Office Depot union quarantine

Union sues international office supply company for discriminatory delivery policy

By: Pat Daley

  Imagine this scenario: your organization or business needs office furniture, so you place a big order with a company that promises free, next day delivery on orders over $50.
  The next day, you're waiting for the order to arrive. And waiting. And waiting. It's a situation you've been in before when you wanted cable or a telephone line installed. Just a little put out, you call the office supply company to ask where your order is. A supervisor comes on the line and apologizes - not because the delivery is late but because you weren't informed of the company policy.
  They don't deliver directly to organizations like yours. They don't want their employees to come into contact with you.
 

"We choose to deliver to union offices only via third party carriers, such as UPS." - Debbie White, Office Depot Customer Service Assistant

  That's what happened to Local 47 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) in California when they tried to order furniture from Office Depot. You've probably heard of the company because it operates in 19 different countries around the world. In many parts of Canada, we know it as The Office Place. The company, which also owns Viking Office Products, had $10.3 billion in sales last year.
  When he heard the story, IATSE* Local 728 activist Michael Everett - also in California - decided to try it himself. He e-mailed Office Depot saying that his union was considering switching companies because of the free, next day delivery offer. Here's part of the reply he got from Customer Relations Assistant Debbie S. White:
  "In response to your inquiry, we do take orders from and deliver to union offices. However, we choose to deliver to union offices only via third party carriers, such as UPS. UPS does charge an additional fee for shipping and the method of payment for UPS deliveries must be an Office Depot or major credit card. Also, the time frame for UPS deliveries is 3-7 business days."
 

The policy was put in place because there had been occasions when people in union offices spoke to Office Depot drivers about the benefits of unionization

  On February 17, IBEW Local 47 and the California Labor Federation (CLF) filed a discrimination suit against Office Depot. CLF Communications Director Sharon Cornu says she's never before seen a company stand behind a policy like this when it's been called on it.
  Glenn Rothner is the lawyer acting for both labour bodies. He says that a letter to IBEW Local 47 from the company's CEO starts with an apology for the failure of the company "associate" who took the IBEW order to explain the policy. Another company representative said in a phone call that the policy was put in place because there had been occasions when people in union offices spoke to Office Depot drivers about the benefits of unionization.
  "These actions are symptomatic of the lengths to which corporations will go to deprive employees of information about unions," says Rothner. Even more frightening, he says, is the thought the secret programming that may be going on within a corporation that allows them to screen orders for certain flags - like the words "union" or "federation."
  No official call for a boycott of Office Depot has gone out yet. But, Rothner says, students and faculty and staff unions are putting pressure on the University of California, which through its pension fund turns out to be the third largest shareholder in Office Depot.
  Next Monday is the deadline for the company to respond to the lawsuit.
  By the way, IBEW Local 47 cancelled its furniture order.

* IATSE is the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Its Territories and Canada.

Pat Daley is a freelance writer and editor in Athlone in Simcoe County, Ontario.

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