Collective Bargaining Agreements

Whistleblowers who are members of a federal or state employee union or a private sector union may have access to additional resources and assistance. Roughly nine different unions represent Alaska's state and local employees, and the percentage of union membership among these public employees is very high. For example, the Alaska State Employee Association (ASEA) has approximately 8,400 members; the Alaska Public Employees Association/AFT (AFL/CIO) is the second largest union with close to 3,500 members, representing both state and local employees.

Alaska's private-sector employees are largely unorganized. The oil industry, for example, employs roughly 10,000 employees statewide (including related service workers), of which the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union (OCAW) represents only about 800 in south-central Alaska and on the North Slope.

Whistleblowers who are union members may seek assistance under the provisions of their union's collective bargaining agreement. Agreements vary in the nature and scope of the protections provided for employees. Specific protections for whistleblowers are not, as a rule, built into collective bargaining agreements. However, agreements typically require that dismissal of an employee be for "just cause." Employees who suffer retaliatory dismissals may therefore invoke the agreement's grievance procedure, on the argument that retaliation for whistleblowing does not constitute "just cause." A typical grievance procedure begins with a presentation of the grievance to management. If the grievance is not resolved through this internal process, the union typically has the right to proceed to binding arbitration.

Unfortunately, under many collective bargaining agreements, disloyalty to an employer can constitute grounds for dismissal and whistleblowing is often construed by arbitrators as disloyalty. Although arbitrators do sometimes support the position of whistleblowing employees, they are inconsistent. Thus, even unionized employees may not be safe from retaliation for blowing the whistle.