Verizon, union skirmish over US flag at vetran's cubicle (propaganda or offensive) [View All]

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.northjersey.com/business/news/15430106.html

Friday, February 8, 2008
Last Updated Friday February 8, 2008, EST 9:23 AM
BY MARTHA MCKAY
STAFF WRITER

If you work at Verizon, don't hang the American flag on the outside of your cubicle wall.

You can, however, unfurl Old Glory on the inside of your cubicle.

The flap came to light after a Verizon Business worker returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan to find a supervisor had removed his American flag and Massachusetts state flag from the outside of his cubicle walls.

Terry Skiest, who works for a small Verizon Business office in Acton, Mass., and served three tours of duty in the Middle East as a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, hung the flags on the outside walls because there wasn't enough room to hang them inside his two-person cubicle.

When Skiest returned home in November from his third tour, he found the flags removed and placed inside his cube, a union spokesman said.

Skiest, recounting the story in a video, says that when the flags were taken down, a co-worker was told by a supervisor they "could be considered propaganda or offensive to some people."

The union contends that Verizon Business adopted a draconian policy against displaying personal items in public areas to prevent the posting of pro-union fliers. The union is attempting to organize about 2,500 non-union Verizon workers, including Skiest, who are part of the former MCI, which Basking Ridge-based Verizon bought in 2005.

FULL story at link.