If management has wrongfully-terminated someone, use this template to launch a campaign to demand their reinstatement.
Noor Al-Sibai is a journalist and novice media theorist who’s been a member of and led progressive media unions. When they aren’t working as a begrudging politico or opining on the many failures of mainstream media, they can be found trying desperately to stay off of social media and read actual books.
[Coworker name 1], an integral part of our team at [Company] , has been wrongfully terminated by management, who cited “editorial discretion” as their reasoning. Such a flimsily-excused termination would be egregious enough during normal times, but management’s decision to weaponize this power during a global pandemic goes directly against the [Company] ’s stated values.
This unilateral action, taken without consideration of any members of our team, is part of a pattern of such actions by management, who terminated [Coworker name 1] on [date of termination 1] and placed pressure on [Coworker name 2] after an editorial disagreement on [date of disagreement 1]. When viewed alongside the wrongful termination of [coworker name 1], these decisions constitute a pattern of unethical business practices.
We demand management rehire [coworker name 1] for their previous position and provide them with back-pay for their missed wages.
While we live through these unprecedented times, the security provided by steady work is more crucial than ever before. [Coworker name] was not just our friend and coworker — they were also an indispensable part of our team, and their absence has resulted in lower work standards, lowered productivity, and lowered output for us all.
Without each essential member of our team, which includes [coworker name 1], [Company] and its employees cannot hope to achieve its highest output capacity, thus risking the security not only of employees, but also the health of the business itself.
Beyond the benefits to the company and our team, we must stand in solidarity with our wrongfully-terminated coworker who was subject to unethical treatment. If one of us is expendable, all of us are — and we cannot allow such a precedent to be set during this time of uncertainty.
Wrongful termination during the COVID-19 pandemic has already resulted in a number of labor lawsuits, per The National Law Review. We do not wish to join the ranks of the countless lawsuits and believe that we can learn from those companies’ mistakes.
Organize at least 75% of coworkers to support this campaign on Frank.
Deliver our introductory demand letter to [Company] management and ownership that gives them no more than 72 hours to respond.
If they fail to meet the deadline or reject any of our core proposals, we’ll hold a meeting to determine escalation, including sick-out and/or social media campaigns.