MasTec installs and maintains satellite television equipment under contract with satellite television providers like DirecTV. It was advantageous to MasTec and its contract companies to get customers to connect the satellite receivers being installed to active telephone land lines. MasTec technicians were pressured to get customers to allow them to make these connections. However, many customers declined to have this done and DirecTV informed MasTec that it would be charged a penalty if less than half of all new installations during a month did not include the land line connection. MasTec responded by changing the compensation arrangements for technicians. Their pay would now be substantially affected by whether they got enough customers to make the connections. The technicians reacted angrily. Managers responded by telling the techs to either simply make the connections without asking customers or to falsely inform them that the connections were necessary in order for the system to work properly. Some of the technicians decided to take their complaints public. A local television reporter was contacted. A group of almost 30 technicians went down to the TV station dressed in their work uniforms and using company vans. Interviews were conducted and aired on news programs. The interviews emphasized that the technicians had been told to lie to customers. Shortly thereafter, the technicians that appeared in the broadcast were terminated. 

1. What was the legal issue in this case? What did the NLRB decide?

2. What was the concerted activity in which the technicians engaged? What made that activity “concerted”?

3. Why was this activity “protected”?

4. What if the companies had shown that they suffered substantial losses in sales and revenue stemming from the news program? Would that have made a difference in the outcome of this case? Why or why not?