As Employees WFH, They Need the Right to Organize Over Company Email
The coronavirus crisis made a December decision that gives employers the right to ban union activity on company email more consequential
Last December, employees lost the right to use company email or other IT resources like Slack rooms for unionizing their workplace. The decision came down from the National Labor Review Board (NLRB), the federal agency that enforces labor laws, which voted to overturn a previous ruling that generally allowed organizing to be facilitated over email. That 2014 ruling likened such services to an employee break room or cafeteria where employees may legally conduct union activities during nonwork hours.
In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the NLRB’s new ruling takes on a whole new level of significance. Many companies that can have gone fully remote to ensure that workers can maintain their distance. In California’s Bay Area, technology giants Google and Facebook have allowed tens of thousands of employees to work from home through the end of the year, and Twitter told its staff on Tuesday they may work remotely on a permanent basis, BuzzFeed News reported. Last month, a Gallup poll found that 57% of Americans have been offered flex time or remote work options in recent months…
