A western Massachusetts city wants all its employees to watch what they say on social media. Municipal unions in Springfield are being asked to agree in writing to social media policies.
The city of Springfield is seeking agreements with each of its 12 municipal unions on a policy that sets guidelines for what hundreds of employees including police officers, firefighters, and snowplow drivers can say on their personal Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, and other social media platforms. Violators of the proposed rules could face discipline up to and including termination of their employment.
Efforts to get a policy governing use of social media written into union contracts follow two incidents last year where social media comments attributed publicly to city employees caused uproars.
So far, one union that represents chiefs in the Springfield Fire Department has agreed to have a social media policy incorporated into a new contract.
Mayor Domenic Sarno hopes the other unions follow suit.
"I understand there is a First Amendment and free speech, but there is also respect and there is no room for hate speech," Sarno said.
Sarno issued an executive order last summer that set a social media policy for city employees who are not represented by a union.
" It is the right thing to do, it is the just thing to do, and it is the respectful thing to do," Sarno said about the social media policy directives he issued to non-union employees.
In June, some city councilors complained about disparaging Facebook comments made by a city fire chief who appeared to criticize councilors in the midst of a debate over residency policies for city employees.
Mayor Sarno responded by announcing he was suspending contract talks with the fire chiefs’ union.
Late last year, a city police officer, Conrad Lariviere, was fired over a comment he made on Facebook last August that mocked an anti-racism protestor who was run down by a car and killed in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Police Commissioner John Barbieri said he fired Lariviere because the officer brought national scorn down upon the Springfield Police Department.
" It caused such harm to the department that it will take us months, if not years, to earn back the level of public trust we once had," Barbieri said last December 1st at a news conference where he discussed the disciplinary action.
Lariviere is reportedly appealing his firing.
One goal of putting written rules for social media use into union contracts is to clear up any gray areas over existing anti-harassment and discrimination policies, according to William Mahoney, the city’s director of labor relations.
"We want to make sure our employees are using social media in an appropriate manner," said Mahoney. "However, we recognize they have First Amendment rights for social media so there is a balance there."
The policy bans posts about sensitive personal information about others, confidential or propriety information about city departments, and explicit or obscene sexual images or content. It does not restrict discussions about wages, benefits, hours, and working conditions.
Mahoney said so far the city's unions have been receptive to negotiating a social media policy as part of their contracts.
" ( They) have not really given us any push back," said Mahoney.
He said social media policy is an issue getting greater attention in the human resources departments of municipal governments across the country.