WVU must provide all the requested e-mail communications without redactions and is ordered to produce an index identifying the withheld documents; and provide the index and the actual documents to the court for review.
Monongalia Circuit Judge Philip Gaujot made his ruling on March 15, determining that Teamsters were entitled to the contents of the e-mails under a FOIA request previously made by the union.
Ken Hall, Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer and President of Teamsters Local 175 in South Charleston, called the ruling a victory for all West Virginia workers.
Hall said the fact that WVU was attempting to hide e-mails calls into question even more the impartiality of the study.
"GOP leaders leaned heavily on this study as the reason why West Virginia should enact this anti-worker legislation," Hall said in a press release. "Lawmakers made a grave error when they overrode the governor's veto and approved right to work. Everyday West Virginians deserve transparency and a full accounting of how this report came to be."
The Teamsters question the motivations behind the study commissioned by members of the state Legislature who supported RTW legislation.
The union expressed concern that state funds were used to fund the slanted study.
Luke Farley, a Teamster attorney, said the union is seeking answers.
"We will not stop until all of the facts have seen the light of day and the public has all of the information available concerning how this process was carried out," Farley said in a press release
Teamsters were seeking seven un-redacted e-mail exchanges regarding a WVU Bureau of Business and Economic Research study regarding the Legislature’s right-to-work bill.
The study was requested by Senate President Bill Cole and House Speaker Tim Armstead, and was authored by John Deskins, the director of WVU’s BBER.
