Newspaper Guild President Linda Foley at Media Reform Conference
I'm at the National Conference on Media Reform where I attended a panel called "Strike Out: Dropping the Ball on Labor." President of the Newspaper Guild, Linda Foley, was one of the panelists. She has a great deal to say about the battles currently facing labor when it comes to breaking the corporate media blockade. Sadly, there was little said about how labor doesn't necessarily need the major media to get their message out and about how they can chart their own course via the World Wide Web. While the panel was well attended there is a serious lack of labor leadership at this conference.
Video is on the Workers Independent News site. All together it is roughly 15 minutes.
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Operating Engineers Move to Silence Member Web Sites
From The Public Citizens Web Site:
PUBLIC CITIZEN PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: Contact: Paul Levy (202) 588-1000
March 29, 2007 Rachel Pleatman (202) 588-7742
Public Citizen Files Lawsuit on Behalf of Engineers Union Membership To
Protect Free Internet Communication
Members Have Free Speech Right to Speak Online Within Union and With Public
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Public Citizen filed a lawsuit today with the U.S.
District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of members of the
International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) alleging that their right to
communicate has been infringed upon by the union.
IUOEs executive board violated its members statutory free speech rights by
announcing a new rule that would force union members to password-protect
personal Web sites containing information about union elections so that they can
be viewed only by other members of the union. The union has also maintained an
illegal provision in its constitution that states that members will be fined
if they sue the union without first exhausting intra-union remedies.
According to the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959
(LMRDA), all members have the right to speak to each other as well as to the
general public about union affairs and elections. The act also defends the right
of union members to sue their own union without the threat of discipline.
The IUOEs membership is widely dispersed across the United States and
Canada, making non-Internet communication between members costly and difficult.
Many locals are spread over entire states or even several states. Members who
want to express their views about matters that affect the entire union cannot
effectively do so on their own job sites or through traditional mail.
Open communication through the Internet is vital to union members who do not
agree with the direction incumbent officers are taking. Member Web sites
also allow union members in other parts of the country to show support for
candidates in upcoming elections and keep the public and the press informed about
what issues unions may be dealing with.
In addition, creating a Web site that is password-protected involves more
technical skill, which may prevent IUOE members from attempting to produce
their own sites. Even if the owners Internet service provider offers the service,
the process can be costly. Moreover, members are less likely to view the Web
site if they have to enter data about themselves in order to access it.
Punishing members who lack the technical know-how or financial ability to
comply with this rule, or who want the public at large to know about their
campaign, is a direct violation of their right to free speech, said Paul Levy, a
Public Citizen attorney who filed the complaint. The new rule is an attempt
to keep sensitive information secret when in fact that sensitive data is
actually the fact that members disagree with incumbent leaders policies and want
to change union policy.
Article XVII, Section 4 of the IUOE constitution requires that members go
through internal union remedies before filing a lawsuit and states that members
who file suit without doing so shall be subject to a fine equal to the full
amount of the costs incurred in the defense of such action by the union. The
LMRDA forbids unions from limiting members access to litigation, and previous
courts have struck down union constitutional provisions similar to IUOEs
Article XVII, Section 4. Because the only opportunity to appeal a decision of
the unions executive board is at the unions convention next year, long after
the new Web site rule goes into effect, pursuing the unions remedies would
allow members to be punished without court protection.
The IUOEs general counsel has stated that the union plans to enforce its Web
site password protection rule even though it violates its members free
speech. As a result, Public Citizen asks in its complaint to grant injunctions
against the Web site rule and Article XVII, Section 4 of the IUOE constitution.
Public Citizen lawyers Levy and Greg Beck filed the complaint, which seeks
declaratory and injunctive relief.
To read the complaint, visit:
_http://www.citizen. org/documents/ iuoecomplaint. pdf_