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Why did ACLU Illinois staffers picket the organization this week?

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• Illinois

* In These Times back in 2021…

A union fight that is playing out in Illinois highlights how progressive organizations can use technical objections to the scope of a proposed union to effectively pursue union-busting while maintaining plausible deniability that they are doing so. This effort to have it both ways makes sense when you consider where this labor battle is happening: at the ACLU.

The past two years has been a landmark one for unionization at the ACLU, part of the broader, ongoing wave of nonprofit organizing. As the pandemic raged in 2020, workers at several ACLU state branches unionized–including in Kansas, where the staff faced a corporate-style anti-union campaign. In January of 2021 about 300 staffers nationwide formed the civil liberties group’s largest staff union, called ACLU Staff United. In subsequent months, more state ACLU staffs across the country have successfully unionized, and ACLU staff union drives are underway in other states, like Virginia and Illinois*. Workers have vowed to continue until they have successfully unionized every state office. 

Though common sense might tell you that an organization that proudly declares that it “has championed the right of workers to organize unions since its inception more than 90 years ago” would be an easy place to unionize, that has not been completely true. While most of the union drives at the ACLU have secured voluntary recognition from management — a necessary baseline for any employer to be considered pro-union — that has not been the case in Illinois. In late June, workers there asked management to recognize their staff union, part of the National Organization of Legal Services Workers. More than five months later, they are still waiting.  […]

For months now, management and the union have been locked in a stalemate over the issue of how many workers will be allowed to be members of the unit. Restricting the size of a proposed unit is a common tactic by employers, who often seek to assert that as many employees as possible are managers or supervisors, and are therefore not eligible to be union members. These sorts of negotiations, though cloaked in legalistic language, are usually more about power than about law — how fiercely management chooses to argue over vague job descriptions comes down to whether they are comfortable working with a staff union, or whether they see it as a priority to make the union as small and weak as possible from the very beginning. 

Fed up with the delays, the ACLU of IL Staff United finally filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board in early October, seeking a resolution. The union had a two-day hearing at the NLRB that concluded on November 1. Though the timeline is not certain, the union expects to get a ruling on the size of its unit soon, and then it can proceed to a formal vote for certification.

* The National Labor Relations Board ruled in favor of the union’s right to hold an election in December of 2021…

[T]he Employer provided only broad assertions to support its claims, and has thus failed to meet its burden to prove that the disputed classifications should be excluded because they are supervisory, managerial, or confidential in nature. Accordingly, I am directing a self-determination election among the petitioned-for appropriate unit of employees, including permitting the professional employees in the unit to first determine whether or not they wish to be included in the same unit with the nonprofessional employees, as set forth below.

* The union claims they have not received raises since 2021…

* Yesterday, the union picketed to demand a contract…

* More…

* Fortune | ACLU, a big defender of free speech, illegally fired worker for complaining about working conditions, labor board says: The discharged employee had been “concertedly complaining” about wages, hours, and working conditions “throughout 2020, 2021, and until about May 2022,” according to the filing, which was issued in March by an NLRB regional director on behalf of the labor board’s general counsel, and obtained by Bloomberg News through a Freedom of Information Act request.

* Law 360 | Illinois ACLU Staff Can Vote To Join Atty Union, NLRB Official Says: A National Labor Relations Board official ordered a representation election at an Illinois ACLU-affiliated organization in which attorneys and other staff members will vote on whether to be represented by a United Auto Workers-affiliated union.

* Law & Crime | ACLU Accused of ‘Union Busting’ by Hiring ‘Anti-Union’ Law Firm [Ogletree Deakins] Over Labor Dispute: Workers and labor organizers at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Kansas have met resistance from the affiliate’s executive director Nadine Johnson after reportedly obtaining majority support for a union there–accusing the storied civil liberties organization of “union busting” over a series of procedural moves apparently aimed at slowing down the union recognition process.

posted by Isabel Miller
Friday, Aug 30, 24 @ 11:19 am

Comments

1. Unlike legislative/campaign unions, I’m open to learning from the folks about this. I just wonder whether unionizing an organization dependent upon donations is problematic. Is the revenue stream for the ACLU stable?

   Comment by Norseman Friday, Aug 30, 24 @ 11:28 am

2. This should not be problematic as evidenced by other state ACLUs recognizing bargaining units.

   Comment by Pot calling kettle Friday, Aug 30, 24 @ 11:54 am

3. If you check out their 990, the Illinois branch has an insane executive compensation (they paid two legal directors over half a million dollars in the same year!). These are some of the smartest lawyers and advocates in our state, many of whom work long hours and on weekends, and the least the ACLU can do is give them the respect and compensation they deserve.

   Comment by 990 Friday, Aug 30, 24 @ 12:00 pm

4. People should check out their 990. Executive compensation is eye popping for an org reliant on donations…

   Comment by Isn’t Union in their name? Friday, Aug 30, 24 @ 12:04 pm

5. ==Is the revenue stream for the ACLU stable?==

   In short, yes.

   https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/362682569

   Comment by charles in charge Friday, Aug 30, 24 @ 12:06 pm

6. Wonder how much this donation-based organization is paying in lawyers fees to fight all this? Doesn’t seem good stewardship of donor funds not to mention a good look to the public.

   Comment by Curious Friday, Aug 30, 24 @ 12:19 pm

7. Thanks charles in charge. Good luck to the union organizers.

   Comment by Norseman Friday, Aug 30, 24 @ 12:20 pm

8. It’s obvious who leadership values most - themselves. According to the 990s, through FY2013-FY2018, the percentage of total functional expenses going to executive compensation averaged 6.2%. It has BALLOONED since then to 41.6% in FY2023. Across 45 ACLU affiliates’ publicly available 990s (excluding National), ACLU-IL’s expenses toward executive compensation were the HIGHEST in FY2022 at almost $2,245,505 (about 40% of total functional expenses), over $1.4 MILLION MORE than the ACLU office with the next highest executive compensation. The next highest ACLU office was ACLU-WA Found, with executive compensation at $822,797 (but only constituting about 9% of their total functional expenses). The average of expenses towards executive compensation across 44 affiliates (excluding National and ACLU-IL), was only $158,500, not even half of ACLU-IL Executive Director Colleen Connell’s average annual salary over the past ten years (she’s raked in over 3.6 MILLION since FY2013). Given the top-heaviness and self-importance their spending illustrates, it makes sad sense they’re nickel-and-diming the staff doing the actual work. SHAME ON THEM!

   Comment by 990s Friday, Aug 30, 24 @ 1:08 pm

9. I already halted my ACLU donations when they helped the NRA in New York. Wish I hadn’t just so I could use this as the reason.

   Comment by Bob Friday, Aug 30, 24 @ 1:24 pm

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