Public Interest Research Groups
fundraiser fires entire bargaining team
A manager also
threatens to close
Portland call center
as workers walk out
in protest
After 18 months on the phone rais-
ing money for consumer and environ-
mental groups, David Neel was fired —
by phone — on Election Day. He’s the
seventh openly pro-union worker fired
by the nonprofit Fund for the Public In-
terest since a union campaign began
among its Portland call center employ-
ees last fall. Headquartered in Boston,
the Fund for the Public Interest is the
fundraising arm for state Public Interest
Research Groups (PIRGs) and spinoff
groups like Environment Oregon and
Environment Colorado. In 2010, the
Fund raised $26.5 million through door-
to-door and sidewalk canvasses in 40
states, as well as through phone calls to
donors from call centers in Boston,
Sacramento and Portland.
Last October, workers at the Fund’s
Portland call center voted 19-5 to join
Communications Workers of America
Local 7901 — not because they wanted
a pension or even a wage increase, but
because they wanted an end to dracon-
ian pay and discipline policies. Hourly
pay rises 50 cents every 80 hours if
workers meet fundraising targets, but
drops up to several dollars when they
fail to meet the targets. And workers are
fired if they fail to meet a separate
benchmark two weeks in a row — re-
gardless of how long they’ve worked
for the Fund.
Pat Wood — who’s in charge of the
Fund’s three call centers — flies to
Portland from Boston once a month for
negotiations over a first-time union con-
tract. But in over a year of bargaining,
the Fund hasn’t agreed to any signifi-
cant changes, and in that time it has
fired six members of the union bargain-
ing team — all of the original four
(Neel was the last), plus two workers
who took the place of fired workers.
[Each time a member of the bargaining
team is fired, another worker steps for-
ward to take his or her place.]
It’s against federal labor law to fire a
worker for participating in a labor or-
ganization. Local 7901 filed charges
protesting the firings, but the National
Labor Relations Board (NLRB) dis-
missed the cases, citing a lack of evi-
dence that their union involvement was
a factor in the firings. In each case, the
Fund said workers were fired for other
reasons. Wael Elasady was fired for
missing a shift; Kris Humbird was fired
for calling in sick too late; Mike
Schultz, Keets Nelson, and Cortina
Robinson were fired for missing quota
two weeks in a row; Ben Woodhouse
was fired on accusation of being rude
during phone conversations; and David
Neel was fired on an accusation that he
submitted false numbers in a phone re-
port. In total, out of a 30-person work-
place, the seven most openly pro-union
workers — including all but one of the
workers who were active in the original
effort to unionize — were fired.
Neel disputes the accusation that he
submitted false numbers, and says he
was given no opportunity to defend
himself.
“I knew I had a giant target on my
back, but I kept my nose clean,” Neel
said. “They were looking for a reason
to get rid of me for a long time but I
hadn’t given them one.”
Neel was told he was barred from re-
turning to work, and his personal be-
longings were overnighted.
Wood (the Fund’s chief negotiator)
declined to be interviewed, and referred
questions to the Fund’s direct mail as-
sociate director, Caitlin Seeley. Seeley
asked that questions be submitted via e-
mail, and then declined to answer any
of them, saying only that “the Fund has
been, and will continue to, negotiate
with the union in good faith.”
But Local 7901 disputes that claim
in a charge of bad faith bargaining it
filed Nov. 16 after the Fund worsened a
previous offer. The NLRB is investigat-
ing the charge. The agency also issued a
formal complaint against the Fund Sept.
17. The case is scheduled to be heard by
a federal administrative law judge Jan.
22. That complaint stems from a June
29 walkout by employees. As workers
left the office in protest, Portland call
In the last 13 months, seven union activists have been fired at a 30-employee
call center run by the Fund for the Public Interest. The Fund is the fundraising
wing of the national PIRG network which includes OSPIRG, CALPIRG and
groups like Environment Oregon and Environment Colorado. Above, six of
the fired workers join their former co-workers for a Nov. 14 protest walkout.
From left: Ben Woodhouse, David Neel, Cortina Robinson, Mike Schultz, Kris
Humbird, and Wael Elasady.
center director Referd Raley threatened
to permanently close the office and fire
everyone.
That’s a credible threat. The Fund
used to have a call center in Los Ange-
les, until workers there unionized in
2005. Eleven months later, the Fund
closed the doors, and moved the opera-
tion to Sacramento.
But Portland call center workers
have resolved not to be intimidated.
They conducted another job action Nov.
14 in which 22 workers took part —
joined by several dozen supporters. A
kind of one-shift strike, it consisted of
workers walking out, refusing to return,
and picketing the worksite for an hour.
As it happened, Wood was sitting in
a nearby cafe, so Local 7901 President
Madelyn Elder put together an im-
promptu delegation. One by one, Ore-
gon AFL-CIO President Tom Cham-
berlain and Secretary-Treasurer Barbara
Byrd, Portland Jobs with Justice Exec-
utive Director Margaret Butler, and re-
tired Catholic priest Bob Krueger intro-
duced themselves and urged Wood to
settle.
His response to each: “I understand.”
No further bargaining sessions are
expected until January.
Governor nominates unionists to key posts
Gov. John Kitzhaber has submitted
the names of 44 appointees to state
boards and commissions for confirma-
tion by the Oregon Senate. The Senate
Rules Committee will meet at 8 a.m.
Dec. 10 in Hearing Room B at the
Capitol to consider nominations and
hear from first-time appointees. The full
Senate will vote on recommendations
at 11 a.m. Dec. 12.
Among the nominees from organ-
ized labor:
Ken Allen, executive director of Ore-
gon AFSCME Council 75, to the Ore-
gon Health and Science University
board of directors.
Michael Rose of Elkton, special rep-
resentative for the International Associ-
ation of Machinists, to the Board of
Forestry.
Felisa Hagins of Service Employees
International Union Local 49, to the
Oregon Health Policy Board.
Ben Stange of Monmouth’s Interna-
tional Association of Fire Fighters, to a
labor seat on the Workers’ Compensa-
tion Management-Labor Advisory
Committee.
Union leaders get tour of Port of Vancouver
VANCOUVER — Nineteen local
union presidents and business repre-
sentatives were welcomed by Port of
Vancouver Commissioner Nancy
Baker and Executive Director Todd
Colman for a Nov. 14 port tour. Col-
man touted the port’s economic bene-
fits to Vancouver, and pointed to multi-
ple construction projects under way
that could provide opportunities for
union building trades workers, includ-
ing an expansion of the United Grain
export terminal, development of a
potash export facility by BHP Billiton,
and the multi-stage West Vancouver
Freight Access project.
DECEMBER 7, 2012
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Meanwhile, north of its Columbia
River waterfront properties, the Port is
working to open up industrial land to
development.
Colman said the Port of Vancouver
is not interested in pursuing coal ex-
ports, because of its potential to inter-
fere with rail access for existing tenants.
The Port is 99.7 percent occupied as
of now, with 52 tenants occupying all
but 12,000 square feet out of 20 million
total. Colman said Port tenants employ
2,300 workers all told.
Baker said she hoped the tour and
meet-and-greet will end up becoming
an annual occurrence.
PAGE 11