> It also said a company vice president had broken the law by criticizing the letter at a meeting with employees a few days after it was circulated Weird, breaking the law for just criticizing a letter written by employees? The judge might overturn this on the basis of free speech.
In the US (or at least California?) you typically have the right to discuss your working conditions, even if you're not unionized. More to the point, companies don't have the right to try and prevent these discussions from happening. Depending on how the criticism of the letter went down, it could very possibly have gone beyond what's legal.