|
|
|
|||||
|
George, Now that the Bowers case is thankfully moving out of Charlottesville to our state capital and to the court of appeals, I feel compelled to make a brief statement about her case. Bowers was a loyal employee of the University for 17 years. She always had excellent performance evaluations, good attendance, etc: overall a great employee for the University. Otherwise they wouldn't have kept her on. When the charter bill came forward the staff union fought it hard -- in Charlottesville, in Richmond, all over the state as a matter of fact. We thought then as we do now, this initiative did not bode well for classified employees. The University was forced to make concessions because of our work. Bowers is a founding member of SUUVA/CWA. As we predicted then and it has come true, we now have a two tiered workforce at the University. We saw what happened when the hospital decentralized in 1996. The hospital is not a pretty place to work today. The union continues to try and make the workplace better for employees. We have had many victories in that area. To prove the point of the huge differences between the academic side and hospital side, the NAACP report was researched carefully, written and distributed widely. This infuriated University administrators even before the Bowers incident, as it was posted on the front of the union Web site. Then Bowers sent to report to a co-worker and we know the rest of the story. The bottom line is the University didn't like, in fact they hated, the content of the e-mail to the co-worker. They didn't want anyone to know the horrific conditions at the hospital. When the report got sent out to an additional 275 employees, the University flipped out, used Bowers as a scapegoat and fired her for having the audacity to speak out against her employer. But in fact, she wasn't e-mailing a false report. The report did not slander anyone at the University; it did not talk out against any policies or procedures. It was simply a list of the difference of raises between the hospital and academic side for the past ten years. It showed the hospital did not get the decent raises that the academic side received from the legislature. Did she deserve to get fired? No. Is this a freedom of speech case? Definitely. Did this incident serve notice to staff that if you speak out you may get fired? Yes. Is it illegal for a state employee to be fired for this behavior? Yes. Did the University deny Bowers her due process? Yes. The appeals court will now decide if Bowers can finally have her day in court. Away from the town that the University owns. Away from judges who went to the Law School. I hope justice will be served in Richmond. Jan Cornell (Electronic mail, April 3, 2007)
|
