NLRB OKs Union Email Ban
The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that employers may prohibit use of company email to send out union-related messages, as long as other “non-job-related solicitations” are prohibited as well.
In the 3-2 decision, the Board ruled that employers have a “basic property right” to regulate use of company property, including communication systems. The panel reversed an administrative law judge’s decision that the newspaper couldn’t ban union-related messages at the same time it allowed “jokes, baby announcements, party invitations, and the occasional offer of sports tickets or request for services such as dog walking.”
The case involved emails sent in 2000 by Suzi Prozanski, president of the Newspaper Guild unit at the Register-Guard newspaper in Eugene, Oregon. Prozanski’s emails encouraged her fellow employees to march in a town parade and wear green to show support for the union in contract negotiations. The paper argued that it should be able to prohibit such emails from the company-owned email system. The NLRB agreed.
Union leaders derided the decision, calling it part of a pattern by the NLRB to undermine employee rights. “Anyone with email knows that this is how employees communicate with each other in today’s workplace,” said Jonathan Hiatt, attorney for the AFL-CIO. “Outrageously in allowing employers to ban such communications for union purposes, the Bush labor board has again struck at the heart of what the nation’s labor laws were intended to protect — the right of employees to discuss working conditions and other matters of mutual concern.”
Interestingly, the decision was released on the last day of NLRB Chairman Robert Battista’s term. President Bush has yet to renominate Battista. Several prominent Democrats have threatened to fight his reconfirmation, based on his alleged track record of anti-union decisions. However, many expect the president to attempt to keep Battista as chairman through a recess appointment.
Stay tuned for more.
