8. Response to Confiscating Our Literature

Our response to the ISS confiscation of our literature is to prepare for a long, ugly battle. We are filing charges against ISS with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for unfair labor practices. What an unfortunate demonstration of their adversarial perspective.

We’ve learned more about labor law than we ever wished to know and now plan to hold a by-the-book secret ballot monitored by the NLRB. We’ve contacted the government, lawyers, law schools and law professors for guidance. Since it’s taking a lot more time and work and we don’t want to do it twice, we’ve raised our demand to the full amount to which we are entitled.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics currently quotes $19.04 median pay per hour for our job description in Florida. Why should we settle for less, especially from an adversary? Why should anyone perform a job for the State government for less than half of what the Federal government says we’re due? We didn’t make this up it’s a published fact.

We’ll post our latest letters in response to the confiscation after Mr. Howard and Rhodes have received them. In an effort to be reasonable we included an offer to compromise on pay in the near term in return for the assurance our pay will be fair and protected in the long run. We offer this as a gesture of good faith. Volunteering a loss of pay is a strong demonstration of how motivated we are to solve this problem early.

But, there’s something that can’t be compromised. Maybe we’re already protected and it’s not an issue and if you have a document please share it. We need to discover what happens if we make a mistake or someone claims we made a mistake at work and we’re sued personally. Are we indemnified against civil action and who comes to our legal defense? We must be certain we are personally indemnified (by FDOT, ICA or ISS) against any personal legal action stemming from our employment.

We’re taking great care not to rush into anything that results in avoidable difficulty or embarrassment to ISS, ICA or the FDOT. We are proceeding slowly but logically while telegraphing our intent. We sincerely hope they’ll learn early that we will not relent and that illogical response costs them compounding consequence. Most of us love our jobs and we know that tough love is the hardest, but they must do the right thing.

Not everyone has email so print all this stuff and share with every shift and especially between bridges (please make the effort to copy and pass it around). Please don’t leave it on FDOT property or read it on company time. Just pass it from hand to hand and be careful it’s not confiscated again. We know, it’s silly to have to hide our actions. They're just posturing and exercising bravado. We have the right, they're in the wrong, see for yourself...

The National Labor Relations Board protects the rights of employees to engage in “concerted activity”, which is when two or more employees take action for their mutual aid or protection regarding terms and conditions of employment. A single employee may also engage in protected concerted activity if he or she is acting on the authority of other employees, bringing group complaints to the employer’s attention, trying to induce group action, or seeking to prepare for group action. A few examples of protected concerted activities are: Two or more employees addressing their employer about improving their pay, discussing work-related issues beyond pay, such as safety concerns, with each other, speaking to an employer on behalf of one or more co-workers about improving workplace conditions.

We want to hear from you. We could use some photos (one juicy one from every bridge would be great) to make our blog more visually interesting.  Send photos and/or emails to: exploitingtenders@gmail.com. Volunteer!

Thanks for your support,

Jake (aka The Organizing Committee)