GAG ORDER ATTEMPT AGAINST NBC WORKERS DROPPED
Ill-founded gag order effort dropped after ACLU and lawyers for workers, unions blast
“flimsy evidentiary record” and “shocking disregard for First Amendment”
“flimsy evidentiary record” and “shocking disregard for First Amendment”
OAKLAND, CA – October 30, 2009
Following withering criticism by elected officials, civil libertarians, and lawyers for whistleblowing workers and their union advocates -- embattled criminal defendant Monica Ung dropped her effort to silence workers who are accusing her company, NBC contractors, of wage theft and mtax fraud involving millions of dollars.
Ung faces 48 felony counts, including failure to pay wages, grand theft, insurance fraud and forgery. Ung’s attorney, Willie Brown, had requested an unprecedented, sweeping “gag order” which would have inhibited public and media discussion of the case. Thousands of prominent elected officials, opinion leaders, and community members have joined the effort to achieve justice for NBC workers.
The ACLU of Northern California and lawyers for the International Brotherhood of Workers (IBEW) Local 595 and Ung’s workers had denounced her effort as lacking any legal justification. A brief filed by the ACLU stated that Ung’s requested gag order would have “…set a dangerous precedent for the suppression of speech,” and showed a “…shocking disregard for First Amendment values.”
“The effort to impose a gag order on more than 2,000 members of IBEW 595 – who are supporting workers who have been exploited by NBC General Contractors –was a despicable, unfounded attempt to silence labor’s voice,” said IBEW 595 Business Manager Victor Uno. “I’d like to thank our legal team, the ACLU, and community supporters for their unrelenting pressure to defend workers’ free speech, and our union’s right to advocate.”
Said Ellyn Moscowitz, attorney for the wronged workers, “It was absolutely ridiculous for Ung to attempt to ‘gag’ me from talking to the very workers I represent. Willie Brown and Ung’s legal team made wild accusations against me and IBEW, which were completely baseless. They simply wasted more of Ung’s money that should be used to compensate the workers, and not spent on lawyers filing frivolous motions.”
