pressconnects.com | 08/14/03

ENDICOTT -- An Endicott Interconnect Technologies employee who was fired for making disparaging comments about the company on an Internet forum was ordered reinstated with back pay, interest and benefits by a National Labor Relations Board judge, who said the remarks were protected as part of his union organizing activities.

An administrative law judge told Endicott Interconnect to rehire Rick White in his technical engineering position from which he was discharged on Dec. 19, 2002.

The amount of the award was not disclosed.

Endicott Interconnect was also ordered to halt "discharging, warning, threatening or otherwise discriminating against its employees for engaging" in union activities.

A representative of the union organizing effort, Alliance @IBM, said the ruling represents a complete victory for the union movement at IBM Corp. and Endicott Interconnect.

"We always believed that Rick was fired for organizing activities at EIT and this ruling just reinforces that belief," said Lee Conrad, a former IBM-Endicott worker who now works full time trying to organize workers at IBM and Endicott Interconnect.

James Orband, an Endicott Interconnect representative and a lawyer, was out of the office on Wednesday afternoon and could not be reached for comment on the decision.

Rick White was advised by his attorney to withhold comment on the ruling.

Endicott Interconnect has the right to appeal the ruling.

In testimony delivered at a June 10 hearing at the Federal Building in downtown Binghamton, William R. Maines, Endicott Interconnect chief executive, maintained White was fired solely because of his critical comments about Endicott Interconnect management.

Maines said White's comments damaged Endicott Interconnect's reputation in the community, and with existing and prospective customers.

Maines and his family, along with a group of local investors, bought the 4.1 million-square-foot IBM plant in November.

They also acquired IBM's microelectronics business, renaming it Endicott Interconnect Technologies, and inherited the unit's 2,000 workers.

Investors received state incentives and earnings tax credits to help with the sale, Maines said in his testimony.

White, Maines said at the hearing, was warned once about making public statements critical of the company after he was quoted in a Press & Sun-Bulletin story following the November layoff of 200 people at the company.

White's subsequent posting on a pressconnects.com Internet forum, alleging mismanagement at the company, was in direct violation of his order, the chief executive said.

Maines vehemently denied during his testimony that the discharge had any connection to White's organizing efforts with Alliance @IBM.

Maines said White was fired for insubordination. His position with the union, Maines said, was no factor in the discharge.

White, in his Dec. 1 Internet posting, alleged Endicott Interconnect was "being tanked by a group of people that have no good ability to manage it."

Maines acknowledged that his staff was monitoring the Internet forums.

Maines received printed copies of selected postings, including White's message.

The technical engineer was called into Maines' office on Dec. 19, where the executive questioned White about the posting. White was fired by Maines after acknowledging that he was the author of the Internet posting that contained his name.

"Maines ... cannot be too thin-skinned," Administrative Law Judge Joel P. Biblowitz wrote in his 14-page opinion.

The judge said the community and EIT's customers, such as IBM and Sun Microsystems, could objectively evaluate White's posting as "campaign propaganda from one side of the dispute."

The judge said White had a legitimate reason to defend the union against detractors in a public forum, and ruled that his comments were protected from retaliation.

"We always felt that Rick was involved in activities that were covered under the labor law," Conrad said.

He said the ruling will help to alleviate some reservations Endicott Interconnect employees have in speaking out about management issues.

Conrad said the firing had a "chilling effect" on EIT workers.

The ruling, he said, demonstrates that Endicott Interconnect management are not above the law.

"There's a lot of fear and intimidation on the part of EIT workers, and we hope (this decision) alleviates it," Conrad said.

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