From: Michael Letwin
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 2:28 PM
To: ALAA MEMBERS; 1199 Members; CDD-ATTY-Everyone; HQ-CAB-Everyone
Subject: RE: Political atmosphere at Legal Aid
In my opinion, neither Obama nor Clinton deserve to be endorsed. Both have voted to launch, continue, and/or fund bipartisan war and injustice in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Pakistan and beyond. Neither has fundamentally challenged current domestic policy in regard to the racist criminal justice system, Katrina relief, health care, housing, education, labor rights, etc.
But whatever we think about the candidates or the issues, it is inaccurate to assert that union members have no right to express their point of view on the ALAA and 1199 e-lists (see below*). Indeed, those lists were established to facilitate precisely such debate, without which internal union democracy cannot exist.
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*ALAA Collective Bargaining Agreement §§ 3.5 (“The expression of personal religious, political, social or economic beliefs of each and every attorney is fully guaranteed and will never constitute grounds for discharge or relief from an individual assignment unless, in either instance, it can be demonstrated that such expression has, or will, directly interfere(d) with, and detract from, representation of a Society client so as to render said representation less than at the highest level of competence and effectiveness.”) and 1.5 (“The Union will have reasonable use of the Society’s internal communication mechanisms.”).
From: [J
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 11:52 AM
To: ALAA MEMBERS; 1199 Members; CDD-ATTY-Everyone; HQ-CAB-Everyone
Subject: RE: Political atmosphere at Legal Aid
The only emails I find objectionable are those in which people complain that they are being “bombarded” with political emails. It’s easy enough to tell from a subject heading whether an email has political content, and exceedingly easy to delete rather than read such emails if that’s what one wishes to do.
The fact is that office email IS the modern day water cooler, and it’s just as easy to skip an email discussion of no interest to you as it is to walk away from the water cooler (assuming your office has a water cooler to walk away from).
I’m glad to hear [S’] distinct point of view, even if I do not agree with it. Likewise, the emails detailing the relationship of the leading candidates with habeas corpus were quite interesting and informative.
From: [S]
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 11:45 AM
To: ALAA MEMBERS; 1199 Members; CDD-ATTY-Everyone; HQ-CAB-Everyone
Cc: [S]
Subject: Political atmosphere at Legal Aid
Interesting….
How when I sent the first pro-Hillary email ( the only one I’ve read…) it suddenly became “Oh so annoying to be BOMBARDED with these political emails”…. Hummmm…..very interesting…
What does this say about the political atmosphere here in our office…?
ALAA Roots -- An Unofficial Site 