Federal judge sides with bus drivers' union over ad dispute on Spokane buses
The Spokane Transit Authority violated the First Amendment when it refused to allow the union that represents its bus drivers to advertise on ads placed on the STA buses, a federal judge has ruled.
U.S. District Court Judge Justin L. Quackenbush issued a written ruling late last month following a bench trial this summer on the civil suit which was filed earlier this year after the STA refused to display ads from the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1015 that read: “Do you drive: Uber? Lyft? Charter Bus? School Bus? You have the Right to Organize! Contact ATU 1015 Today at 509-325-2955.”
The lawsuit argued that the STA rejected the union ad “simply because it is a union. The content restrictions imposed by the defendants under color of state law are unreasonable.”
In court records, attorneys for the STA wrote that unions are not categorically prohibited from advertising on buses, but argued that the ad was rejected because it violated the STA’s policy on a “public issue.”
Read more: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/oct/09/federal-judge-sides-with-bus-drivers-union-over-ad/