Communications between Workers and Our Union are Protected, Alaska Court Rules
by Clyde Weiss | July 30, 2012
Corporate-backed politicians are attacking America's middle class and workers' rights nationwide, but a recent Supreme Court victory in Alaska upheld our freedoms. The decision ensures that conversations between workers and our union in grievances and other disputes remain confidential, similar to attorney-client relationships.
Jake Metcalfe, executive director of the Public Safety Employees Association (PSEA), Local 803 said this ruling ensures fairness for AFSCME public service workers in Alaska. PSEA members are the professionals who provide essential public safety services throughout the state, including conducting search and rescue operations, fighting fires and performing other vital law enforcement functions.
Without the protection outlined in the court ruling, anyone who is unfairly fired or disciplined could be in danger of losing his or her right to due process. “We were concerned that unless the court ruled the way they did, we would have had to tell our members – when we were interviewing them in grievances and related matters – that anything you tell me is not confidential. That would have really made it hard for us to help people,” said Metcalfe.
The court’s ruling is especially welcome at a time when union membership is vilified by right-wing politicians who want to wrongly place blame for economic troubles on the backs of public service workers and our union.
The court said that “the right of the union and its members to function free of harassment and undue interference from the State” is implicit in state law. “If unions are to function, leaders must be free to communicate with their members about the problems and complaints of union members without undue interference.”
The decision may also have national implications. Although only one other state – Illinois – recognizes the privilege of communications between a union and a member, the Alaska Supreme Court ruling could act as guidance to other states in cases under their public employment laws, Metcalfe said.
PSEA tried this year to get the Alaska Legislature to pass a law making it clear that in a discipline matter, all conversations between a union representative and a union member are confidential and privileged. The state Senate voted unanimously for the law (SB 224), but it failed to get a vote in the House before the session adjourned this spring.
Metcalfe said the high court ruling goes even further than the proposed law would have. “The court sets out privilege specifically, and who it applies to, and that is the heart and soul of the decision,” he said.
