Appeals Court: Angry AT&T Workers Can't Wear 'Prisoners' Shirt

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that unionized workers in a labor dispute couldn’t wear striped shirts captioned, “Prisoner of AT$T.” The technicians, who interacted with the public as part of their jobs, were suspended for refusing to remove the shirts. The NLRB had sided with the technicians from the Communications Workers of America in 2011, but the federal appeals court sided with AT&T, and ruled that the “Inmate/Prisoner” shirts may harm AT&T’s relationship with its customers or its public image. Therefore, AT&T lawfully prohibited its employees here from wearing the shirts.