Democratic rights online
I posted a few things on this topic before, but at the Labor Notes conference interest meeting, I was again surprised to find that a number of people are overly afraid of the risks of retaliation for online speech. I will continue to work on this -- we need a good one page summary of legal rights for union webstewards (official and unofficial). If anyone has questions about their free speech rights, or faces retaliation or threats of retaliation for their online speech about union affairs, please contact the Association for Union Democracy. We will do our best to help.
»
- Matt Noyes's blog
- Login or register to post comments
- 673 reads
What I know
My understanding is that if you are on staff you can be fired for speech that disagrees, even mildly, with the leadership. In the popular press I read about bloggers who are fired, and those dismissals are upheld, when they talk about work life that management considers to be derogatory, even on their own time with their own resourecs.
One reason the power of staff is limited
Generally, union staff are "at will" employees. So, yes, they can be fired for no reason at all. Even where there is a staff union with a contract, union employers can find ways to retaliate against those who disagree with leadership policies. I was referring to union members, whose rights online are protected by overlapping laws. One reason I like your pieces, Wayne, is that you describe well the challenges of pushing for change from a staff position. I mostly work with union members who have more freedom to challenge the leadership.
I suppose
I suppose that also applies for staff who are also "members" of the union. Again, what I've assumed is that you can be dismissed from your "day job" and still maintain your union membership so you can then have access to whatever protections are available.