A federal civil service employee union refused membership to a worker who had been president of a rival union in his previous job because he had criticized two of the new union’s leaders in a brief Facebook post.
A judge said the National Federation of Federal Employees Local 2189 violated federal rules and its own constitution to deny membership to Jonathan Jarman. The Federal Labor Relations Authority agreed in a decision earlier this month.
Jarman was a police officer who was president of one of several unions at a Texas Army base. In April 211, he posted a private Facebook note to his friends saying that John Griffin, the National Federation local’s leader, was “drunk on power” after that union wouldn’t cooperate with the others about the length of shifts employees should work.
Five months later, he was promoted to a different job that was covered by the National Federation, and he began paying dues to that union. The union took his money, but its leaders held a secret meeting, to which he was not invited, where executives reviewed a print-out of the Facebook note and voted to refuse him membership.
Union leaders explained that they would not permit anyone to join the union who might not support it, and that he might attempt to “hollow the union out from the inside.” They never informed him that he had been denied membership.
Jarman told the members that he was a strong advocate of labor and wanted to be involved, but the current leadership apparently thought he would run against them for positions.
He reminded them that he had never tried to disband any union, and wasn’t a member of the National Federation when he criticized its leader to friends.
Rules require the union to admit anyone who “meets reasonable occupational standards” and “tender[s] dues uniformly required,” the judge said.
The union argued that it was allowed to discipline members who “threaten or attack the union’s existence as an institution,” but the judge countered that Jarman was never a member and thus couldn’t be disciplined.
The Federal Labor Relations Authority has also held that unions can’t discipline members “for statements critical of union leadership if an employee is not attempting to destroy or threaten the existence of the union.”
The Authority ordered Local 2189 to admin Jarman and post notices saying, “We will not deny membership to Jonathan Jarman or any other eligible employee in the exclusive collective bargaining unit represented by the National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 2189 at the United States Department of Army, Red River Army Depot, Texarkana, Texas, for any unlawful reason.”
