article, entitled ‘‘From Cora’s Desk,’’ praising the strikers and criticizing those who remained on the job, on a union bulletin board in the computer terminal room, adjacent to Room 102 at the company’s plant. Able posted the items in response to a memo from chief union steward, employee Anita Cain, requesting that she do so.