From: JIM MSP
Date: 1/8/00
Time: 6:14:29 PM
Remote Name: 205.188.195.26
The events of the past few days have been difficult for all of us as we struggle to understand what happened, why it happened and what it means for the future. Since a personal dialogue with each of you is not possible, I am sending this letter to your home in the hope that you will read it carefully.
By now you know Federal Judge Donovan W. Frank issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against Local 2000, its officers, representatives and certain members who have engaged in unlawful actions to disrupt our operations. This is a public document and I encourage you to read it. A reference copy is available at each crew base.
Why did the Company seek injunctive relief? First, let me say it was a very difficult, even agonizing decision for the Company. The petition for a TRO was a necessary measure to protect our customers, our business and the thousands of flight attendants who were innocent bystanders to the operational difficulties caused by the misguided acts of certain individuals. I must emphatically point our that the Company's actions was NOT a challenge to the integrity of the majority of our flight attendants.
For the period December 21, 1999 through January 3, 2000, we experienced a 63% increase in sick leave which directly resulted in:
*3007% increase in Inflight cancellations (317 vs. 10 last year). *105% increase in short-staffing *43% increase in Inflight crew delays (273 versus 149 last year).
While it is true that an outbreak of influenza was recorded in certain cities in the U.S., the increase in flight attendant sick leave was significantly higher than in other work groups (pilots, maintenance, airport staff, reservations and clerical staff). It was also higher when compared against the flight attendant sick leave rate at other major airlines.
Facts and figures notwithstanding, another reason for seeking injunctive relief was to support the thousands of dedicated flight attendants who came to work and endured chronic short-staffing--and in all too many cases, complete schedule disruptions because of the sick out. I salute those individuals for their fortitude and exemplary performance.
Looking to the future, you deserve a new contract and a raise that brings you to parity with your peers in the industry at the major airlines. The Company is ready to return to the bargaining table as soon as Local 2000 negotiators comply with the directive given by the National Mediation Board. When that happens, I'm confident we will work together to overcome our present difficulties and move on to a period of greater stability and prosperity for everyone.
With that last thought in mind, I wish you the best in the New Year and look forward to better times. Thank you for the great job you continue to do.
From: Mark in MSP
Date: 1/10/00
Time: 7:13:23 PM
Remote Name: 208.238.137.161
A FA I know received a certified letter from NWA on Saturday. This is NOT the Hector letter, it's a certified letter, meaning she had to sign for it.
The letter stated that she had to produce a Dr's note within ten days because, when a manager took her sick call, she said she was under the care of a doctor.
If she fails to produce the note within ten days, she will be taken off payroll. Fortunately, she WAS sick, and has a note already.
Is this old news to everybody, or is it the latest-breaking assault? I assume she received hers first because we're in MSP, from where the letters were mailed.
This IS NOT a rumor. I read the letter myself. Has anybody else received one?
From: Gladys Kravitz
Date: 1/10/00
Time: 9:14:38 PM
Remote Name: 209.156.232.137
MSP F/A's naked picture on the internet...
Coming shortly
From: Sis of 2 DTW FAs
Date: 1/12/00
Time: 1:35:42 PM
Remote Name: 168.191.114.243
"The judge said he wanted to see either a tentative agreement by Feb. 4 or a ``detailed'' list of issues between the two sides and ordered both sides back to his courtroom Feb. 15-16 to present evidence."
More at http://biz.yahoo.com/apf/000112/brf_northw_1.html
From: Kevin M. Griffin- Moderator
Date: 1/12/00
Time: 12:48:10 AM
Remote Name: 205.188.195.36
Dear Fellow Flight Attendants:
I am writing this letter today to remind you of the Judge’s order.
His order temporarily restrains Local 2000 and all those named from "calling, permitting, instigating, authorizing, encouraging, participating in, approving of, or continuing any disruption of Northwest Airlines' normal airline operations."
I accept the obligation to follow this, even though I intend to try to get it lifted. Please comply with this order and do not post anything that may be misinterpreted by others as calling for any illegal work action. Please remember we are working under the Railway Labor Act.
Those involved in the lawsuit from Northwest are your CAT leaders, your Local 2000 representatives, Ted Reeves who has Independent Local 2000 News Web site, and myself for this Cleardaze open forum web site.
The Local 2000 lawyers will be representing those of the Local and the CAT leaders. Ted and I are “on our own” so to speak. As we have never held union office or been CAT representatives we have been excluded from the Local Attorneys representation.
We have been in contact with attorneys though and will be fighting our case along with Local 2000 in court. I know that I have never, would never and will never call for anything illegal as far as the Railway Labor Act. These have been trying times but we still must abide by the laws governing our negotiation’s process.
I am not sure what will be happening in the next few weeks as I have been on a six-day trip out of the country and will be returning home tomorrow to find out more details of the case. I had asked to be pulled from this trip so I could prepare a case but was refused. Many thanks to those posting on the events back in Minneapolis. It is because of the World Wide Web that we have been able to inform ourselves and educate ourselves on the negotiation process.
I am not sure if this web site will continue when I return home tomorrow; then I will find what is being asked of me and Cleardaze. If the site is closed down it will be because of the Judge’s order and Northwest’s lawsuit. We must as a group continue the unity we have shown over the past 7 months and fight for what we believe is right and that is a contract for “all” of us.
I know many at the same time are looking for attorneys for their own purposes to file against Northwest Airlines. It is a shame it has gone this far but I wish you all good luck. This contract struggle was supposed to be about attaining fair and decent wages and work rules and job security but has turned rather ugly. I am confident that all will work out in the end and perhaps this lawsuit was the final straw to get both sides back to the table.
I know there was no sick out planned or orchestrated by myself, Ted, the Local 2000 representatives or anyone else for that matter. We will have our day in court.
We could use some assistance though with mostly facts and data. For example: How much has Northwest paid individuals short crew pay over the past year? How often do you fly with short crew? Retrieving news articles about the Y2K and how it affected the airlines in general and specific ones. How the Flu epidemic has affected the country and your area hospital articles. These are items we could use to prepare ourselves in court. Any other ideas would be most helpful as well. I have said over and over if we had 11,000 eyes and minds working we could create a better contract for all of us and now to prepare for court as well. That was the purpose of the original forum and this forum.
I am not sure at the moment how we (Ted and I) are going to be paying the attorneys at the moment. This will all be discussed this week when I get home. I do know we do not have the pockets of Northwest. If you would like to contribute it would be a great help. You can find an address on the sponsors page link on the main web site http: www.nwaflightattendants.com or printed below.
One last item and that is the deadline for Bylaw reform is approaching at the end of January. You can see the Local 2000 Bylaws on the main web page. We are in definite need of some reform amendments. Please talk to your base representatives about any ideas you may have. One I have pushed for over the past few years is to have any Tentative Agreement presented to the membership in its entirety to read prior to signing. If we had had that I may not have had to start this site to begin with. We presented it to you over the Internet prior to the Company paying for its printing. There are many other bylaw changes we can use as well. So once again get involved and prepare. We, the 11,000 are the union and cannot rely on the few to take care of our futures and careers. Please send your proposals for amendment changes to your representatives today.
If this web site is not found and the courts have silenced us in the near future please continue the struggle and unity here at Northwest Airlines for all our futures. Remember Our Strength is in Our Unity and Knowledge is Power.
In Unity,
Kevin M. Griffin
Moderator
2333 Kapiolani Blvd. Apt 1609
Honolulu, Hawaii 96826
KGRIF0581@aol.com
District of Minnesota
Northwest Airlines, Inc. Civil No. 00-08(DWF/AJB)
Plaintiff MEMORANDUM
OPINION AND ORDER
v.
Local 2000, International Brotherhood of Teamsters;
Defendants
On January 5, 2000, the Court entered a Temporary Restraining Order in this matter, enjoining the Defendants from engaging in any sort of work action in an effort to advance contract negotiations with the Plaintiff. The Court now sets a hearing on Plaintiff's Motion for Preliminary Injunction for 9:00 a.m., Tuesday, February 15, 2000. The parties have expressed their intentions to present both live testimony and deposition testimony. Accordingly, the Court reserves two days for the hearing, with the understanding that the hearing may be concluded earlier.
While the current litigation involves only the work action taken by the
union, the Court is well aware of the context in which it arises. These parties
have been attempting to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement for three
years and have thus fare been unable to achieve an agreement which could be
ratified by the union's membership. The time has long since passed for these
parties to reach a fair and appropriate contract, not only for the union members
but also for the public interest. The current litigation, while certainly of
import to the parties, will have little effect on the contract negotiations and
will not resolve the core controversy between the parties.
Both parties have represented to the Court that they are presently more than willing to engage in good faith negotiations in an effort to end this three-year deadlock. Indeed, Northwest Airlines, in it representations to the Court and in its press releases, has indicated its belief that the overwhelming majority of the flight attendants are professional, dedicated employees and its desire to reach some sort of agreement with respect to the flight attendants' contract. Similarly, the union has publicly indicated its willingness and desire to return to the bargaining table. Given the postures taken by both parties and the enormous public interest in achieving a contract, it is difficult for this Court to understand how engaging in significant discovery and preparation for a preliminary injunction hearing will serve the interests of everyone involved.
Although the Court is persuaded that any delay of a preliminary injunction hearing will not serve the interests of either party, the public interest and the interests of the parties require that the contract negotiations which form the context of this litigation continue without delay as well.
To that end, the Court orders the parties to return tot he bargaining table forthwith. Although the National Mediation Board has suspended its proceedings in this matter, the parties are free to engage in private negotiations. The Court orders the parties (Northwest Airlines, Local 2000, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, AFL-CIO) to agree upon a private mediator or, if such an agreement cannot be made, to provide the Court with a list of acceptable mediators by Friday, January 14. Moreover, the Court orders the parties to engage in good-faith negotiations with that mediator during the next several weeks. By Friday, February 4, the parties shall provide the Court and the National Mediation Board with a tentative agreement or, if no such agreement has been reached, a detailed list of points on which the parties continue to disagree. The Court invites the National Mediation Board to consider renewing the involvement with this matter at the earliest possible date.
For the reason stated, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED:
1.. That the parties shall be present for hearing on the Plaintiff's Motion for Preliminary Injunction on Tuesday, February 15, 2000.
2.. That Northwest Airlines, Local 2000, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters shall agree upon a private mediator by January 14, 2000, or if such an agreement is not possible, shall each provide the Court with a list of acceptable mediators by 5:00 p.m. CST on Friday, January 14.
3.. That the said parties shall, in good faith, engage in contract negotiations with the agreed-upon or court-ordered mediator; and
4.. That by 5:00 p.m. CST, Friday, February 4, 2000, the said parties shall provide the Court and the National Mediation Board with a tentative agreement or, if no such agreement has been reached, with a detailed list of points on which the parties continue to disagree.
Dated: January 11, 2000 s/DONOVAN W. FRANK
Judge of United States District Court
From: DTW FA
Date: 1/13/00
Time: 11:43:03 AM
Remote Name: 216.192.165.58
Me thinks the NMB are ticked off with the Judge now!!
The following is a letter dated January 11, 2000 from the National Mediation Board to Judge Donovan W. Frank regarding his Memorandum Opinion and Order of January 11, 2000.
Dear Judge Frank:
I am writing on behalf of the National Mediation Board. We are in receipt of your Memorandum Opinion and Order issued today on the above-captioned case. Under the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. §§ 151, 155, the National Mediation Board has exclusive jurisdiction over disputes concerning changes in the rates of pay, rules or working condition of employees in the airline industry. The National Mediation Board retains jurisdiction until such time it advises the parties that is mediation efforts have failed. The ongoing negotiations between Northwest Airlines and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters are inactive mediation. The mediation has neither been suspended nor has the National Mediation Board advised the parties that its mediation efforts have failed. The current recess was deliberate; it was explained to the parties as essential to allow them to reconsider and revise their proposals. In our judgment, the time necessary for that process has not yet passed. The Board has maintained regular communication with both parties, and intends to resume direct talks when further discussions are likely to be useful. The Courts have repeatedly recognized the broad discretion and expertise of the National Mediation Board in this area. In Local 808, Building Maintenance, Service and Railroad Workers v. National Mediation Board,888 F2d 1428 (D.C. Cir. 1990), the Court stated, Furthermore, the Supreme Court has made it clear that the courts have no business interfering in major disputes under the RLA. The RLA provides an exhaustively detailed procedural framework "to facilitate the voluntary settlement of major disputes," The effectiveness of these … procedures depends on the initial assurance that the employers’ putative representative is not subject to control by the employer and on the subsequent assurance that neither party will be able to enlist the courts to further its own partisan ends. Trans World Airways v. Independent Federation of Flight Attendants, 489 U.S. 428 428, 441 (1989)lq. at 1433-4. The Court further stated, A mediator’s choice to let a recalcitrant party sit until the pressure seriously to negotiate builds is hardly an extraordinary situation justifying judicial intervention. Rather, such a tactic is an essential tool of the process and profession, and it should not be disturbed by a court absent a clear showing of patent official bad faith. Id. at 1437. See also American Train Dispatchers Department of the International Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers v. Fort Smith Railroad Company. 1231 F.3d 267 (7th Cir. 1997): International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO v. National Mediation Board930 F. 2d 45 (1991).We hope this information will be of assistance to the Court.
Sincerely,
Stephen E. Crable, Chief of Staff
c.c. John J. Gallagher, Esq.
Patrick J. Szymanski, Esq.
From: jane
Date: 1/15/00
Time: 1:05:28 AM
Remote Name: 209.253.7.90
coming soon...
From: Kevin Griffin - Moderator
Date: 1/15/00
Time: 3:09:33 PM
Remote Name: 152.163.197.66
If anyone would care to look into this person here is the information regarding his identity:
Registrant: SplitRock Services, Inc (SPLITROCK2-DOM) 8665 New Trails Dr The Woodlands, TX 77380 US
Domain Name: SPLITROCK.NET
Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Zone Contact: netadmin (NET48-ORG) netadmin@SPLITROCK.NET 281 465 1200 Fax- - - 281 364 6668 Billing Contact: netadmin (NET48-ORG) netadmin@SPLITROCK.NET 281 465 1200 Fax- - - 281 364 6668
Record last updated on 11-Jan-2000. Record created on 27-Jun-1997. Database last updated on 12-Jan-2000 13:23:49 EST.
Domain servers in listed order:
NS7.SPLITROCK.NET 209.156.136.30 NS8.SPLITROCK.NET 209.156.21.53
From: Does Anyone Have a Copy of the Deposition List???
Date: 1/23/00
Time: 10:29:51 PM
Remote Name: 12.72.105.166
I've been in touch with MANY union officials and I've even asked the company and no one seems to know. It's like a closely guarded secret. Does anyone out there have the list? Presumably it's been faxed to all the base reps, but I'll be darned if I can get the info. Can anyone help?
To be published Tuesday, January 25, 2000
Contract for flight attendants still looks far off Tony Kennedy / Star Tribune
When the National Mediation Board meets today with Northwest Airlines flight attendants, a settlement of their marathon contract dispute will be no closer at hand than it was a year ago.
In fact, the "status conference" at mediation board headquarters in Washington, D.C., has arrived at a time when the company is openly at war with the union over an alleged sickout that disrupted Northwest's flight operations over the New Year's holiday.
Hopes for a near-term settlement are further complicated by conflict within Teamsters Local 2000, which represents the 11,000 Northwest flight attendants, and the union's hard-line bargaining posture, which drew a rebuke from the mediation board the last time talks were attempted.
In sum, after four years of work toward a new contract, the two sides seem to be drifting apart, not coming together. A new contract for the flight attendants is proving elusive, though it is one they believe they richly deserve as their reward for accepting wage cuts in 1993 that helped save Northwest from bankruptcy.
"It almost suggests a war of attrition, where you wear out the other side," said Michael LeRoy, professor at the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations in Champaign, Ill. "It's a real disturbing pattern at airlines."
Jerry Glass of J. Glass & Associates, a labor consultant to management, agrees that the extended contract dispute at Northwest is not unique in the industry, but he disagrees over who is to blame. The flight attendants brought on their own misery because they sat back and waited for other unions to win contracts, and then they rejected an agreement last summer that deserved ratification.
"Workers say, 'If I reject it, I'll get a better deal,' " Glass said. "If you're the company, how do you get anybody to sign on the dotted line?"
Local 2000's goal for today's meeting is modest. Billie Davenport, president of the 11,000-member union, said she hopes the session ends with the mediation board scheduling a resumption of negotiations that have been dead since June 9, the date both sides reached a tentative contract agreement. Nothing has happened in the way of bargaining since then because talks never reignited after the rank-and-file on Aug. 26 overwhelmingly rejected the proposed contract.
Additional demands
The only time management sat down with the union to consider a revision of the rejected contract, Local 2000 introduced a long list of new demands that the mediation board dismissed as unreasonable and Northwest scoffed at as exorbitant. One of the demands -- a retirement plan based on a flight attendant's final average earnings in place of the current defined-benefit plan -- has been dropped, Davenport said.
Still, Northwest and Local 2000 will have to do more than tinker with the rejected contract proposal to arrive at a new deal. Davenport said the union needs improvements in several critical areas, including job protection, retirement, compensation, scheduling, reserve duty and other work rules.
"The majority of our members is who we are listening to," she said.
At Local 2000, it hasn't always been clear what the majority wants. The group spoke with tremendous unity in August when, in a record turnout, 69 percent of the voters said "No" to the proposed contract, which carried the endorsements of Davenport, the union's negotiating committee and Teamsters General President James Hoffa.
A well-organized, Internet-savvy group of volunteers who lobbied to kill the proposed contract emerged with undeniable grass-roots power. Since then, some of the group's demands for a new contract have been rejected by union leaders as too radical, and Davenport has wondered out loud who the group really represents.
"I don't want this union to run on the voices of a small minority," she said Monday in an interview. "Don't think that what 300 to 400 members are screaming for is what 11,000 members want."
Meanwhile, Davenport's administration is the target of criticism by another faction of the union -- one that has organized a petition calling for negotiators to take "a more realistic path" to a new contract. The petition drive was launched this month and still is in progress.
Mollie Reiley, a former elected leader of Local 2000 and an organizer of the petition, said the grass-roots group that lobbied to kill the tentative agreement is creating confusion among flight attendants by making unrealistic demands.
"We've got a group advocating anarchy," she said.
Elections may come first
The discord within the union raises the possibility that flight attendants won't get a new contract until after November, when they hold regularly scheduled elections for new officers. Davenport has not disclosed whether she will run for re-election, and Secretary-Treasurer Danny Campbell -- a maverick who opposed the tentative agreement last summer -- will not comment on speculation that he will campaign for the union's top job.
Meanwhile, the union is feeling a financial pinch from its four-year contract struggle and from the company's lawsuit. The suit in U.S. District Court forced Bloomington-based Local 2000 to hire lawyers to defend itself against allegations of an illegal sickout over the New Year's weekend.
Before the suit, Davenport and other leaders had appealed to the rank-and-file for additional money to fund a strike-preparation effort. On Monday, she said that idea has been put on hold. The union is solvent and in the midst of a regularly scheduled five-year audit from the international Teamsters union, Davenport said.
Glass, the airline industry labor consultant, said major carriers used to be reluctant to take their unions to court when the unions launched illegal job actions.
"As a negotiator, your ultimate goal is for an agreement, and the old wisdom was that [court action] didn't help to get an agreement," Glass said. "Now the feeling is, it certainly doesn't hurt and maybe helps. It forces the union to be responsible for actions."
One undeniable benefit to Northwest is that the suit has thrown a wet blanket on Local 2000's effort to mobilize rank-and-file flight attendants in a grass-roots "contract campaign" known as HAVOC, or Having A Voice in Our Contract. After Northwest described HAVOC as guerrilla warfare against the company, Judge Donovan Frank linked HAVOC to the alleged sickout and restrained the union from disrupting the carrier's normal operations in any way.
As a tool of union solidarity and communication, HAVOC had been picking up steam. But since the restraining order was issued, all HAVOC education efforts have ceased.
Davenport said Local 2000 has abided by the judge's order while it prepares to go back to court for a more vigorous defense against Northwest's complaint. (The union had less than a day to respond to the company's request for a temporary restraining order.) But she said, "HAVOC is not dead. Our contract campaign is not dead at all."
Impact on service
LeRoy, the labor relations professor, said the short-term benefits of Northwest's lawsuit must be weighed against possible long-term effects of alienating a group of workers who are in charge of keeping passengers happy.
Besides suing Local 2000, Northwest has filed a lawsuit in Honolulu in an attempt to identify anonymous writers who have allegedly libeled company officials on an Internet forum. The Honolulu-based Northwest flight attendant who founded the Web site has criticized the lawsuit as an attack against the First Amendment.
LeRoy said Northwest's hard line against the flight attendants could strengthen the union's resolve to fight. "It stimulates this almost-militant response," he said.
Northwest flight attendant Dotty Malinsky, a 33-year veteran, said she already has witnessed an erosion of service by some fellow cabin crew members. She believes it could worsen if litigation inhibits flight attendants from "feeling free to vent."
"You express it somehow," Malinsky said, possibly by taking it out on passengers by doing "a little less and a little less and a little less" while on the job.
So far, there isn't any evidence to suggest any type of slowdown by Northwest flight attendants. In customer-service categories tracked by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Northwest has been among the top performers for at least a year. The company consistently has declined to comment on its contract negotiations, and it won't comment on the two lawsuits it has filed against flight attendants.
Philip Baggaley, an airline analyst for Standard & Poor's, said Northwest has blamed its contract stalement on union politics that have pitted a radical group of supporters of former Teamsters President Ron Carey against more reasonable Local 2000 members aligned with Hoffa.
Regardless of the reason, Baggaley said, the discord has contributed to chronic softness in Northwest's stock price. He said investors won't soon forget that Northwest lost about $1 billion from revenue depletion and increased costs related to 1998 labor problems that included a 15-day pilots strike.
© Copyright 2000 Star Tribune. All rights reserved
From:
Date: 1/30/00
Time: 8:01:36 PM
Remote Name: 207.67.7.78
Am I the only one or does anyone eles feel that by leaving their name or posting we will be subject to retribution by Northwest and their lawyers. It seems that since the lawsuit no one leave's their name anymore. Also has the union been silence as we no longer hear from them. I cannot believe Northwest Airlines is taking OUR First Amendment rights away. Is anyone out there not afraid to respond? Lets hope that even while being silence Northwest Airlines and Local 2000 will not sell us out with another bad T/A.
Feb.1,2000 Court Violated Rights of Northwest Flight Attendants
Public Citizen Seeks to Have Restraining Order Revoked
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A federal district court violated the First Amendment rights of two Northwest Airlines flight attendants by forbidding them from engaging in certain speech-related activities -- an order that could require them to censor their Web sites, according to papers filed Tuesday by Public Citizen in federal appellate court.
According to the filing, made by Public Citizen Litigation Group in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, a Minnesota district court violated the two men’s rights on Jan. 5 when it issued a temporary restraining order against them. The order forbade them from “approving of” or “permitting” a sickout. The court issued the restraining order without notifying the men, so they weren’t represented at a hearing held to discuss it. Public Citizen is seeking to have the order vacated.
For one flight attendant, the order could mean that he must censor the comments that others post on his site. For the other man, it means that he must be extra cautious in what information he posts, lest the company accuse him of supporting a sickout and therefore violating the district court’s order. A violation could lead to a fine and/or jail time.
“This is a flagrant violation of basic due process rights, and it would have dangerous repercussions if it is permitted to stand,” said Paul Alan Levy of the Public Citizen Litigation Group. “A grave injustice has been done to these two individuals, because the order is a blatant case of restraint of speech that has historically been forbidden.” Detroit attorney Barbara Harvey is co-counsel in the case.
Senior Northwest Airlines flight attendants Kevin Griffin and Ted Reeve each created Web sites last year during contentious contract negotiations between Northwest and the Teamsters Local 2000. Both men aimed to provide an easily accessible source of information pertaining to the contract negotiations.
Reeve’s site contains such information as a history of the union, a list of officers, notices of membership meetings, communications to all flight attendants by company officials about contract negotiations, union messages and media reports about contract negotiations. Griffin’s site includes comparative pay charts, union bylaws and contract “low lights.” It also provides an opportunity for people to post comments.
Some people posted comments encouraging attendants to participate in a sickout. When they did, Griffin posted a message asking people to “refrain from calling for certain actions that may be illegal.”
Neither man participated in a sickout that occurred in late December. In fact, Reeve has not called in sick once during his 10 years with the airline.
In documents seeking the restraining order, Northwest alleges that 19 individuals -- all union officials and representatives except for Reeve and Griffin -- had fomented the sickout. The airline said that Reeve and Griffin had created Web sites, that calls for illegal job actions had been posted on one of them and that Griffin himself had posted a comment that implicitly called for a sickout. In fact, however, the message the airline submitted to the court was written by another flight attendant.
Griffin and Reeve heard about the restraining order only after the court issued it, even though they could have been contacted at work, home or through e-mail. They never had the opportunity to argue that there was no basis to the order as it applied to them, Public Citizen’s filing says.
The injunction constitutes a prior restraint of speech, Public Citizen’s filing contends. The Supreme Court has held that the First Amendment bars injunctions against speech without notice.
“This order is a classic prior restraint of First Amendment rights that is forbidden in all but the most extreme circumstances,” Levy said. “It is an elementary First Amendment principle that citizens are entitled to express their sympathy for illegal activities as long as they don’t incite them.”
Further, the law is clear that individuals cannot be held liable for the acts or advocacy of others, the filing states. The Communications Decency Act provides that one cannot be held liable for a message that someone else posts to their Web site.
A copy of Public Citizen’s filing can be found at www.citizen.org/litigation/briefs/sumrevmem.htm
Public Citizen is a consumer advocacy organization founded by Ralph Nader. For more information, please visit our Web site at www.citizen.org.
From: Kevin Griffin 19 years
Date: 2/3/00
Time: 2:44:21 PM
Remote Name: 205.188.197.28
1. Videotape the entire process as it takes place.
2. Take notes on all that is done and how it is done.
3. Prior to the process ask for the E&Y staff ID and personal ID of all Ernst & Young employees and experts involved in handling your computer equipment.
4. Record all information.
5. If you have any doubts or questions ask them and record it.
6. Ask that your hard drive be copied to duplicate CDs prior to the creation of its mirror image, and be sure that you are given one duplicate set of these CDs.
7. If you have any doubts stop them and call your attorney.
From: Kevin Griffin- Moderator
Date: 2/7/00
Time: 5:26:20 AM
Remote Name: 205.188.197.32
February 7, 2000
Dear Fellow Flight Attendants:
I would like to share some information with the events of the past week. On February 1, 2000 the attorneys representing Ted Reeves and I filed a brief in the court system that can be seen on the Moderators Page link above. Along with the brief filed they released a press release that can also be seen on the Moderators Page. Shortly after the filing, the judge asked the attorneys from all sides to come to a status conference. At the conference (or on telephones) were attorneys for Northwest Airlines, for Local 2000 and for Ted Reeves and I. At the status meeting the attorneys for Northwest asked that the February 15th court date be delayed and put off (a continuance). Our attorneys objected to the delay as Ted and I (and all the other defendants) have been under a TRO since January 05, 2000. This Temporary Restraining Order has silenced many over the last month. Many now fear that anything they say or do can be grounds for jail time or heavy fines. The attorneys for Northwest at the status conference claimed that Billie Davenport and Local 2000 had agreed to this delay prior.
I sent an email to Billie asking why she or anyone would agree to continue to silence those whom have opposed the Tentative Agreement. As I said last week in a posting I do believe if you have questions you should go directly to the source. Well, I have yet to hear a response. I would like one though even if it is on a code a phone like last weeks bringing attention to another dues paying member. I would like to know why the President or executive board would like to delay our court date and keep us under a TRO. By delaying the court date on the 15th and agreeing with Northwest Airlines you have silenced a portion of the membership that had been active for a very long time. (Most are unpaid “volunteers” that were trying to create unity and educate the Flight Attendant group.) We know that we may not always agree with everything done within our union but we have always had the freedom to say what was on our mind. That is one of the benefits of living in a country with a constitution and Bill of Rights like we have here in the United States of America.
On February 3, 2000 I had to bring my personal home computer and personal laptop computer to Ernst & Young LPP in down Honolulu at 11:00 AM for inspection, pulling apart and copying of all hard drives by Northwest hired personnel. I arrived home the next day on February 4, 2000 at around 4:30 AM. It was indeed a long day and night. I thought I was going in for a two hour session and came home almost eighteen hours later. Northwest had paid for two E & Y top security personnel to fly in from Washington, D.C and Houston, Texas. They made copies of all information on my hard drives including all personal information, financial information etc. Everything, including personal information will be analyzed this week.
On February 5, 2000 I saw that the Local 2000 executive board placed on its web site the proposals that they have given to Northwest Airlines. I hope all will read and go over the proposals and continue to voice your opinions here and to the committee. Nothing is final as long as we are in the negotiations’ process and before we all sign our names on the dotted line.
We live in a country where we are “supposed” to be able to voice our opinions freely. These days it does not always seem to be the case. I look at the statistics of the web site and see how many are hitting on the site and reading (more than ever) but see that many are no longer signing their names or posting. There is a fear out there that anything you do can be traced down. I remind you that we do have a constitution and a Bill Of Rights. We must have faith in our forefathers and their wisdom to create such laws.
So let us continue to voice our opinions on this new group of proposals and continue to educate each other on all aspects of this job. If you like something in the proposals please state so and reference it with a page number. If you do not like something I ask you do the same. Dialog is healthy so please continue to use it. We will have no regrets later if we do.
For those personally involved in the court case remember we will have our day in court. For those not personally sued by Northwest Airlines I thank you for your support. Please join us as we fight this battle for free speech and other basic rights we have here in the United States of America.
Sincerely and In Unity,
Kevin M. Griffin
Moderator here at ClearDaze
From: Kevin Griffin- Moderator
Date: 2/7/00
Time: 5:26:20 AM
Remote Name: 205.188.197.32
February 7, 2000
Dear Fellow Flight Attendants:
I would like to share some information with the events of the past week. On February 1, 2000 the attorneys representing Ted Reeves and I filed a brief in the court system that can be seen on the Moderators Page link above. Along with the brief filed they released a press release that can also be seen on the Moderators Page. Shortly after the filing, the judge asked the attorneys from all sides to come to a status conference. At the conference (or on telephones) were attorneys for Northwest Airlines, for Local 2000 and for Ted Reeves and I. At the status meeting the attorneys for Northwest asked that the February 15th court date be delayed and put off (a continuance). Our attorneys objected to the delay as Ted and I (and all the other defendants) have been under a TRO since January 05, 2000. This Temporary Restraining Order has silenced many over the last month. Many now fear that anything they say or do can be grounds for jail time or heavy fines. The attorneys for Northwest at the status conference claimed that Billie Davenport and Local 2000 had agreed to this delay prior.
I sent an email to Billie asking why she or anyone would agree to continue to silence those whom have opposed the Tentative Agreement. As I said last week in a posting I do believe if you have questions you should go directly to the source. Well, I have yet to hear a response. I would like one though even if it is on a code a phone like last weeks bringing attention to another dues paying member. I would like to know why the President or executive board would like to delay our court date and keep us under a TRO. By delaying the court date on the 15th and agreeing with Northwest Airlines you have silenced a portion of the membership that had been active for a very long time. (Most are unpaid “volunteers” that were trying to create unity and educate the Flight Attendant group.) We know that we may not always agree with everything done within our union but we have always had the freedom to say what was on our mind. That is one of the benefits of living in a country with a constitution and Bill of Rights like we have here in the United States of America.
On February 3, 2000 I had to bring my personal home computer and personal laptop computer to Ernst & Young LPP in down Honolulu at 11:00 AM for inspection, pulling apart and copying of all hard drives by Northwest hired personnel. I arrived home the next day on February 4, 2000 at around 4:30 AM. It was indeed a long day and night. I thought I was going in for a two hour session and came home almost eighteen hours later. Northwest had paid for two E & Y top security personnel to fly in from Washington, D.C and Houston, Texas. They made copies of all information on my hard drives including all personal information, financial information etc. Everything, including personal information will be analyzed this week.
On February 5, 2000 I saw that the Local 2000 executive board placed on its web site the proposals that they have given to Northwest Airlines. I hope all will read and go over the proposals and continue to voice your opinions here and to the committee. Nothing is final as long as we are in the negotiations’ process and before we all sign our names on the dotted line.
We live in a country where we are “supposed” to be able to voice our opinions freely. These days it does not always seem to be the case. I look at the statistics of the web site and see how many are hitting on the site and reading (more than ever) but see that many are no longer signing their names or posting. There is a fear out there that anything you do can be traced down. I remind you that we do have a constitution and a Bill Of Rights. We must have faith in our forefathers and their wisdom to create such laws.
So let us continue to voice our opinions on this new group of proposals and continue to educate each other on all aspects of this job. If you like something in the proposals please state so and reference it with a page number. If you do not like something I ask you do the same. Dialog is healthy so please continue to use it. We will have no regrets later if we do.
For those personally involved in the court case remember we will have our day in court. For those not personally sued by Northwest Airlines I thank you for your support. Please join us as we fight this battle for free speech and other basic rights we have here in the United States of America.
Sincerely and In Unity,
Kevin M. Griffin
Moderator here at ClearDaze
Court authorizes search of Northwest employees' home computers
Eric Wieffering and Tony Kennedy Star Tribune Tuesday, February 8, 2000 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northwest Airlines last week began court-authorized searches of the home computers of between 10 and 20 flight attendants, looking for private e-mail and other evidence that the employees helped to organize a sickout at the airline over the New Year's holiday.
The search has since been suspended pending a temporary settlement of the airline's lawsuit against Teamsters Local 2000, the union representing 11,000 flight attendants. But privacy advocates and attorneys not involved with the case say Northwest's action may embolden other companies to more aggressively monitor what employees say and do online from their home computers.
"If Northwest succeeds in gaining access to the hard drives of the home computers of its employees, it will certainly put a chill on the uses employees everywhere make of their home computers," said Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse in San Diego.
Northwest's action comes at a time when bills to protect individual privacy have been introduced at the state and national level. In addition, an increasing number of employees are learning, to their dismay, that companies have the right to monitor their online activities at work. Last month, for example, the New York Times fired 23 employees for sharing bawdy e-mail messages.
Northwest defended the search, noting that a federal court had authorized it.
"In the age we live in, the normal course of discovery includes taking depositions, producing documents and these days more than ever looking into the content of computers," said Jon Austin, a spokesman for Northwest.
"So many documents and communications these days are purely electronic in nature," Austin said.
But companies have rarely sought to search the home computers of their employees. In the past, most such searches usually have been limited to cases involving workers who've been accused of stealing company files, passing on trade secrets to competitors or using insider information to profit on the trading of company stock.
Nor is all speech on the Internet protected by the First Amendment. Increasingly, courts have been willing to help companies crack down on so-called "cybersmearing" -- bad-mouthing companies or their management online.
"Business speech is not subject to the same protections as political speech," said John Roberts, a Minneapolis attorney who specializes in cyberlaw. "You can't say whatever you want about a company."
The get-tough strategy is a new one for Northwest, too. In the spring of 1998, the company's mechanics, frustrated by the pace of contract negotiations, began an unauthorized work slowdown that forced flight delays and hundreds of cancellations. Union leaders disclaimed any knowledge or authorization of the campaign, which employees advocated on Web sites and message boards.
Last month, however, Northwest sued the flight attendants union and some of its members, alleging they had violated federal labor laws by orchestrating a sickout. Judge Frank agreed with Northwest and issued a temporary restraining order that prohibited the union from advocating any work disruptions.
New legal ground
Still, the Northwest case appears to break new ground because, in addition to searching the office computers of union officials, Northwest got permission to search their home computers and the home computers of several rank-and-file employees, including Kevin Griffin and Ted Reeve.
The temporary settlement in the suit does not apply to Griffin and Reeve. The judge agreed to put the suit on hold as it pertains to the union and 19 individuals who are represented by the union's attorneys. But Griffin and Reeve, who are not represented by union attorneys because they are not union officers, are still subject to the company's discovery efforts and to a possible injunction against them.
"This kind of precedent could have a very chilling effect on the exercise of speech rights, and could set a very bad precedent for privacy," said Jerry Berman, executive director for the Center for Democracy and Technology, a leading privacy rights organization based in Washington, D.C.
Like most flight attendants, Griffin and Reeve do not use a computer at work. But they do operate online message boards where flight attendants have vented their frustration toward the company and the union leadership. Griffin's message board, http://www.nwaflightattendants.com, included anonymous postings calling for a sickout, but they were usually followed by urgings from Griffin that participants not advocate illegal activities.
Northwest hired two computer forensic experts from Ernst & Young to copy the hard drives of the 21 individuals named in the lawsuit. The judge limited the search to union activities relating to the sickout or e-mail to 43 individuals, well beyond the number of people named in the original lawsuit.
"This is really an extension beyond established law," said Marshall Tanick, a Minneapolis attorney who specializes in workplace and privacy issues. "How different is this from wiretapping somebody's phone?"
Personal data
Barbara Harvey, a Detroit-based attorney representing Griffin and Reeve, said the situation has created tremendous anxiety about the possible loss of "highly personal" information.
"We are trusting them [Ernst & Young] totally. We don't know them. We didn't hire them. In fact, they were hired by Northwest. But we are put into the position of having to trust them," she said.
Griffin, a veteran Northwest flight attendant based in Honolulu, surrendered his Packard Bell desktop and Fujitsu laptop at the Ernst & Young office in Honolulu. He was met there by two forensic examiners who flew to Honolulu from Washington, D.C., and Texas.
"I didn't think they had the right to come and get your home computer," he said.
The threat of a court-authorized search of home computers has already had one measurable impact: Postings to a rank-and-file Web site that was openly critical of both union management and the company have slowed to a trickle.
"If you're Northwest Airlines, you're probably smiling about that," said Paul Levy, a lawyer for Ralph Nader's Public Citizen Litigation Group, which also represents Griffin and Reeve.
Northwest might not be the only party pleased to see the Web site go quiet. Griffin's Web site and an organized e-mail campaign were instrumental in rallying opposition that defeated a tentative contract agreement that was reached last June and endorsed by the union's top leaders, including Teamsters General President James Hoffa.
Asked why the union didn't fight harder against the effort to search employees' home computers, Billie Davenport, president of Teamsters Local 2000, said the union complied with the discovery request because it felt it had nothing to hide.
'Was enough protection'
"We had voiced concern over people's privacy. There was an invasion-of-privacy issue," Davenport said. "But we believe there was enough privacy protection."
She said Ernst & Young's computer forensic examiners spent two full days in the union's offices last week, copying hard drives.
Griffin said his Web site has had more traffic than ever in the past month, but far fewer postings from visitors. Of those who aren't afraid to comment in the open forum section of the Web site, a much smaller percentage of the writers are identifying themselves, Griffin said.
"It's like they are running scared, with good reason," Griffin said.
© Copyright 2000 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
From: BOYCOTT NORTHWORST AIRLINES...NUMBER 1 IN EVIL
Date: 2/8/00
Time: 3:51:46 PM
Remote Name: 209.180.31.64
To all flight attendants at Northwest -
I had no idea the horrible conditions that all of you work under - you don't even make a living wage according to labor statistics here in Minnesota. What a rotten company to confiscate personal computers - is there anything lower than this that Northworst can do? Are they going to investigate how many times you have sex as well? How much lower can a company descend to? Flight attendants - the public is listening and learning...You fight will gain you more allies in your quest for decency.
From: Mr. Paul Wicklund DROPTHEDRUM@HOTMAIL.COM
Date: 2/8/00
Time: 11:47:00 PM
Remote Name: 4.48.149.17
I am not an employee of Northwest Airlines. I am one of your customers. I sent a copy of the letter below to Northwest Airlines. I have removed my phone number from this copy of the letter. PLEASE DO NOT FLOOD MY EMAIL. Thank You, ----------------------------
Hello,
I was reading a story online tonight in the Star Tribune. The story I inserted. You are going to search your employees' personnel property? I would like to make a few comments.
First, I live in Tampa, FL. I am from Minneapolis, and when I fly, I use Northwest Airlines. Second, Your employees' have always been extremely professional, and very nice. Third, I like flying with Northwest Airlines.
HOWEVER!
That may change if you proceed with you plans to search you employees' personnel property.
What happened to the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution?
You know... "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
What do you have planned next? Search all physical mail, the mailman delivers to your employees'?
I guess in the future, I might be using another airline. It all depends on how the story ends. YES I WOULD LIKE NORTHWEST AIRLINES TO RESPOND TO THIS LETTER.
Thank You,
Mr. Paul Wicklund Tampa, FL
DROPTHEDRUM@HOTMAIL.COM
--------------------------------------
Court authorizes search of Northwest employees' Home computers
Eric Wieffering and Tony Kennedy Star Tribune Tuesday, February 8, 2000
Northwest Airlines last week began court-authorized searches of the home computers of between 10 and 20 flight attendants, looking for private e-mail and other evidence that the employees helped to organize a sickout at the airline over the New Year's holiday.
The search has since been suspended pending a temporary settlement of the airline's lawsuit against Teamsters Local 2000, the union representing 11,000 flight attendants. But privacy advocates and attorneys not involved with the case say Northwest's action may embolden other companies to more aggressively monitor what employees say and do online from their home computers.
"If Northwest succeeds in gaining access to the hard drives of the home computers of its employees, it will certainly put a chill on the uses employees everywhere make of their home computers," said Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse in San Diego.
Northwest's action comes at a time when bills to protect individual privacy have been introduced at the state and national level. In addition, an increasing number of employees are learning, to their dismay, that companies have the right to monitor their online activities at work. Last month, for example, the New York Times fired 23 employees for sharing bawdy e-mail messages.
Northwest defended the search, noting that a federal court had authorized it.
"In the age we live in, the normal course of discovery includes taking depositions, producing documents and these days more than ever looking into the content of computers," said Jon Austin, a spokesman for Northwest.
"So many documents and communications these days are purely electronic in nature," Austin said.
But companies have rarely sought to search the home computers of their employees. In the past, most such searches usually have been limited to cases involving workers who've been accused of stealing company files, passing on trade secrets to competitors or using insider information to profit on the trading of company stock.
Nor is all speech on the Internet protected by the First Amendment. Increasingly, courts have been willing to help companies crack down on so-called "cybersmearing" -- bad-mouthing companies or their management online.
"Business speech is not subject to the same protections as political speech," said John Roberts, a Minneapolis attorney who specializes in cyberlaw. "You can't say whatever you want about a company."
The get-tough strategy is a new one for Northwest, too. In the spring of 1998, the company's mechanics, frustrated by the pace of contract negotiations, began an unauthorized work slowdown that forced flight delays and hundreds of cancellations. Union leaders disclaimed any knowledge or authorization of the campaign, which employees advocated on Web sites and message boards.
Last month, however, Northwest sued the flight attendants union and some of its members, alleging they had violated federal labor laws by orchestrating a sickout. Judge Frank agreed with Northwest and issued a temporary restraining order that prohibited the union from advocating any work disruptions.
New legal ground
Still, the Northwest case appears to break new ground because, in addition to searching the office computers of union officials, Northwest got permission to search their home computers and the home computers of several rank-and-file employees, including Kevin Griffin and Ted Reeve.
The temporary settlement in the suit does not apply to Griffin and Reeve. The judge agreed to put the suit on hold as it pertains to the union and 19 individuals who are represented by the union's attorneys. But Griffin and Reeve, who are not represented by union attorneys because they are not union officers, are still subject to the company's discovery efforts and to a possible injunction against them.
"This kind of precedent could have a very chilling effect on the exercise of speech rights, and could set a very bad precedent for privacy," said Jerry Berman, executive director for the Center for Democracy and Technology, a leading privacy rights organization based in Washington, D.C.
Like most flight attendants, Griffin and Reeve do not use a computer at work. But they do operate online message boards where flight attendants have vented their frustration toward the company and the union leadership. Griffin's message board, http://www.nwaflightattendants.com, included anonymous postings calling for a sickout, but they were usually followed by urgings from Griffin that participants not advocate illegal activities.
Northwest hired two computer forensic experts from Ernst & Young to copy the hard drives of the 21 individuals named in the lawsuit. The judge limited the search to union activities relating to the sickout or e-mail to 43 individuals, well beyond the number of people named in the original lawsuit.
"This is really an extension beyond established law," said Marshall Tanick, a Minneapolis attorney who specializes in workplace and privacy issues. "How different is this from wiretapping somebody's phone?"
Personal data
Barbara Harvey, a Detroit-based attorney representing Griffin and Reeve, said the situation has created tremendous anxiety about the possible loss of "highly personal" information.
"We are trusting them [Ernst & Young] totally. We don't know them. We didn't hire them. In fact, they were hired by Northwest. But we are put into the position of having to trust them," she said.
Griffin, a veteran Northwest flight attendant based in Honolulu, surrendered his Packard Bell desktop and Fujitsu laptop at the Ernst & Young office in Honolulu. He was met there by two forensic examiners who flew to Honolulu from Washington, D.C., and Texas.
"I didn't think they had the right to come and get your home computer," he said.
The threat of a court-authorized search of home computers has already had one measurable impact: Postings to a rank-and-file Web site that was openly critical of both union management and the company have slowed to a trickle.
"If you're Northwest Airlines, you're probably smiling about that," said Paul Levy, a lawyer for Ralph Nader's Public Citizen Litigation Group, which also represents Griffin and Reeve.
Northwest might not be the only party pleased to see the Web site go quiet. Griffin's Web site and an organized e-mail campaign were instrumental in rallying opposition that defeated a tentative contract agreement that was reached last June and endorsed by the union's top leaders, including Teamsters General President James Hoffa.
Asked why the union didn't fight harder against the effort to search employees' home computers, Billie Davenport, president of Teamsters Local 2000, said the union complied with the discovery request because it felt it had nothing to hide.
'Was enough protection'
"We had voiced concern over people's privacy. There was an invasion-of-privacy issue," Davenport said. "But we believe there was enough privacy protection."
She said Ernst & Young's computer forensic examiners spent two full days in the union's offices last week, copying hard drives.
Griffin said his Web site has had more traffic than ever in the past month, but far fewer postings from visitors. Of those who aren't afraid to comment in the open forum section of the Web site, a much smaller percentage of the writers are identifying themselves, Griffin said.
"It's like they are running scared, with good reason," Griffin said. Copyright 2000 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
From: Kevin Griffin - Moderator
Date: 2/8/00
Time: 4:27:36 PM
Remote Name: 205.188.198.179
February 8, 2000
The magistrate has decided that I do not have standing to object to the subpoena to 9NetAve's records (the host server of this web site). Therefore, unless 9NetAve or one of the anonymous individuals succeed in putting a stop to this newest escalation in the Discovery War, Northwest Airlines will now be allowed to go through the 9Net Ave server to try and track down individuals who have posted here in the forum whether anonymously or by using their name. If you posted anonymous messages, you may want to retain counsel on your own to contact 9NetAve immediately to demand that they fight the subpoena, because otherwise, your computer hard drives may be the next ones searched.
Kevin M. Griffin
Moderator
From: And to think that Walter Mondale was the Vice President. You'd
think he would up hold the Bill of Rights. lax fa
Date: 2/11/00
Time: 9:38:12 PM
Remote Name: 12.72.32.94
WSWS : Workers Struggles : Airlines
Action against dissidents in airline contract struggle
US court orders seizure of Northwest flight attendants' home computers
By Jerry White
11 February 2000
Use this version to print
Northwest Airlines last week began court-authorized searches of the home computers of flight attendants whom the airline suspects organized a sick-out over the New Year's holiday. Two computer forensic experts, hired by Northwest, seized the computers of a rank-and-file flight attendant who operates a web site and electronic bulletin boards, and copied the hard drives from the computers of 21 individuals, including private e-mail messages. The investigators also spent two hours searching computers at the Bloomington, Minnesota offices of Teamsters Local 2000, which represents Northwest's 11,000 flight attendants.
Last month, after a high number of sick calls from flight attendants forced the company to cancel flights over New Years, Northwest sued the union and individually-named flight attendants, alleging they had violated federal law by orchestrating a sick-out. US District Judge Donovan Frank in St. Paul, Minnesota agreed and issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting Teamsters Local 2000, its leaders and specific flight attendants from encouraging or participating in “sick-outs” or other illegal job actions. The judge gave Northwest the right to seek evidence relating to the job action, including searching through the e-mails of 43 individuals, well beyond the number of people named in the original lawsuit.
The company has particularly targeted two dissident flight attendants, Kevin Griffin of Honolulu and Ted Reeve of North Hollywood, California, who operate web sites and electronic bulletin boards that have been critical of both the company and the union. Flight attendants have been fighting for a new contract since September 1996 and are anxious to recoup concessions that the union granted to the now highly profitable airline earlier in the decade. Last August, flight attendants used Internet forums to organize the overwhelming defeat of a contract proposal endorsed by Local 2000 and Teamsters General President James Hoffa.
Northwest accuses Griffin and Reeve of inciting the alleged job action. The company's attorneys cited anonymous postings calling for a sick-out on Griffin's message board nwaflightattendants.com during the request for a temporary restraining order. These messages were usually followed by urgings from Griffin that participants not advocate illegal activities.
Griffin, a veteran Northwest flight attendant, was forced to surrender his Packard Bell desktop and Fujitsu laptop to investigators from the firm of Ernst & Young last week. The two examiners flew to Hawaii from their Washington DC and Texas offices to confiscate the machines. Afterwards Griffin said, “I didn't think they had the right to come and get your home computer.”
Jon Austin, a spokesman for Northwest, defended the search, saying, “In the age we live in, the normal course of discovery includes taking depositions, producing documents and these days more than ever looking into the content of computers. So many documents and communications these days are purely electronic in nature,” he said.
The threat of court-authorized searches of home computers has already had its desired effect. Postings to Griffin's web site have slowed down significantly. Of those who aren't afraid to comment in the open forum section of the web site, a much smaller percentage of the writers are identifying themselves, Griffin said. “It's like they are running scared, with good reason,” he added.
Reeve said the judge's order means that he must be particularly cautious about what information he posts on his own site, “lest the company accuse him of supporting a sick-out and therefore violating the district court's order.”
Free speech advocates denounced the searches. “This kind of precedent could have a very chilling effect on the exercise of speech rights, and could set a very bad precedent for privacy,” said Jerry Berman, executive director for the Center for Democracy and Technology, a leading privacy rights organization based in Washington DC.
“If Northwest succeeds in gaining access to the hard drives of the home computers of its employees, it will certainly put a chill on the uses employees everywhere make of their home computers,” said Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse in San Diego.
The concern for democratic rights was not echoed, however, by the flight attendants' own union, Teamsters Local 2000. On the contrary, earlier this week the Teamsters officials entered into a deal with Northwest and the federal court that paves the way for the continued persecution of the rank-and-file flight attendants.
On Sunday, February 6, Northwest Airlines and Teamsters officials reached an agreement that suspended legal action against the union and halted the discovering proceedings against 19 of the 21 individuals named in the lawsuit—all officials in the local union. The temporary settlement does not apply to Kevin Griffin and Ted Reeve, who were not even invited to the settlement talks.
The following day Judge Frank gave his approval to the deal and ruled that legal action against the union would be suspended while negotiations for a new contract continued. The judge also ruled that if a settlement were reached and ratified by union members, Northwest's lawsuit would be dismissed. But if flight attendants violated the ban on job actions, or if negotiations collapsed and a legally-sanctioned strike was threatened, the lawsuit could be restarted.
Under the settlement Griffin and Reeve, who were not represented by union attorneys because they are not Teamsters officers, are still subject to the company's discovery efforts and a possible injunction if the restraining order is violated. They face the threat of potentially massive fines at the very least, if not imprisonment. In addition Northwest has filed a lawsuit in Honolulu in an attempt to identify anonymous writers who have allegedly libeled company officials on his web site. The two defendants face a February 15 hearing before Judge Frank.
The Teamsters bureaucracy undoubtedly welcomes the efforts to suppress their members' use of the Internet. Since organizing the e-mail campaign that led to a 69 percent defeat of the contract last summer, these web sites have been the focus of continued rank-and-file opposition to the union's efforts to impose a pro-company contract.
The Local 2000 leadership has rejected the demands of workers on the web site as too radical. Local president Billie Davenport denounced the dissidents, saying, “I don't want this union to run on the voices of a small minority. Don't think that what 300 to 400 members are screaming for is what 11,000 members want.” A former local leader, Mollie Reiley, added, “We've got a group advocating anarchy.”
Davenport said Monday that the union complied with the court's order and never tried to disrupt Northwest's flight operations and never would without the permission of the National Mediation Board. Asked by a newspaper reporter from the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune why she did not fight harder against the searching of home computers, she said the union had nothing to hide and “we believe there was enough privacy protection.”
While the union agreed to suppress job actions by its members, at the same time it collaborated with the courts to deny workers their right to due process. Neither the union nor the court even notified Griffin and Reeve that they were named in Northwest's lawsuit, and therefore the workers have had no opportunity to defend themselves. Nor were they allowed to participate in a January 7 telephone conference in which the union agreed that the temporary restraining order be extended to February 19.
Both workers are pursuing legal action against the trampling of their First Amendment rights, and are seeking to present their case to the appeals court. Their attorney, Barbara Harvey, said, “A grave injustice has been done to these two individuals, because the order is a blatant case of restraint of speech that has historically been forbidden.”
From: Where it says that Local 2000 and the 17 individuals with union
ties have temporarily settled the lawsuit by AGREEING to focus on contract
negotiations.
Date: 2/15/00
Time: 2:55:48 AM
Remote Name: 12.72.79.136
I sure as hell was NOT asked. I did NOT agree to this. And I am aware of several other individually named defendants who were not asked. Do you know how frustrating it is to hear that someone is speaking for you and calling the shots that control your life and legal battle?? Oh yes, I momentarily forgot--you DO know what that's like, don't you? After all, the same group of people overwhelmingly endorsed the stellar tentative agreement that got shot down by nearly 70% of the membership.
Mark my words, this administration is not long for this world. There WILL be changes made come election day. This is the most pathetic way possible to run a Union. Billie--would you do us all a favor and simply submit your RESIGNATION ??? Please! And to the I.B.T.--would you kindly let the local attorneys do their job and quit interfering with the judicial process?
From: Kevin Griffin - Moderator
Date: 2/14/00
Time: 8:55:24 PM
Remote Name: 205.188.199.43
The TRO that had been placed upon Ted Reeves and myself has been dissolved today in court by Judge Donovan Frank.
Thanks to Billie Davenport, Al Habib , Shadlea Bennett-Williams and Lovey Offerle for casting us out of the Local 2000 protection during these trying times. We had TWO OF THE BEST Attorneys representing us against Northwest Airlines - Barbara Harvey and Paul Alan Levy. It was a major victory for free speech, grass roots labor reform, and privacy rights here in the United States. These two individuals came to us through the Teamsters For Democratic Union (TDU, a great organization. I would like to thank them both and the TDU.
From: Kevin Griffin 19 years
Date: 2/15/00
Time: 7:08:30 PM
Remote Name: 207.67.7.62
The settlement agreed to by Northwest Airlines and Local 2000 last week called for all discovery and searches of the personal and private computers of the other defendants to end.
Yesterday while at the offices of Briggs & Morgan (Northwest's Attorneys) we found out from Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Thornton that Northwest and their hired respectable firm of Ernst & Young have continued to search the hard drives and computers. This was brought to Judge Donovan Franks attention at the hearing. Mr. Bloom the Local 2000 attorney was present as well and could not believe it. Just goes to show you there is no honor among Northwest and their attorneys.
This corporation has sunk to an all time, unbelievable low. First they invade the privacy of home computers and then they agree to stop searching in court as part of a settlement and then behind the scenes they continue to do what they agreed not to do. Will it ever end back there? The firm of Ernst & Young was supposed to be a third neutral party. Somehow I doubt it at this time......
From: Kevin Griffin - Moderator
Date: 2/20/00
Time: 9:59:41 PM
Remote Name: 205.188.199.164
February 20, 2000
Dear Fellow Flight Attendants:
The following is what occurred during the past week and a half:
I left Honolulu on February 9, 2000 to fly to Detroit to meet with Barbara Harvey, one of my attorneys and discuss the case with Northwest Airlines on February 10, 2000. I was placed on an unpaid leave of absence to deal with this lawsuit brought on by Northwest Airlines.
On Friday February 11, 2000 Ms. Barbara Harvey, Ted Reeves and I met at the courthouse in St. Paul with the magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan, Northwest attorney Timothy Thornton and Robert Brodin of labor relations for a Mandatory settlement session. Paul Levy joined us by phone from Washington as he was going through mountains of documents pertaining to the case. The court had ordered this session. The meeting was scheduled by the court to try and work out some sort of settlement. The settlement that Judge Boylan offered to Ted and I was the same as the settlement offered to the other defendants earlier and that was to remain under a Temporary Restraining Order (TR0) while the negotiations continued in Washington, DC. As we had done nothing wrong I felt along with Ted that we could not agree to this extension of the TRO. This TRO had been placed upon us January 5, 2000. As most know by now on January 5, 2000 Ted and I were tried, found guilty and sentenced to a TRO without being in court or having representatives there for us. Northwest had not attempted to serve us with the lawsuit until after it was all over. The Northwest attorneys did manage to prepare documents and partial documents dating back to last summer to use against myself and the other defendants prior to court on January 5, 2000 therefore time was not the reason we were not notified. They had been planning this for quite some time. As in a previous suit I found out about this lawsuit involving the ClearDaze web site and myself from the press. I therefore believe Northwest could have notified all the defendants and myself to be in court January 5, 2000 so we could have defended ourselves as the International Brotherhood of Teamsters did and been found "not guilty" from the start. Northwest chose this lawsuit to silence the unity here we have had in the forum and keep it that way while they passed another Tentative Agreement without opposition. This TRO, I believe was wrong and another strong arm tactic to get us to settle for a less than desirable contract. Therefore the Mandatory Settlement session was not to our agreement and Judge Boylan was not happy with Ted and myself for not accepting it.
On Monday at 09:00 AM Ms. Harvey, Mr. Levy (my attorney from the Washington Public Citizens Litigation Group) and I arrived at the offices of Briggs and Morgan (Northwest Attorneys) in Minneapolis for a day of depositions. Upon entering the offices of Briggs and Morgan we were met by John Gallagher, Northwest Attorney from Washington and told we were not doing depositions but rather were to meet in open court as Northwest had asked the court for a continuance of the Tuesday Trial date. We had flown in from all parts of the country to be there for depositions at our own expense and were not pleased with this news from Mr. Gallagher. We did find out from Mr. Gallagher that the hard drives of the other defendants personal computers had continued to be searched. The settlement agreed to by Northwest and Local 2000 had called for all discovery and searches of hard drives to stop. Northwest and Ernst & Young had totally disregarded the agreed upon settlement and continued searching. Mr. Michael Bloom, the local 2000 attorney representing the other defendants was informed of this when he arrived to sit in on our depositions and did bring this up later that day in court as well.
At 11:00 AM Monday we traveled over to the Federal Court Building in St. Paul to be in open court with Federal Judge Donovan Frank. The Northwest attorneys had asked for this meeting in court to ask for a continuance for the trial the next day. It became clear at the court session that Northwest had not lived up to its part as far as the court orders and the settlement agreed to by Local 2000 and Northwest Airlines.
The court order issued called for the hard drives of my computers to be copied and that Ernst & Young would provide to my attorneys within 24hours all relevant material pulled from the hard drives before it was turned over to Northwest Airlines and their attorneys. Well, eight days after copying the hard drives Ernst & Young began turning over documents to my attorneys. This was well beyond the court ordered time frame. Not only was this a factor but the volume of paperwork turned over to my attorneys from the computers was immense. Ernst & Young were told to do a keyword search and pull only relevant documents from the computers. To this day we do not know the "keywords" as only NWA and Ernst & Young know them. Northwest attorney Timothy Thornton claims that the volume of paperwork generated from this search would be taller than the Washington Monument and therefore NWA needed more time. It has been apparent that the search was not limited to the scope of this case and TRO but of the entire hard drives including personal data and documents.
The Temporary Restraining Order was therefore dissolved because Northwest was not prepared to go to trial Tuesday or had lacked credible evidence. They have pulled every possible delay tactic and disregarded all orders given by the court. To have my attorneys and myself fly in and pay for airplane tickets, hotels etc.knowing that there would be no court date on February 15, 2000 was one more way of trying to bury us in expenses.
There are many wondering why I turned over my computers and have written asking. My answer is that I do believe in the justice system here in our country. We have complied with all the orders of the court though I may not agree with them and we have fought some of them. I did not agree with letting the company go into the homes and personal computers of the other defendants and myself. My attorneys and I tried to get a protective order-prohibiting Northwest from doing so. We were not successful but did have the order revised to be done by Ernst & Young (Northwest hired them) and as stated above. Our home computers are more than filing cabinet drawers. In this day and age one search of a personal hard drive can tell more about a persons life than a file draw can. One subpoena allowed Northwest Airlines and their attorneys to go into the hard drives of my personal computers. This one subpoena permitted Northwest to go into my bank records, my medical records, my dental records, my personal emails, my real estate records, my IRS records, my attorney-client correspondences, my family photo albums, my business and client records outside of Northwest, my letters I had written in the past to friends and family, and numerous other documents that I store on this home computer. They copied everything. Did I have a choice? The answer is no. What will they do with all of this personal hard drive information? I do not know. Do I trust them? Would you? I will let you all answer the last question.
Northwest has also asked the court to have me search for the anonymous posters on this web site. My attorneys and I have been fighting this as well. As of this date I am not sure how the court will rule on this matter. I have not done this so far. I believe if Northwest and their attorneys want to play detective then Northwest should hire detectives. I do ask once again that everyone refrain from posting anything that may be "misinterpreted" as having to do with illegal actions. We must abide by the Railway Labor Act.
There are also some questions out there as to why there is not a password system in effect on this forum. The answer is that it would be next to impossible to keep out Northwest management and others trying to disrupt our unity. They have entered the CompuServe forum as well. If there is a will then there is a way. Believe me I tried a few months ago to do this. I had many problems with the server and found it could not be done without great expense and monitoring the site 24 hours a day. This is something I just could not do.
I created this web site on the Internet to be an open forum for Flight Attendants to discuss contract issues and career issues. For once we have grown in unity and educated each other on many issues. For once we have seen the Tentative Agreement prior to signing. We made an educated decision and that was to turn down the first offer by Northwest Airlines. I still believe in Free Speech, as it is a basic right here in the United States. To deny us this right or to attempt to suppress our free speech is wrong. We cannot let Northwest and their attorneys throw out the Bill Of Rights with their deep pocketbooks. Having spent many hours reviewing this site and preparing for court I can tell you that by reviewing the statistics more posters now are not using their names compared to before the lawsuit was filed. This is exactly what the company wants. Northwest management wants all of us to be intimidated and afraid to sign our names. I have said repeatedly in the past that by using a name you give your post more credibility. Please do not let the tactics of this company drive you into anonymity. We do have rights in this country and must stand up for them.
Well, that is what has happened over the past week and a half. It has been a struggle but the TRO has been dissolved against Ted and myself. We are still in court and will be trying to get the case dismissed soon.
Now I believe it is time to get back to the contract fight and get that well deserved contract that we can all live with. We cannot settle for a contract that has no retirement plan that we can live on in twenty plus years (the last time it was changed). We cannot accept a contract with poor work rules including a 20-hour duty day and a bad reserve system. We must get a scope agreement that will protect our jobs in the future (what would a raise be if there were not the job protection for the future?). We must continue to get an airtight contract without so many loopholes leaving way for management prerogatives. We must get a contract that is good for all of us here at Northwest Airlines. We hear some Flight Attendants say that a lot of this should have been taken care of years ago. Well, now is the time to get it done so we do not hear this again in the future. Let us continue the unity and continue to voice our opinions to the negotiators and company. Let us continue to educate each other on contract issues and career issues.
Lastly, I would like to thank those who supported Ted and I with moral support and financial assistance. It has helped us to carry on during these trying times. Barbara Harvey, Paul Levy, their staffs, Ted and I have worked long days and nights trying to deal with Northwest and their deep pockets. The cost of dealing with Northwest is beyond what I expected and I am sure my attorneys expectations. I want to thank you all for your support. The bills continue to come in and your assistance is appreciated. Hopefully this will all be over soon. Thank you again for everything and have a great day.
In Unity,
Kevin M. Griffin
Moderator here at the ClearDaze Forum
NWA Flight Attendant
From:
Date: 2/21/00
Time: 3:25:41 PM
Remote Name: 216.34.244.105
Northwest Wants To Know Who Tried To Encourage More Work Disruptions
By PHYLLIS PLITCH, STAFF REPORTER -2/10/2000
NEW YORK -- In the wake of calling off a search of flight attendants' home and union computers, Northwest Airlines Inc. has begun a new mission to unmask the author of messages posted anonymously on an employee-run Web site.
In particular, the nation's fourth-largest airline wants to find out who wrote two messages which were posted after a judge forbade union defendants from instigating or encouraging work disruptions.
The online forum, devoted to an ongoing contract dispute between the airline and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 2000, is hosted by Kevin Griffin, one of two rank-and-file flight attendants not subject to the weekend agreement that ended the search.
In legal papers filed Wednesday in federal court, St. Paul, Minn.-based Northwest Airlines (NWAC) asked a magistrate judge to force Griffin to assist in identifying the posters. The airline alleged the postings were aimed at delaying passenger boarding by dragging out emergency briefing procedures.
"The messages provide a blueprint for accomplishing delays, and instructions on how to avoid discipline," the airline said in the motion papers, adding Griffin has in the past demonstrated he can trace posters' identities.
The legal machinations are the latest effort by the airline to compile evidence that flight attendants and their union organized a sickout over the Christmas and New Year's holidays. After Northwest filed suit last month against flight attendants and union representatives, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order forbidding them from advocating future disruptions.
Over the weekend, the lawsuit was put on hold, bringing to a halt court-authorized searches of computers belonging to the 22 defendants. But not before a consultant hired by the airline searched 14 computers, including those belonging to Griffin and Ted Reeve, the other flight attendant not represented by union lawyers, and not part of the agreement to end the lawsuit.
Because the lawsuit against them is still alive, the computer records of both flight attendants will continue to be pursued by the airline, through court-approved discovery procedures. Reeve also operates a Web site the airline continues to probe for evidence related to the purported sickout.
The two postings on Griffin's forum allegedly showed up on Friday - a day after the consultants, Ernst & Young, lifted data from his computer.
Paul Levy, an attorney with Ralph Nadar's Public Citizen Litigation Group, which has stepped in to help the two flight attendants, said neither encouraged nor were involved in a sickout. Levy questioned the airline's motivation in forcing Griffin to research the postings on his site, saying its true goal is to take down the Web site.
"They have all the information to do the search that he can do," he said. "All they're trying to do is burden his free speech by bogging him down."
A Northwest spokesman denied that was the airline's intent.
"That's absolutely wrong. This is a garden variety discovery motion," he said. "The only thing we're interested in are documents and information that relate to allegations of illegal activity."
The union has been trying for more than three years to get a new contract and this week entered mediated negotiations. Last summer, the flight attendants rejected a temporary agreement hammered out between the airline and union negotiators.
Copyright (c) 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
From: Email
Date: 3/5/00
Time: 5:13:40 PM
Remote Name: 216.34.244.105
Dear Negotiating Committee Members:
I am in receipt of the condensed proposal dated February 2, 2000 and frankly, it disturbs me greatly. In several of Billie's communications with the members, I have heard her refer to "the vocal few" as being a disruptive force. Based on her recent lawsuit alleging racial discrimination, I can accept that Billie may not always be thinking clearly. However, for the Negotiations Committee, as a whole, to come out with such wording is an abomination. I think the membership deserve to know just who you mean when you refer to "the vocal few." Quite honestly, I don't know if "I" am one of those blackballed people, or not. (No Billie, don't go there! You know damned well this isn't intended in any sort of a racial way--so don't even try it!) If "I" should be one of those you are singling out, I'd like to point out that at no time have I, nor any of the members of Local 2000 "...detracted] from [your commitment to communicate [your efforts...." as you state in the opening remarks of the aforementioned document. In short, we are happy as well when you choose to communicate at all!
Furthermore, said document speaks of "...crippling] the majority of our members who gave us their trust." The operative word is GAVE. We, the members, GAVE you our trust and you violated it greatly by accepting and endorsing that awful excuse for a tentative agreement. YOU are the reason we are where we are today--with the exception of the newly appointed members. If you, as a group, have not already discussed the possibility of Billie stepping down then I think something is amiss. We are in desperate need of leadership--not a dictatorship. I am also in receipt of a letter from Counsel addressed to Al in which he recounts Judge Boylan's most recent rulings as of March 2, 2000. Normally these documents would have been addressed to Billie. Can you verify if a change in leadership has already occurred or if we might expect one in the near future? I noticed Billie had taken some time off due to a medical and I hope all is well, though I think she may well have caused some of her own stress by lashing out against Danny and Anne. That was inexcusable and the fact that Al, Lovie, and Shadlea tagged along paints them as nothing more than lackeys. (Nope! Don't go there Billie. One possible definition of a lackey is a "manservant" and you know damned well I don't intend for it to be interpreted in that manner.) Why not simply stop the crap, cease with the lawsuits, and get us the contract we deserve? If USAir can get released by the NMB with sixteen open sections, I have to wonder where you all went wrong? In my opinion, the Association of Flight Attendants is showing us all just how a union "should" go about obtaining an industry-leading contract. Have you thought about calling Pat Friend? If the NMB could call the airline executives together for a pow-wow so they could agree on their bottom line; I don't see why we shouldn't combine efforts with other unions as well. Your thoughts?
Sincerely,
Gary Helton ###
It is with great regret that I find myself writing this letter. To realize that the aforementioned members of our EBoard, Billie, Al, Lovey, and Shadlea, have succumbed to such bargain basement trash, makes me embarrassed to be a member. It is with ever deeper embarrassment that I find these officers responsible for making decisions on behalf of Local 2000.
I have know Anne Toombs since she was hired by Hughes Air West. To allege that she has a mean, vindictive or discriminate bone in her body, gives new meaning to "grasping at straws". Upon first the letter of accusation, my initial thoughts were "dark side"----those who haven't seen the light. After reading the letter over and over, my final thoughts are "dark side"---those who STILL don't see the light. Were these not the same EB members that supported the TA and thought it was great? Were these not the negotiations members that wrote that ambiguous, nauseating, "at the Company's discretion" language? Perhaps the thing I find most frightening, is the fact that this letter written during negotiation. That in itself defies stupidity. Unless, of course one considers the timing was intentional. The reaction of the membership majority is outrage. Once again, we have to wonder why these people are trying to divert attention away from the bargaining table.
The only thing funnier than their attempt to silence Anne and Danny, would be an announcement that they plan to run for re-election. Now THAT would be a joke!
Kaki Androsiuk--LAX F/A ###
Most of us sent a strong message through our votes and our surveys to Billie (we refer to her as "Bully" after her knee-jerk tactics to try to get us to accept that TA) as to what we wanted in a contract and what we wanted her to fight for on our behalf.
THEN, we even tried to forgive her for trying to force that disgusting TA down our throats.
THEN, we tried to muster up some confidence in that poor excuse for a leader.
NOW, she comes back with a letter against our fellow local leaders falsely accusing them of these insane, repulsive things. This is yet another ugly, unethical, very thinly disguised maneuver by Billie to discredit all of those close to the negotiations; those that know that her agenda is as far removed from our best interests as management's agenda is.
I just flew with a flight attendant who had Billie on her flight. Billie admonished this woman for not being "happy" with the way things were going. She said that she lost her brother and that the FA should re-prioritize the things in her life. The FA responded with a list of family members that she herself has lost. I, too, know the gut-wrenching loss of a loved one. Most of us do - all of us will eventually know this.
However, personal priorities are totally different from professional priorities. If Billie cannot differentiate between the two, and/or make the fight for a great flight attendant contract her professional priority, then PLEASE BILLIE - GET OUT AND LET SOMEONE WITH HONOR, INTEGRITY, AND DETERMINATION FIGHT FOR US!!! And quit your filthy, disgusting mudslinging. Billie makes me embarrassed to face Northwest management as not only a flight attendant, but as a woman. If they think
we are all like her, we don't stand a chance.
Sue Pettit - MSP - FA ###
Dear Ms. Davenport: I have recently read your letter to Danny Campbell and Anne Tombs. I am outraged that you and your remaining negotiation team would waste your valuable time in pursuing this trivial allegation of "racial slurr" against you. Please don't insult our intelligence because it is VERY obvious that there is a major rift between you and Danny Campbell and Anne Tombs. They don't agree with your leadership abilities. You fail to forget that the vast majority of flight attendants are FURIOUS with your leadership and representation. You PERSONALLY have caused undue hardship and embarrassment for our group. Look at the past few months i.e. lawsuits, terrible press coverage. angry passengers etc. and etc. All because you and your select negotiation team agreed to that terrible tentative agreement. And now it is the CRITICAL time for us because you go before NWA for the "MEAT and POTATOES" i.e. our retirement and compensation. We all know that NWA will cry and say we have no more to give you, the oil prices are up, our stock is down etc. etc. And what are YOU going to do? Buckle under and say OK -we give? Just like you did before!! Our executives are the HIGHEST paid in the airline business. Why? Because they take from us and put our money into their pockets. We had the UNITY and strength to come together. And what have YOU done? You have dismantled us. You are NOT calling for any action from us i.e. no picketing, no CAT program, no roadside shows. NO NOTHING. Just another GAG order from you. It is VERY obvious that you want to slide another inferior contract down our throats. You were paid VERY good money to represent us and hear our concerns. Instead you are wasting your time and our money in filing frivolous accusations against your negotiation members. Your behavior and action is reprehensible and a disgrace for our Union and membership. When I see who is left for our negotiation team I cringe. In my opinion, Lovely Overly has never been there for us. Two years ago, I walked into her office in Seattle to inform her that I will have all of the evidence from the BROIN case so that we can show NWA management the damage and harm to the flight attendants who have to work in a enclosed smoking environment. And do you know what she said "We can't ban smoking-think of all the money NWA would lose on our Asian flights". She was head of the Seattle health and safety committee. So it was NOT important for her to address health issues for our flight attendants. She alone, was responsible for trying to implement a 20 hour duty day with NO guarantee of a crew break. Even tho ALPA has medical documentation that fatigue is the number 1 factor in health and safety issues for flight crews. Ms. Lovely , in my opinion ,is not concerned about our health and job protection. Let me warn you, Ms. Davenport, we are all watching you. If you are truly interested in our welfare, then you will implement an action plan NOW to muster up Union membership against NWA in this most critical time of the negotiation process. Thank you.
Very truly yours, Elaine J. Darling Seattle Flight Attendant Political Action Coordinator ###
Davenport, Why are you doing this to Toombs? When I read your e-mail I immediately knew that she was referring to a popular line from "Star Wars". How dare you do something so destructive as to threaten racial discrimination and further divide our group at this critical moment.
You are unfit to lead us anywhere with your continued blunders.
Lynette Robinson MSP FA ###
From: PW/DTW
Date: 3/9/00
Time: 6:13:16 PM
Remote Name: 152.163.207.53
Is this a real figure, the news on ABC just said 12 were fired, ok union what will you do for them. To those that resigned, we feel so sorry that you chose to resign but will will continue the battle for you for a fair and equitable contract. Many of us out here have chronic illnesses that may or may not be connected with airline work but together we will prevail and succeed. You are quality people and will succeed wherever you go. Please keep in touch through this forum and let us know how you are doing. Harassment attorneys are available in DTW and MSP. get one quick.
For Immediate Release: Contact: Paul Alan Levy (202) 588-1000
March 9, 2000 Angela Bradbery (202) 588-7741 Barbara Harvey (313) 963-3570
Judge Violated Privacy Rights of Flight Attendants When Ordering Computer Search
Public Citizen Seeks to Have Search Order Reversed
WASHINGTON, D.C.-- A Minnesota magistrate judge violated the privacy rights of two Northwest Airlines flight attendants when it ordered a search of the hard drives of their home computers by an accounting firm hired by their employer, Public Citizen argued in an appeal filed in federal district court today.
According to Public Citizen’s brief, under the normal course of discovery, each party is responsible for searching its own files for evidence relating to a case. Not only is there no reason to depart from that approach when files are stored on personal computers, but differences between computer files and paper copies argue strongly for providing extra protection for the privacy of individual employees’ home computers.
“Because airline employees travel so extensively, they are highly dependent on their computers to communicate with each other about union affairs,” said Paul Alan Levy, an attorney for Public Citizen Litigation Group, which is representing the two flight attendants. “The magistrate judge's order forcing several employees of Northwest Airlines to turn over their hard drives to an accounting firm hired by their employer has had a serious chilling effect on employees' use of their computers.” Barbara Harvey, a Detroit labor lawyer, is also representing the flight attendants in the case.
Computer forensics expert Jeff Fischbach explained in an affidavit supporting the appeal that allowing a search of a home computer by an agent of the flight attendants’ employer sets a dangerous precedent that threatens the privacy of computer owners, akin to revealing their most private thoughts. The attendants explain in their affidavits how violated they felt when banking records, correspondence with friend and families, and other highly private materials were turned over to the accountants to be reviewed.
Northwest obtained the order against Kevin Griffin, a flight attendant based in Hawaii, and Ted Reeve, a flight attendant based near Los Angeles, after obtaining a temporary restraining order against the two men. The company sought the restraining order without providing notice to the flight attendants, and it based its request on allegations that the flight attendants shared responsibility for calling a “sickout” over the New Year’s holiday. The restraining order was dissolved after Northwest decided that it did not have enough evidence to win at a preliminary injunction hearing.
In the meantime, however, Northwest persuaded a magistrate judge to allow the accounting firm, Ernst and Young, to copy the hard drives of the attendants’ home computers for any documents that may have some relationship to the case -- an unprecedented invasion of privacy.
Ernst and Young was portrayed by Northwest as a neutral third party, although documents obtained since the order was entered reveal that Ernst and Young is not only a regular client of Northwest’s law firm in the case but has entered into a “strategic alliance” with that firm. Moreover, although the magistrate judge attempted to build privacy protections into his search order, those protections proved inadequate because Northwest and Ernst and Young repeatedly disregarded these safeguards.
Although the computers have been searched and much material has been turned over, some materials have not yet been searched and printed. Public Citizen’s appeal asks the district judge to reverse the search order, to relieve Griffin and Reeve of any further obligations to release information from their hard drives under that order, and to direct Ernst and Young to destroy the copies of the hard drives it has.
“We hope that the district judge will agree that this was an unwarranted invasion of the flight attendants’ personal privacy and will rectify the wrong by reversing the order before any more information is turned over,” Levy said.
The brief filed today may be accessed on Public Citizen’s Web site at http://www.citizen.org/litigation/briefs/hdrive.htm.
###
Public Citizen is a consumer advocacy organization founded by Ralph Nader. For more information about Public Citizen, please visit our Web site at www.citizen.org.
Flight attendant Danny Campbell arouses ire, admiration
Tony Kennedy / Star Tribune
The first time flight attendant Danny Campbell got into trouble at Northwest Airlines was in 1995, when the company threatened to fire him for privately tape-recording a conversation he had with a boss.
The story is complex, but Campbell made the recording to bolster civil charges he was pursuing against top officers of his own union, Teamsters Local 2000.
Then, as now, the Detroit-based flight attendant simultaneously battled Northwest and the Teamsters. What's different today, and what makes him an important figure in the flight attendants' long struggle for a new contract, is that he has attracted a grass roots following and may run this year for president of Local 2000.
Raised by his mother, a liberal-leaning Maine country-western singer, Campbell, 30, is an ambitious non-comformist whose head-butting with Northwest and the union have earned him both admiration and scorn. If there's a storm involving Northwest flight attendants, it's a good bet Campbell is in it.
His detractors say he is irresponsible and too close to Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), a faction that opposed the election of James Hoffa as Teamsters general president. His supporters, on the other hand, view him as a fearless crusader against corporate greed and a tireless advocate for flight attendants.
"He attracts a lot of attention because he doesn't go along," said Anne Meyers, a Northwest flight attendant based in the Twin Cities. "That makes him an [independent] entity."
Indeed, in the past eight months Campbell has been singled out as a dissident by both his employer and his union.
In January, the company depicted him as a leader of "radicals" and "Internet terrorists" who incited an alleged New Year's sickout by flight attendants. Meanwhile, top Teamsters officials are angry with Campbell for working against them to help defeat a tentative contract agreement. Since the deal was rejected last August, a rift has widened between Campbell, who is secretary-treasurer of Local 2000, and Billie Davenport, the local union's president.
Bob Crabbe, a Detroit base representative for Local 2000, said Campbell's independent streak and capacity for conflict grew out of his upbringing in a broken home in Windham, Maine. It helps explain why Northwest can't walk over him and why the international union can't control him, Crabbe said.
"For Danny, it's about standing up to the oppressors and saying you can't do this to flight attendants," Crabbe said. "He doesn't look for conflict, but he's not afraid of it.
"I know him as well as anyone -- and that comes from his mother," Crabbe said.
Gloria Jean Silke, who once was named entertainer of the year by the Maine Country Music Association, taught "liberal-humanist" ways to her son and backed him up when he got in trouble. Once, when Campbell was a school boy, he beat up a classmate who had sucker-punched him, Crabbe said. When the school principal came down on Danny, his mom stood up. "What would you do if I punched you?" she asked the administrator.
Campbell said his mother wasn't anti-establishment, but somewhere he picked up a mistrust for institutions, including big business. One of Campbell's close associates at Local 2000, negotiating committee member Andy Damis, said he and Campbell agree that "money corrupts. The bigger the business, the bigger the disregard for working Americans."
Sunday benefits
Campbell recalls that as he was growing up, his mother was forever playing benefit concerts for underdog causes and for people who needed help. The Sunday concerts were his family's substitute for church.
He said he was introverted and different from other kids. He was involved in ice skating and gymnastics, and he started working in hotels as a teenager.
"You grew up in Maine, so you wanted to see the world," Campbell said.
At 19, he became a flight attendant for Trans International Airlines, flying around the world on DC-8s in sometimes awful working conditions. He remembers being on duty for 30 to 40 hours at a time and having his schedule changed on a moment's notice. He said there was no union, and his fellow flight attendants were afraid to complain.
"My first impression was, this group is so oppressed," said Campbell, who left Trans International to join Northwest in March 1990.
Campbell's first brush with union politics at Northwest came in 1991 and 1992, when he took part in an organizing drive for the Association of Flight Attendants. The association lost a challenge to replace the Teamsters as the union for Northwest flight attendants.
Then in 1994, he ran unsuccessfully for the elected office of base representative in Detroit. He protested the entire election, but finally dropped his fight when the union agreed to adopt some new "provisos" in future elections, he said.
Open on issues
By the time he became a candidate in 1994, he clearly was no introvert. In fact, one of his signature traits as a union officer has been his openness on all issues, including being openly gay.
"We depend on Danny to tell us what's going on without the B.S. involved," Crabbe said.
An example of his candor came last month when Davenport and three other members of Local 2000's executive board attacked fellow board members Campbell and Anne Toombs for an alleged racist remark in an e-mail that Toombs sent to Campbell last year. Toombs used the phrase "the dark side of the board," which Davenport and the others said was a racial slur against them because they are "Black, Egyptian, Native American Indian and Pacific Asian."
Campbell freely distributed Davenport's letter and the response from him and Toombs. Both landed on the Internet, putting the issue squarely in the open.
"As you surely know, the phrase, the 'dark side,' comes from a 1977 hit movie, 'Star Wars.' 'Star Wars' was about the struggle of a small band of rebels fighting to restore democracy and freedom to a galaxy under the hands of an oppressive dictator (the correlation should be abundantly clear)," Campbell and Toombs wrote.
Then Campbell called for an investigation of how his private e-mail ended up in the wrong hands.
"He's very genuine. Not fake," said Meyers, the Twin Cities-based flight attendant. "If you ask him a question, he'll tell you the truth. He's the only one who the flight attendants truly believe is on their side."
Raising expectations
Northwest flight attendant David Barrow-West described Campbell as "very charismatic" and "really well-intentioned," but said he is guilty of raising unrealistic expectations among the rank-and-file.
"It's easy to say, 'You deserve it. If you want it, you can have it,' " Barrow-West said. "He needs to balance that passion with a little responsibility."
In 1996, Campbell ran again for base representative and was elected. By that time, he was deeply involved in Teamsters for a Democratic Union. He said he was attracted to the organization, which had a ramshackle office in Detroit, after an international Teamsters official in 1994 told him that elections often were fixed.
"For a young person like him, he has gained a hell of a lot of experience in a hurry," said TDU leader Ken Paff.
Campbell isn't shy about his TDU connection, even though it makes him a target of harsh criticism.
"TDU wants this local and Danny is their boy. That makes him feel important," said veteran Northwest flight attendant Mollie Reilly, a former vice president of Local 2000. "I believe he was carefully coached by TDU on how to take apart a local union and that's what he's doing."
When Campbell and Davenport ran on the same winning slate in 1998 for their current jobs, they unquestionably were supported by the TDU. To this day, the remnants of a TDU-inspired member-to-member communication apparatus known as the Contract Action Team are still in place.
The Contract Action Team "turned the union into a union and Danny has been a real part of that, of involving people," Paff said. "Within that group, he's a very important spark plug."
TDU influence
Davenport acknowledges TDU's influence on her administration, but distances herself from the group.
"He's closer to TDU," Davenport said of Campbell. "We adopted some of their philosophies and they were helpful, but we were not a TDU slate. I'm sorry, but we belong to the members."
For his part, Campbell denies being a tool of the organization but clearly considers Paff a hero of the working class. He said he was drawn to the group because of its commitment to democracy through rank-and-file empowerment and he has remained dedicated to stamping out what he considers "top-down" union leadership.
"When I die, my headstone will read, 'Democracy is Power,' " Campbell said. "I think [the international union] sees democracy as being too close to anarchy."
Paff said Campbell's commitment to democracy for members of Local 2000 was particularly apparent last year when Hoffa strongly endorsed the tentative contract agreement that Local 2000 negotiators, led by Davenport, had reached in June.
"Most people would have caved to pressures to go along with Hoffa," Paff said.
Instead, Campbell aligned himself with a well-organized group of rank-and-file volunteers who urged rejection of the deal. As the ratification vote approached in late August, Hoffa took a swipe at Campbell by appointing an independent election officer to oversee the balloting.
Normally, Local 2000's secretary-treasurer would have been responsible for the process. But the general president, in a July 20 news release, questioned Campbell's objectivity and fairness.
"The International will ensure that the process is fair and void of unscrupulous participants," Hoffa said in the news release.
Campbell considered the release a smear. In his view, he has been the victim of questionable balloting, never a perpetrator. But he emerged from the scuffle with Hoffa with undeniable grass roots popularity on the strength of a 69 percent "no" vote on the proposed contract. Ever since, there has been talk of Campbell running for Davenport's seat as president. The election is in November and candidate slates will be announced over the next couple of months.
Potential race
"My decision to run will be based on whether they [rank and file flight attendants] want me to run," Campbell said. "It's whatever they want."
Whether Davenport will run for re-election is not clear. Certainly her prospects for re-election will dim if her negotiating team reaches a second tentative agreement that is not acceptable to the rank-and-file. Regardless, she currently is in no mood to encourage Campbell.
"I'm not campaigning for Danny," she said when asked to describe his positive traits.
Davenport was angry when Campbell broke ranks with her to speak out against the tentative agreement. She maintains that Campbell was the only executive board member who didn't want the rank-and-file to see the proposed contract. However, Campbell says his opposition to distribution of the agreement was based on the fact that the executive board would not vote on the merits of the deal. The proposed contract went to flight attendants without a recommendation from the executive board.
"If the executive board decides by a vote . . . you don't go out and start bashing your board or bashing your negotiations committee," Davenport said.
Memphis-based flight attendant Randy Thompson, a former member of the union's negotiating committee, said Campbell's "willingness to turn against team members" is a serious flaw. When Campbell is on the losing side of any issue, he rallies union members to bring pressure on the leadership, Thompson said.
"He wants to be in charge," Thompson said.
Campbell is not on the union's current contract negotiating committee, and his influence on the seven-member executive committee that controls the union has been diminished by a 4-3 split. Davenport -- who is chair of the negotiating committee -- and three of her allies are in the majority.
An obvious sign of the growing rift between Davenport and Campbell came last month when Campbell wrote a letter to Davenport, to "set the record straight" on Local 2000 communications that he believed put him in a bad light.
One communication, a bulk e-mail to flight attendants, implied that as secretary-treasurer, Campbell had the power to control income or expenses of Local 2000. The power rests with the entire executive board, he wrote. The e-mail that offended him, written Feb. 11, noted that the local union was running a monthly deficit of $25,000 to $30,000 and said that an intense review of expenditures would take place.
Meanwhile, Campbell is a key target in Northwest's lawsuit against Local 2000 and 21 individuals in the union who the company claims incited a sickout by flight attendants over New Year's. At the initial court hearing, Northwest attorney Timothy Thornton depicted Campbell as an architect of "guerrilla assault" against the airline and as the leader of union "radicals."
Campbell's computers were among those searched by Northwest as part of the company's investigation of voluminous Internet communications that railed against the company, the international union and some Local 2000 officials, allegedly inciting a sickout.
Though the lawsuit is on hold pending the outcome of contract negotiations, Campbell has described Local 2000's response to the suit as "humiliatingly weak."
Campbell's friend Crabbe, the union base representative in Detroit, said the lawsuit is another indication that Campbell is viewed as a threat by Northwest, the international Teamsters organization and other leaders of Local 2000.
"The fear is that he wants to run and be the next president," Crabbe said. "That's seen by them as very dangerous."
© Copyright 2000 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
TDUers Lead Fight for Privacy Rights:
Employer Seizes Home Computers
In a case that has been widely reported in major media such as U.S. News & World Report, the Wall Street Journal, and Business Week, rank and file Teamster flight attendants are leading a fight to protect the internet privacy rights of all American working people. And they are doing so after the Hoffa Administration cut a deal with Northwest Airlines to let the employer take control of members' own personal computers.
After Northwest Airlines filed suit against its flight attendants, alleging they organized a sickout, the corporation ran to court to get an order to seize members' own personal home computers to scour for evidence.
In this precedent-setting case, TDU member Kevin Griffin and fellow flight attendant Ted Reeve chose to fight Northwest and got a temporary restraining order (TRO) against them dissolved. Each maintains a website for flight attendants to communicate.
Griffin and Reeve intend to keep fighting for the free speech rights of members. They are represented by TDU attorneys Barbara Harvey and Paul Levy of Public Citizen Litigation Group.
Attorney Harvey says, "This lawsuit will vindicate the right of a rank and file member to host a website for other members to say what they want, without the host being legally liable for every member's comments.
"We won some protections that limit the exposure of all computer contents. Items must first be shown to the computer owner's attorneys to review, so that they may withhold privileged and irrelevant items before being submitted as evidence."
While the union attorneys agreed to a settlement that left the gag order injunction intact, Harvey and Levy called the airline's bluff. It wasn't too long before Northwest had to admit they had no case. The judge dissolved the injunction against Griffin and Reeve. It remains in effect for all others named in the suit, however.
Unions Must Fight
Corporations are trying to expand their power and limit employee rights in using computers to communicate.
NWA is using these scare tactics in an effort to derail Teamster solidarity and get concessions at the bargaining table. They have targeted primarily leaders and flight attendants who opposed Hoffa's first contract. Communicating via computers helped them organize a network to reject the weak contract in August by 69 percent.
"One subpoena allowed Northwest Airlines to go into the hard drives of my personal computers ... They copied everything," says Griffin, including personal income tax reports, medical records, and romantic notes.
TDU will continue to fight for the rights of all Teamsters and all workers to use computer communication without fear. James Hoffa should hang his head in shame for failing to join that fight. It seems his administration is as afraid of membership communication as Northwest management is.
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IBT Gave Privacy Away
. IBT attorney Roland Wilder voluntarily signed an agreement to allow all of the Local 2000 and individual defendants' computer hard drives to be seized and copied in their entirety, and also granting Northwest the right to review them for relevancy. The company would have seen all documents, including attorney-client communications and others that the court says were "privileged" (exempt), because they discuss internal union strategy.
Attorneys who represented TDU member Kevin Griffin were able to get limits to this wholesale search, but serious damage was already done by the IBT. A firm hired by Northwest, Ernst & Young, was permitted to seize, copy, and sift through computer information. The firm is not neutral and refuses to provide the keywords used in its search. TDU attorneys are filing an appeal and say the files in Ernst & Young's possession should be destroyed immediately.
On April 3, the Judge will review the case, which has been on hold under an agr