LaborTalk: E-mail for Organizing
By Harry Kelber
By a stroke of a finger on a computer keyboard, an employee
organizer was able to send a union message with electronic speed to 2,000
Pratt & Whitney engineers, using the company's e-mail addresses. After a
number of such mailings, the company found out about it and suspended the
two top officers of the fledgling independent union, the Florida
Professional Assn.
The union charged that the suspensions were an unfair labor
practice under the National Labor Relations Act, while the engine company
insisted that using its mailing addresses was illegal. After two years of
wrangling, a settlement was reached last month under which the union would
withdraw its unfair labor practice charges, in return for which the
company pledged that it would allow a limited use of its e-mail addresses
for union messages.
The Pratt & Whitney incident undoubtedly will inspire unions to
explore new ways of using e-mail in their organizing campaigns. For
example. a company's pledge of neutrality in an organizing drive might
include the use of its e-mail addresses for union messages.
The e-mail issue will confront the National Labor Relations Board
with new policy problems in cases that will be brought before it.
Employers will argue that the use of its mailing addresses is an invasion
of its property rights. It is also illegal for employees to be reading
such e-mail messages on company working time, they maintain.
Unions will rely on freedom of speech rights under the First
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and that e-mail messages to employees
cannot be considered trespassing on company property. NLRB rulings on
e-mail cases will be eagerly awaited by both employers and unions, and
there probably will be numerous appeals by dissatisfied parties.
Even if unions are denied the use of a company's mailing
addresses, e-mail is an excellent organizing tool, especially in targeting
large firms whose employees are scattered at different locations. An
e-mail message provides huge savings in printing and mailing costs, as
well as in staff time. It enables a union to respond almost
instantaneously to new developments at the organizing site. It ensures
quick feedback from pro-union employees in the workplace. It results in
better coordination between union headquarters and field organizers.
With a well-kept, growing data base, a union can be in immediate
e-mail contact with specific groups, such as new members, retirees, shop
stewards and workers in various job classifications.
There has been an explosive increase in the number of people on
the Internet and a corresponding rise in the use of e-mail. It's the
communicating tool of the future. Unions should find ways to take full
advantage of it.
Have you checked our website (www.laboreducator.org)? You'll find some
new, interesting things on it.