Canadian Airline Files $4 Million Libel Suit Against 22 Striking Fuel Workers Over Twitter Account With ~200 Followers

from the seems-a-bit-extreme dept

Tue, May 14th 2013 3:57pm — Mike Masnick

Labor disputes can certainly get nasty at times, but Porter Airlines out of Canada has filed a $4 million libel lawsuit against some striking fuel workers based on tweets they sent out, which the airline claims involved "false and misleading information about safety protocols and training practices" by the airline. The strikers, who only just unionized last year, include just 22 workers who handle helping to fuel up the planes. Their twitter account, @PorterStrike, only had about 200 followers at the time (though it's now up to a whopping 400). The union quickly hit back, saying that the tweets were protected free speech, and no different than typical striking talk by union members:

“Before Twitter and social media, these things would have been said in a union hall and on a leaflet,” said COPE Ontario legal representative Glenn Wheeler. “The Charter of Rights provides for free expression, freedom of association. So we think we are in our constitutional rights to offer our version of the way we see things. That’s fair comment.”

That's an interesting choice of words, because he doesn't actually say that the statements were true, which would be the best defense to libel. However, even if the statements were questionable, one has to wonder how much actual "damage" they might do. One would like to expect that statements made by striking workers against their employer would already be viewed through a specific prism, and given how few Twitter followers there were, you'd have to imagine that Porter would have a difficult time showing any actual harm from the tweets in question. Separately, I wonder how much more of a reputational hit the company will take for suing less than two dozen striking workers for $4 million over some tweets...

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Filed Under: canada, defamation, striking, twitter, unions
Companies: porter airlines

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Anonymous Coward, 14 May 2013 @ 4:20pm

Unions R not needed
Clearly, this is a rebuttal to the Union, but unions are not needed anymore�there are way too many educated people who will work �at the level� the can exceed at without the help of an organized �dumb squad�.
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- Anonymous Coward, 14 May 2013 @ 4:52pm
  
  Re: Unions R not needed
  Yes, clearly.
  These workers should be happy just to be employed, they had better watch their step or face the consequences.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Sir Hubert Featherstone, 14 May 2013 @ 6:00pm
    
    Re: Re: Unions R not needed
    Indeed, I can buy other poor people if these begin to fail me.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- out_of_the_blue, 14 May 2013 @ 4:53pm
  
  Re: Unions R not needed -- NO, clearly ARE!
  Geez, this piece shows how insanely aggressive management can be WITH a union.
  
  Without unions that struggled to wrest common decency from heartless capitalists, sonny, you wouldn't have a 40-hour week or be getting overtime pay, to say the least. Read a little history and you'll find capitalists in America were some of the most ruthless tyrants ever.
  
  You arrived in the resulting good times and are stupid to think that without modern protections you can go up against corporations.
  
  Not that unions haven't been taken over and organized into gangs, nonetheless the good they achieved for working people largely endures.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 14 May 2013 @ 5:01pm
    
    Re: Re: Unions R not needed -- NO, clearly ARE!
    Not that unions haven't been taken over and organized into gangs [...]
    
    And on the flip side, it's not like employers haven't been organised into gangs.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 14 May 2013 @ 5:45pm
    
    Re: Re: Unions R not needed -- NO, clearly ARE!
    Capitalism - providing the highest standard of living in the history of the Planet!
    
    Socialism - sucking since it started - Unhappy people: 91% of French (Socialist) think economy is doing badly; 67% think Hollande is doing poor job
    http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/05/13/the-new-sick-man-of-europe-the-european-union/
    
    Communism - Killing 100+ Million since it�s inception�Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Cuba, N. Korea� EVIL
    
    OFTB is a Communist sympathizer, pushing MURDERING COMMUNIST policies!!
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Sir Hubert Featherstone, 14 May 2013 @ 6:09pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: Unions R not needed -- NO, clearly ARE!
      You should stop by my factory if you are ever seeking gainful employment. I think you would be perfect for whipping these lazy poor ingrates for me. They just want to blab on about overtime pay and vacation time. I'm not paying them to have a family.
      
      Anyway, I'll be switching the town to a scripts economy soon. So come whip some people and yell "Capitalism!" a lot, whip anyone you even looks like the might say monopoly extra hard.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - Mao Zedong, 14 May 2013 @ 7:57pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Unions R not needed -- NO, clearly ARE!
        "This sounds like MY JOB, I love to whip others." -Mao the Murder
        
        Sir Hurbert is a cry baby who has never had to run a company. Waaaaaaaaaaaa...
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 15 May 2013 @ 1:28am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Unions R not needed -- NO, clearly ARE!
        Mao Zedong has no sense of humour. Sir Hubert Featherstone was obviously being facetious.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 14 May 2013 @ 6:16pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: Unions R not needed -- NO, clearly ARE!
      Capitalism - providing the highest standard of living in the history of the Planet for the one percent
      
      ftfy
      
      How many people think the us congress is doing a good job?
      
      Yup, perpetual war is definitely the way to go, just look at those stock prices. And we can get the illegals to join the voluntary military in return for citizenship thus sidestepping the obvious problems we would have with reinstating the draft, which would be necessary after we run out of young easily influenced poor and middle class teens.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - Anonymous Coward, 14 May 2013 @ 7:53pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Unions R not needed -- NO, clearly ARE!
        Yea, no one has TVs, A/C or Medical care - better than any King in history ever had.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 14 May 2013 @ 9:07pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Unions R not needed -- NO, clearly ARE!
        Yup, most legal citizens of the capitalistic wonderland do in fact have a television set. Two out of three, good enough for me, I gotta say that most definitely validates your claim to the highest standard of living in the history of the planet.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Zakida Paul (profile), 15 May 2013 @ 12:04am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Unions R not needed -- NO, clearly ARE!
      So much anti Socialisat FUD and if you think those countries are examples of Communism then I pity you. This world has never seen true Communism, despite what the idiot press in the West tells us.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Josef Anvil (profile), 15 May 2013 @ 2:12am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Unions R not needed -- NO, clearly ARE!
      OOTB's post actually made sense and then came that batshit crazy reply.
      
      Capitalism is an economic system
      
      Then you claim that France and Holland are socialist countries, which they are not, as proof that capitalism sucks? Because France and Holland both use capitalism as their economic system.
      
      Then you bring in Communism which you declare as evil. The system isn't evil, the people that manipulate it are evil. Pssst capitalism can be the economic system in a communist state.
      
      In short, spend some more time in school or use the internet to actually research what words mean before using them in a public space where people can highlight your insanity.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Pragmatic, 15 May 2013 @ 5:28am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Unions R not needed -- NO, clearly ARE!
      LOL! You haven't got a clue, have you?
      
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_the_United_States
      
      Tell me again about those people with the highest standards of living and how Socialism is EEEEVILLLLL111eleventyone!!
      
      http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpswp2010.pdf
      
      Unfettered capitalism for the win � if you're in the 1%. For the rest of us, we'd better pray they don't get rid of any more of the safety net or we're screwed. There's no mercy in the market and all that crap about "generous" Libertarians isn't saving the lives of people dying from treatable illnesses because they can't afford to pay for their medical care, etc.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 14 May 2013 @ 8:16pm
    
    Re: Re: Unions R not needed -- NO, clearly ARE!
    I agree that unions were useful. As you said, they got us the 40 hour work week, overtime pay, sick leave, and the like. They also got us one more thing that you and quite a few others seem to overlook; labor laws. The 40 hour work week is a law, overtime compensation (not necessarily pay) is a law.
    
    Today unions seem to be all about taking massive amounts of money from those they supposedly protect (e.g. insanely high union dues) and screwing over anyone and everyone they can (e.g. the Hostess thing).
    
    There may be legitimate unions, they may even have a place in modern society; but every time I've read about unions or dealt with them, they or on the morally wrong side of the argument.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 14 May 2013 @ 9:13pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: Unions R not needed -- NO, clearly ARE!
      You know, I would love to wag my finger at the twinkie union, but sadly that spittoon simply does not hold phlegm.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Ninja (profile), 15 May 2013 @ 3:32am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Unions R not needed -- NO, clearly ARE!
      That. They had their role but this was lost long ago in favor of greed and corruption. We need Unions. Just not as they are today.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 14 May 2013 @ 4:59pm
  
  Re: Unions R not needed
  Both contributors below must be part of the "Dumb Squad"...I know OFTB is a Dumb Squad Leader�
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Zakida Paul (profile), 15 May 2013 @ 12:02am
  
  Re: Unions R not needed
  The fact that an employer can take this action clearly shows that Unions are needed. If you let them, an employer will run roughshod over their employees. Granted, I don't know how they are in the US or Canada, but in the UK the unions are the ONLY ones fighting for workers' rights.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 14 May 2013 @ 4:20pm

damn - I like Porter. Great boutique airline. They're like Apple was before they became huge. Small, hipster friendly. You take a ferry to fly out of the airport located on an island. They fly friggin propeller planes. Sorry to see the legal BS.
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Jim G., 14 May 2013 @ 4:26pm

Wow, even at the new level of 400 followers that is $10,000 per follower. If just 10 TechDdirtians start following they should increase their lawsuit by $100,000!
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- Anonymous Coward, 14 May 2013 @ 4:28pm
  
  Re:
  making them DirtyBirdies?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
davnel, 14 May 2013 @ 4:44pm

And, up to this point, I had never heard of the Airline or the union. The Streisand Effect strikes again.
.
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- justok (profile), 14 May 2013 @ 5:45pm
  
  Re:
  yah, you can say that again...oh wait...
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davnel, 14 May 2013 @ 4:45pm

And, up to this point, I had never heard of the Airline or the union. The Streisand Effect strikes again.
.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 May 2013 @ 5:52pm

"fair comment" would mean the comments are true.
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- Alex Macfie (profile), 14 May 2013 @ 11:15pm
  
  Re:
  No, it mean they are opinion, and cannot be objectively judged as "true" or not.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 May 2013 @ 5:53pm

"true, which would be the best defense to libel."

You are speaking of Canada, right?

If so truth is not a defense against liable.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 May 2013 @ 5:54pm

If they're striking for higher wages/benefits and the airline wins the libel suit, the airline could use the money to give the employees higher wages/benefits.

Stopping the lawsuit is hurting the interests of the working people!
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Alex Macfie (profile), 15 May 2013 @ 12:51am

Corporations shouldn't be able to sue to libel, period.
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Zakida Paul (profile), 15 May 2013 @ 1:27am

Free speech is designed to protect unpopular speech. Popular speech, by definition, needs no protection.

The governments and corporations of the world would do well to remember that.
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- Anonymous Coward, 15 May 2013 @ 5:10am
  
  Re:
  Corporations are people my friend.
  Money is free speech.
  Corporations have more rights than commoners.
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Anonymous Coward, 15 May 2013 @ 2:39am

the best form of defense is attack. i cant help wondering, therefore, if what has been said is the truth and to try to quell the talkers, the company thinks issuing a law suit is the answer? like stated in the article, they could get more than expected from this stupid move in the form of less passengers
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- Anonymous Coward, 15 May 2013 @ 5:13am
  
  Re:
  "the best form of defense is attack"
  
  Yeah, whenever I'm walking down the street in a less than save neighborhood I always attack everyone I cross paths with, I'm simply taking a defensive posture.
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