Okay... I realize I'm probably going to suffer the wrath of the whole board, but there are some rules in regards to 'secrecy of communications' which happens to be a federal law, that we all signed on to abide by when we came to work for the phone company in any or all of it's manifestations.  If we post anything that would breech this law on this board (and that includes the nature of our facilities, our customers' names, the types of services we provide them, how long they're out of service, etc) we've broken the law.  Qwest has an obligation to correct that problem with that employee.  This is grounds for the company to go to the provider of any bulletin board and get the identity of the poster.  Yes, there is freedom of speech... but there are consequences to that free speech, good, bad and ugly. 

 

There is proprietary information... again it's facility locations, types of plant (fiber, copper, etc), switches, capacity, outages, construction jobs, etc... the company has a right to maintain the secrecy of that information for a variety of reasons, and we all signed papers, not just code of conduct, but employment agreements that said we would not divulge any of this information to anyone who didn't have a need to know, in and outside of the company. 

 

Let's use some common sense here.  Yes, we want to discuss the problems we're having.  We need to.  But we need to find a secure place to do so, that is not in conflict with the agreements we signed when we hired on and with the federal laws that protect all of us.  That secrecy of communications is what we want here on this board, but we can't use that law to let us break it.  Instead of working hard to find work arounds, let's watch what we say, talk directly to one another via a listserv rather than a bulletin board, where members are vetted before joining.  Let's talk about these problems in our local union halls and with our local officers, members and yes, even in our work places with our managers.  Otherwise it's just an exercise in futility.  We won't see any change, we'll just become more adept at complaining about the problems in cyberspace.  Just how many grievances are being filed and followed thru by the grievant to the end on these complaints and gross violations of the contract and the intent of the contract?  How many who don't get some level of satisfaction from their stewards (assuming you've filed a grievance with a steward) have picked up the phone and called your local president?  How many have then gone to the next union meeting and brought the issue up under good and welfare or new business?  If you still don't get any satisfaction, how many have called your state representative like a Jay Boyle or Rick Sorenson?  Still no help, got Reed's number at the district office?  This is a like a gym, many want the body, the results but they don't want to use the equipment or break a sweat to get what they need.  You have to open the door to the gym and climb on that treadmill. 

 

No one can protect us from ourselves.  We can't break the law or the agreements that we signed in good faith when we hired on because someone else (Qwest) is wrong.  My Dad always told me that two wrongs don't make a right.  We need to work smart here and do the right things, even if it takes longer and more work.  We don't have the luxury of time nor money to do it 'right' the second, third or more times.

pnb