1740 Luedecking v. IEB

The IEB held that the local executive board should have rejected the charge based on our rule that Article 31 is not designed to resolve petty differences between union members. We do not believe the exchange between Cox and Leudecking fits this description. We affirm the notion that a local executive board ought to disqualify charges that arise out of momentary lapses in judgment because they do not describe conduct unbecoming a union member. A Facebook post does not qualify for that treatment, however. In some ways, posts on the internet have even more durability and circulation than print media because they can be continually reposted and shared. Furthermore, these are not spontaneous utterances; a person posting comments on a social media site has the opportunity to stop and reflect on the wisdom of circulating the material in question. Under the present circumstances, a trial committee duly elected by the membership in accordance with the procedures described in Article 31, §7, of the UAW Constitution was the appropriate body to express the membership’s consensus about what should be permissible on the Facebook page established for the members to use.