Case 17: The Distasteful and Offensive Definition of a “Scab”
Company: Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, Houston, Texas
Union: Communications Workers of America, Local No. 12222
Background
On a Monday morning in early September 1984, Jan Betheda[1], an equipment technician, reported to two of her supervisors that there was a “distasteful and offensive” memo-random on two union bulletin boards in the plant and office complex of the company. The supervisors, Art Laclede and Debbie Lynkirk, investigated and discovered on both union bulletin boards a printed memorandum entitled, “Jack London’s Definition of a Scab.”[2]In pertinent part, the memorandum included the following.