Today’s Labor Updates:

Email at Work: Unions Await Key Ruling

Telecommunications Workers Union and United Steelworkers Announce Merger

Hardline French CGT union fails to rally strike support

 

Email at Work: Unions Await Key Ruling

NLRB to Decide Whether Workers Can Use Company Email to Discuss Ways to Improve Working Conditions

By Melanie Trottman

Updated Nov. 9, 2014 12:58 p.m. ET

Business groups are bracing for a ruling by federal regulators that could require employers to let workers use company email systems to communicate about ways to work together to improve wages and working conditions, potentially giving unions a powerful organizing tool.

The National Labor Relations Board, which resolves workplace disputes and oversees union elections in most of the private sector, is considering reversing a 2007 ruling that employees don’t have a statutory right to use employers’ email systems for such purposes.

Since then, the board’s makeup has changed—all five members were appointed by President Barack Obama. Also, the NLRB’s general counsel, whose opinion can hold sway at the agency, has urged the board to reverse the 2007 decision, saying email is a primary way that workers communicate with each other and is vital to their rights under federal labor law to work together for mutual aid and protection—with or without a union.

The board is considering the question as part of a case in which a union said a California communications company’s email rule is too restrictive and violates the rights the board should be protecting. The case has drawn input from unions and business groups alike, who are watching it as one of several pending cases the board is expected to use to put its stamp on federal labor policy.

Unions argue that the 2007 policy needs updating to reflect the increasing importance of email as a means of employee communication, including discussions about exercising decades-old rights to join a union or organize without one. Workplace email, they say, is the modern-day equivalent of the office water cooler, where employees gather to talk.

‘The manner in which data moves from a personal device, through an employer’s email system, and through a third-party server makes drawing lines on the basis of who owns certain property nearly impossible to administer.’ 

—Service Employees International Union

Business groups disagree, saying a change could violate employers’ property rights, congest servers, threaten worker productivity and infringe on companies’ First Amendment rights not to communicate the unwanted messages of others.

It isn’t clear when the board will rule in the case, although many people expect a decision before year-end. The board did rule on some allegations unrelated to the company’s email rule but carved out the email question for separate consideration.

The case was filed by the Communications Workers of America, which complained to the NLRB in 2012 after it lost elections to represent workers at two facilities of Purple Communications Inc., a Rocklin, Calif., company that provides interpreting services to people who are deaf and hard of hearing.

The CWA said the company’s email rule, among other things, interfered with the elections. The rule, which remains in the company’s employee handbook, forbids employees from using the company’s email system for anything other than business purposes and prohibits them from engaging in activities on behalf of organizations with no business affiliation with the company.

A lawyer for the company says that means workers can’t use company email for personal reasons, including communications with each other, or with a union, about improving their wages or working conditions. If they do, they risk being disciplined by the company. The rule, the firm says, doesn’t violate workers’ rights.

‘We restrict email use to business purposes so it doesn’t become a distraction. I think many companies have a similar rule.’ 

—Robert Kane, a lawyer who represents Purple Communications

“We restrict email use to business purposes so it doesn’t become a distraction. I think many companies have a similar rule,” said Robert Kane, a lawyer who represents Purple Communications. Mr. Kane works in Newport Beach, Calif., at Stuart Kane LLP.

The union wants the board to establish a rule that when an employer generally allows employees access to its email system, the employees should be able to use the system to communicate about working conditions, including union-related efforts, with limited exceptions. “We believe this is a practical approach that accommodates employer interests and” workers’ rights, the union said in a brief.

It isn’t clear to what extent such a rule would change existing practices among employers. Corporate lawyers say some companies do allow use of their email systems for communication about union-related and other activities to improve pay and working conditions. They suspect that many more don’t. And some might not address it at all so long as it isn’t a problem.

“Many employers allow some limited personal use of company email as long as it doesn’t interfere with productivity or the security of the system,” said Jonathan Fritts, a partner in Washington for Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP who filed a brief in the case on behalf of the Council on Labor Law Equality, a business trade group. An open question is if the board will decide “whether some personal use of the employer’s email system opens it up to use for union purposes,” he said.

Employer groups fear that if the board reverses its 2007 policy, unions will exploit the opportunity by using email systems for activism and outreach.

“There is no justifiable basis for creating a new ‘right’ of employees,” a coalition of business groups said in a brief filed in the case. Doing so “would have a very harmful impact on employers.”

Unions say email property rights aren’t the issue and can be hard to track in a society where electronic communications have blurred the lines between work and personal time. Many employees who use their own or company-issued devices send personal emails at work and work emails during personal time.

“The manner in which data moves from a personal device, through an employer’s email system, and through a third-party server makes drawing lines on the basis of who owns certain property nearly impossible to administer,” the Service Employees International Union said in a brief in the case.

The ubiquity argument cuts both ways, though, with business groups saying workers don’t need to access an employer’s email system to discuss working conditions. “Everybody carries email in their pockets with their smartphones,” said Mr. Kane.

After the CWA filed its email and other election-related charges against Purple Communications, the NLRB issued a complaint against the company on the union’s behalf in 2013. An NLRB judge dismissed the allegation about the email rule, citing the 2007 ruling as precedent.

The CWA appealed to the agency’s board, where the case is pending.

The board, which has the final say at the agency, consists of three Democrats and two Republicans. In April, the board asked for public input on whether it should overrule the 2007 decision and if so, what standards it should set for email access or restrictions, if any.

The general counsel, in a brief filed in response, said the board should specifically decide that employees who use their employer’s email system to do work have the statutory right to use the system for the purposes in question in the case, during “nonwork time,” unless an employer can show a specific need to maintain production and discipline.

Write to Melanie Trottman at melanie.trottman@wsj.com

Telecommunications Workers Union and United Steelworkers Announce Merger

TORONTO, Nov. 7, 2014 /CNW/ – In a referendum vote counted today, members of the Telecommunications Workers Union (TWU) have voted 73.7% in favour of joining the United Steelworkers (USW).

The TWU represents 12,000 members across Canada who work for telecommunications companies including TELUS and Shaw Communications, as well as employers in related telecommunications sectors.

“This is a great result for our membership, our families and our communities across Canada.  This merger will help us improve the working lives of our members,” said TWU National President Lee Riggs.

“It is a great step forward and there is a real sense of unity and excitement in our membership about the future,” Riggs said.

“This merger is an example of a shared, positive vision for the labour movement: global, outward-looking and focused on concrete action. We are optimistic about the future and we’re honoured by the votes cast by so many TWU members,” said USW National Director Ken Neumann.

The merger agreement takes formal effect on January 1, 2015, but both unions will kick off joint activities immediately. The agreement includes strong, mutual commitments around collective bargaining, education, organizing and legislative action.

“With the USW’s extensive international network of allies and resources and the TWU’s deep expertise in the sector, our newly merged union can become a global leader in the telecommunications sector,” Riggs and Neumann said in a joint statement.

Balloting was conducted electronically, over a 24-day period, to facilitate participation by members in a wide array of workplaces, communities and shift arrangements.

The merger website is www.wearestrongertogether.ca  

The Telecommunications Workers Union (TWU) has a proud 70-year history of representing communications workers and workers in related fields. We represent 12,000 members across Canada that work for telecommunications companies like TELUS and Shaw Communications, as well as workers in related fields. www.twu-stt.ca

The United Steelworkers (USW) is a diverse private-sector union with 225,000 members working in every region and sector in Canada. www.usw.ca

SOURCE United Steelworkers (USW)

For further information: Brett Barden for Lee Riggs (TWU), Cell: 604-230-0553, brett.barden@twu-stt.ca; Mark Rowlinson for Ken Neumann (USW), Cell: 647-231-5983, mrowlinson@usw.ca

Hardline French CGT union fails to rally strike support

Tue, Nov 4 2014

* 97 percent of trains running despite CGT strike call

* CGT union chief in hot water over flat renovation

PARIS, Nov 4 (Reuters) – France’s hardline CGT union failed on Tuesday to mobilize wide support for a public sector strike, while separately its leader came under pressure as it emerged the labour organisation had bankrolled a costly renovation of his apartment.

The CGT had called for workers in the transport and energy sectors to strike starting late on Monday over spending cuts in the public sector which it said would hurt service quality.

But despite the fact that the CGT is the largest union of the SNCF public rail operator, some 97 percent of trains were running on Tuesday. Rallies planned to start at 2 p.m. in Paris and other cities were sparsely attended, local media said.

In the energy sector, power utility EDF said strike participation stood at just 8.75 percent in the morning.  The weak mobilization came after a rally in October against social security spending cuts drew sparse crowds and previous marches against austerity also produced a weak turnout. A CGT-organised strike by railworkers to protest against a planned reform of the sector in June also fizzled out without success.

Separately, CGT leader Thierry Lepaon defended himself from criticism after satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine reported the union had paid 130,000 euros ($162,656) to renovate a 120-square-metre (yards) apartment rented for him near Paris.  Lepaon, whose primary residence is in northern France, said there were problems with the union’s expense approval protocol and said that both the size of the apartment and amount of the renovations bill were less than reported by the weekly.

He also accused Prime Minister Manuel Valls, a pro-reform Socialist, of fanning what he called a campaign to “destabilize” the union, France’s second largest by membership and traditionally the most fervent in defence of worker rights.

“He (Valls) should be paying attention to national problems where results are very much awaited, and let the CGT handle its own affairs,” he said, referring to critical remarks by Valls’ calling for “exemplary” behaviour among unionists.

Lepaon, who took over leadership of the powerful, Communist-backed CGT union in 2013, said he would receive the heads of the union’s regional chapters one by one during a two-day meeting this week to ensure he could count on their support.  While President Francois Hollande has tried to enlist unions in his efforts to reform Europe’s second-largest economy, including by loosening rules on hiring and firing, Lepaon’s CGT and the FO union have consistently refused to sign labour deals.  Analysts say that while the CFDT has managed to help shape some of the reforms pursued by the government, the CGT has seen a loss of influence.

(1 US dollar = 0.7992 euro) (Reporting By Nicholas Vinocur and Gerard Bon; editing by Mark John)