Verizon, union skirmish over US flag at vetran's cubicle (propaganda or offensive)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.northjersey.com/business/news/15430106.html

Friday, February 8, 2008
Last Updated Friday February 8, 2008, EST 9:23 AM
BY MARTHA MCKAY
STAFF WRITER

If you work at Verizon, don't hang the American flag on the outside of your cubicle wall.

You can, however, unfurl Old Glory on the inside of your cubicle.

The flap came to light after a Verizon Business worker returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan to find a supervisor had removed his American flag and Massachusetts state flag from the outside of his cubicle walls.

Terry Skiest, who works for a small Verizon Business office in Acton, Mass., and served three tours of duty in the Middle East as a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, hung the flags on the outside walls because there wasn't enough room to hang them inside his two-person cubicle.

When Skiest returned home in November from his third tour, he found the flags removed and placed inside his cube, a union spokesman said.

Skiest, recounting the story in a video, says that when the flags were taken down, a co-worker was told by a supervisor they "could be considered propaganda or offensive to some people."

The union contends that Verizon Business adopted a draconian policy against displaying personal items in public areas to prevent the posting of pro-union fliers. The union is attempting to organize about 2,500 non-union Verizon workers, including Skiest, who are part of the former MCI, which Basking Ridge-based Verizon bought in 2005.

FULL story at link.

[Fed_Up_Grammy]

1. Good rule. Offices look like crap when stuff is all over the outside

the cubicle.

[bowens43]

2. This isn't true or it's an isolated incident.

I work for Verizon Business and there are American flags all over the place both inside and outside of cubicles. It's not company policy. I will tell you though that Verizon pours on the anti-union propaganda pretty heavily.

[LiberalFighter]

3. If it is not company policy nation-wide then Verizon will have a problem

If they want to make it company policy they need to make it nation-wide and give their employees 30 day notice to avoid backlash from the public.

Personally, I don't think it is appropriate for employees to have anything non-work related on the outside of the cubicle. And if the flags are standard size I would think that is not appropriate. I am sure that at a minimum the company has a US flag on a pole outside or somewhere in the building. Anything more is not needed and this employee should not feel that he is more patriotic just because he has a flag. (Someone check whether the flag was made in the US or China)

It would be the company's right to limit the space or amount of personal items an employee could have on their desk or wall. But at the same time the company needs to consider the effect of totally banning any personal items that may the employee with an environment that provides good morale and encourages productivity.