The LA Times and the NY Times both have interesting articles this morning about a significant shift in the time and energy companies are devoting to voter registration, voter communication and “get out the vote” efforts within their own companies. Employers, it appears, are spending less money on ads and more money on grass-roots voter education. Giving employees pamphlets, sending them emails and steering them to web sites with information related to voting records on manufacturing and business-related issues are some of the main tactics. The labor lawyer in me is a little concerned about how this political campaigning impacts a company’s no-solicitation policy (i.e. can a union now insist on similar access to employees if they want to organize a plant at some later time)? The NLRB does allow some exceptions for protected employer solicitation (United Way is the most common example) but political communication seems pretty close to the line. I guess the most important question is does it work?
