Union Blog Safe—For Now

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/06/04/union-blog-safe%e2%80%94for-now/

Union Blog Safe—For Now

by Tula Connell, Jun 4, 2007

Under current labor laws, employers have the upper hand in gaining unlimited access to their staff when their employees try to form unions.

But they want more.

Over in Bexar County, Texas, seems some probation officers are thinking of forming a union. They said so on their blog, Grits for Breakfast. That’s when Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott demanded Google help Bexar County probation director Bill Fitzgerald identify the anonymous bloggers on his staff who want to start a union.

Ed Sills, communications director of the Texas AFL-CIO, reports that Abbott has backed down—for now. (Here’s a copy of his withdrawal motion, posted on Grits.)

When Grits posted Abbott’s move, the San Antonio Express-News Heresay blog picked it up, and according to Grits:

After reading about the situation on Grits, my source says folks higher up the food chain in the office decided that this “wasn’t what we wanted to do.” “We’re not trying to mess with you guys,” my source declared on background. In fact, he said the Texas AG had never before filed a motion seeking IP addresses of blog commenters, even in criminal sex predator cases, and that the AG certainly didn’t want to set this precedent in a civil matter.

FULL story at link.