ENDICOTT -- The National Labor Relations Board is telling Endicott Interconnect Technologies Inc. to reinstate Rick White to his former position or equivalent, and make him whole for nearly three years of salary and benefits lost since the company fired him.

Rick White in the Endicott office at Alliance@IBM, where he continues to work as a union organizer.

CHUCK HAUPT / Press & Sun-Bulletin

In a 2-to-1 ruling, the board affirmed a ruling by an administrative judge in favor of the engineering technician who was discharged after making what EI claimed were disparaging comments about the company in two public forums. The commission ruled that White's public comments about the company were protected in his capacity as a union organizer, and the company could not use his opinions as basis for firing him. White had transferred to Endicott Interconnect after 28½ years with IBM.

Endicott Interconnect representatives said Thursday they are still trying to determine their next move. The company could appeal the NLRB ruling to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. It has 14 days to make that decision.

James F. Sullivan, vice president of human resources at EI, said that even though the company lost the first and second rounds in its dispute with the former employee, it is optimistic that the decision could be reversed on appeal. He noted that NLRB Chairman Robert J. Battista sided with the company, saying it was within its rights to discharge White for cause because he failed to specifically reference the union when he spoke out publicly against the company.

"Given the split decision, we're going to look at our options," Sullivan said Thursday. He noted that Battista's dissent from the majority was a strong vote in favor of the company.

Meanwhile, White is awaiting word on the company's next move. He has been working part-time for the Alliance@IBM, the union movement, since early 2004 after winning his battle with Endicott Interconnect to collect unemployment benefits after his termination.

The company dismissed White in December 2002 for "insubordination," claiming his statements questioning management's decision to lay off 200 people shortly after taking over the company from IBM Corp. undermined the new company's credibility. White, an active member of an organization attempting organize both IBM and Endicott Interconnect, said the statements were made to present the union's side of the argument against management's action.

Two of three National Labor Relations Board members agreed with White, saying White's statements in the Press & Sun-Bulletin following the layoff and other comments in a newspaper-sponsored online forum were protected under legal precedent. Commissioners said the comments about management's move to lay off people whom White believed were key personnel were made within the framework of a labor dispute. His comments, board members said, are protected under federal labor law.

"I'm not a bad person, and I didn't do anything illegal," White said Thursday. He said that ever since his firing, he had wondered if he was in the wrong. He said the NLRB ruling confirms his belief that his attempts to protect the workers through his public comments was the right strategy.

White is uncertain of Endicott Interconnect's next move. The company could call him back to work or appeal the case.

"I don't know what they plan to do and I wouldn't know even if I had a crystal ball or a winning lottery ticket," he said.

Patricia Gilbert, acting director of the Division of Information at the NLRB, said the company could also request a reconsideration based on facts of the case that it believes were overlooked in the decision. She called that an unlikely scenario.

In the government's last fiscal year, about one in six unfair labor practice decisions issued by the NLRB are reviewed by the U.S. Court of Appeals, according to statistics provided by Gilbert.

If the company were to accept the NLRB decision, it would have to post notices in the workplace acknowledging that it was wrong in discharging White and informing employees of their right to organize a union.

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