Management Consultant Gloats Over NLRB’s Anti-Worker E-Mail Ruling

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/01/23/management-consultant-gloats-over-nlrbs-anti-worker-e-mail-ruling/

by James Parks, Jan 23, 2008

With less than a year before the Bush administration packs up and moves out, employers and their allies at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) are pulling out every stop to squelch the freedom of workers to form unions. For example, the board now says employers can stop unions from communicating with workers by e-mail.

It comes as no surprise that employers are practically giddy over the ruling.

The NLRB—which is supposed to protect workers’ freedom to join a union—issued a decision days before Christmas that an employer can prohibit the use of its e-mail system for “non-job-related solicitations” and not be in violation of federal labor laws.

AFL-CIO Organizing Director Stewart Acuff says this is another restriction of workers’ rights by the Bush labor board:

It’s clearly counter to the long-established practice of workers being able to talk to one another at the job about unions and their rights.

Now listen to how Walter Orechwa of Projections Inc., an Atlanta-based management communications company, crows to its clients about the ruling:

Direct solicitation is the union organizer’s best shot at convincing non-union employees they should join up today. It occurs both inside and outside the workplace. The most effective method of curbing direct or on-the-job solicitation is to create—and strictly enforce—a no-solicitation, no-distribution policy.

Now let’s add e-mail use to the mix. Take this gift from the NLRB and use it well in the coming year—communicating your policy well (and communicating well in general) will only strengthen your employer brand. On the other hand, complacency will open the door very wide for union organizers. This is one resolution with which I hope everyone can stick.

FULL story at link.

[Spinzonner]

1. If they were going to be consistent

the they should also prohibit companies from communicating through email about anything that is not job or employment related, such as social activities, voluntarism efforts, and charity campaigns.

But they won't of course.