| Neutrality
or Gag Order? You Decide
In June 2002 the United Auto Workers hit several
Johnson Controls plants with a painful strike. The result? JCI signed
a so-called "Neutrality Agreement."
In some ways we can't blame JCI management. They
were squeezed by the UAW on one side and their Big Three customers
on the other. But the result is the same.
No JCI employee has seen the Neutrality Agreement.
The company and union don't seem to want to make it public. But
we have seen similar agreements from other companies, so we can
assume that as part of the agreement, the company has promised not
to:
- be negative toward the Union,
- resist the Union,
- support anyone opposed to the Union, or
- make any statement or representation
regarding potential effects or results of Union representation.
That's right — JCI can't say anything
about what might happen if the UAW got into the Holland-area plants.
Since supervisors, managers, HR reps, and others are agents of JCI,
they can't say anything either. And it's been made clear that any
member of management speaking up about the union, publicly or privately,
will be disciplined or fired.
Is this the UAW's idea of America? Where people
get punished for saying what they think?
And are we so stupid that we will vote FOR the
Union if we don't know anything, and AGAINST it if we do?
Luckily, the Neutrality Agreement can't keep JCI
employees from speaking up. Speaking up against the UAW is a protected
activity under Federal Law — and no one from the UAW
or JCI can prevent us from doing it.
The JCI "Neutrality Agreement"
is not neutrality. It's surrender.
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