Judge rules PIRG call center fired worker for union activism
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
A federal judge ruled Oct. 25 that
the Fund for the Public Interest broke
federal labor law when it fired pro-
union phone fundraiser David Neel last
November at its Portland call center.
In a 28-page legal decision, admin-
istrative law judge Margaret Brake-
busch ordered the Fund to offer Neel
full reinstatement and back pay plus in-
terest, which could total around
$26,000.
“I feel it’s a genuine vindication for
everyone the Fund has fired,” Neel said.
“They’ve taken every opportunity to
fire people, and they’ve been getting
away with it.”
Fund for the Public Interest is the
fundraising arm of a national network
of groups that includes state PIRGs
(Public Interest Research Groups) as
well as environmental groups like En-
vironment Oregon, Environment Col-
orado, and the National Environmental
Law Center. The Fund signs up mem-
bers for its affiliated groups using door-
to-door and on-street canvassers in 40
states, and then hits them up for addi-
tional contributions from call centers in
Boston, Sacramento, and Portland.
But draconian pay and discipline
practices led workers at the Portland
call center to join Communications
Workers of America (CWA) Local
7901 in November 2011. Two years
later, they still have not reached agree-
ment on a first union contract, and in
that time, the Fund has fired at least a
dozen union supporters. In at least eight
of those terminations, CWA filed
charges with the National Labor Rela-
tions Board (NLRB) alleging that the
workers were fired because of their
union or related activities. If true, that
would be a violation of federal labor
law. But the NLRB dismissed every un-
lawful termination case except Neel’s,
saying “evidence was insufficient.”
Of course, that’s not the same as
saying the Fund was innocent. Most of
the workers were fired for missing a
fundraising quota for two consecutive
weeks. But union supporters are con-
vinced that managers are purposely as-
signing them tough call lists, tough
enough that top fundraisers who never
missed a quota in years can be termi-
nated in two weeks time. As yet, the
union has been unable to prove that
managers are tailoring the call lists to
get rid of union activists, despite the
fact that every one of the workers who
initially led the union drive has been
fired. If a manager were to come for-
ward with smoking gun evidence, those
cases could be reopened, with the Fund
on the hook for bigger damages.
Brakebusch’s decision is based on a
two-day hearing that took place Aug. 6
and 7 in Portland, during which both
sides presented sworn testimony.
Just before the hearing began, the
Fund offered Neel full back pay —
about $23,000 at the time — if he
would agree to drop the case. He re-
fused.
In the hearing, the Fund denied that
it fired Neel for his union activism, but
Brakebusch found Fund managers’ tes-
timony to be contradictory and not
credible. Neel was one of the Fund’s
top fundraisers. He had never failed to
meet his weekly quota since starting in
Spring 2011, and he had earned the
Fund’s top rate of $14.50 an hour since
January 2012. But he was also a thorn
in management’s side.
Though unionizing had been a col-
lective decision by Fund phone callers,
Neel was, as one co-worker put it, the
“flaming tip of the spear for the union.”
David Neel — pictured with his teenage sons Andrew and Max — stood on
principle in August when he turned down a $20,000-plus offer from the Fund
for the Public Interest to drop charges that they fired him for his union
activism. Now Neel is feeling vindicated: On Oct. 25, a federal judge ordered
the Fund to pay an even bigger back pay award, and to reinstate Neel to his
call center job raising money for groups like OSPIRG.
Or, as Fund call center manager Referd
Raley told Neel: “You’re leading this
rabble.”
After workers voted 19-5 to union-
ize, Neel was elected steward and a
member of the union contract bargain-
ing team. At work, he gave out red
teddy bears with union buttons attached
for co-workers to display at their desks.
On Thursdays, he would bring a 5-foot
stuffed alligator toy to the call center as
part of a silent protest against the policy
of firing workers for the second week
of missed quota. When the Fund termi-
nated co-worker Ben Woodhouse on
June 14, 2012, it was Neel who stood
up and announced that co-workers
were walking out to protest the “unfair”
firing. He led another walkout two
weeks later, when nine-year employee
Cortina Robinson was fired.
In the hearing, Fund managers tes-
tified that Neel was fired for veering
from the official phone script, failing to
“triple confirm” pledges, and misre-
porting the outcome of phone calls.
Neel denied the allegations. But it did-
n’t matter; Brakebusch found that those
stated reasons were pretexts.
Fund manager Kate Fielding testi-
fied that she listened to Neel’s calls for
two straight hours, overheard as many
as eight policy violations, and wrote
them down on a piece of scrap paper —
not the monitoring forms Fund man-
agers usually use. Two days later, her
boss Raley fired Neel by phone, told
him not to come into the office, and
overnighted his personal belongings to
him.
Normally, when Fund call center di-
rectors hear a caller make a mistake,
they intervene soon afterward to correct
it. But Fielding, Brakebusch noted,
made no attempt to stop Neel or to in-
tervene in any way. She allowed him to
complete his shift, and said nothing to
him about the alleged mistakes. Fund
managers made no attempt to investi-
gate, or even ask Neel for clarification
about the allegedly “egregious” inter-
actions. And Fund records showed that
other workers were repeatedly coun-
seled, and not fired, for making the
same mistakes Neel was alleged to
have made.
During the hearing, the Fund’s at-
torney also argued that the Fund
shouldn’t have to reinstate Neel even if
it was found that he was fired unlaw-
fully — because he was quoted in the
Portland Mercury newspaper making a
statement that harmed the Fund’s repu-
tation and relationship with partner or-
ganizations.
“I don’t believe in what they do any-
more,” Neel told the Mercury reporter.
“It’s a Ponzi scheme to get money out
of progressive people.”
But Brakebusch rejected that argu-
ment, and quoted a 1976 NLRB deci-
sion: “It is wholly natural for an em-
ployee to react with some vehemence
to an unlawful discharge.”
The Fund has until Nov. 22 to ap-
peal the judge’s decision.
Machinists consider
Boeing 777X proposal
Members of the International Asso-
ciation of Machinists and Aerospace
Workers (IAM) District 751 and Dis-
trict W-24 were scheduled to vote on a
contract extension proposal from the
Boeing Company Wednesday, Nov. 13.
If approved, it would assure that the
new Boeing 777X wings and fuselage
will be built by union members in the
Pacific Northwest. In exchange, Boe-
ing proposed a new eight-year labor
agreement that will expire in Septem-
ber 2024.
The vote was to be held after this is-
sue of the Labor Press went to press.
Union officials expected a close
vote. The IAM represents more than
35,000 Boeing workers, 1,200 in Port-
land are members of Lodge 63.
The proposal by Boeing includes
modifications to the current labor
agreement, including cessation of pen-
sion accruals for current employees and
the establishment of an alternative com-
PAGE 4
pany- funded retirement plan. Addi-
tionally, within 30 days of ratification,
all members would get a $10,000 sign-
ing bonus.
Full details of the proposal are
posted on line at www.iam751.org.
In addition to the eight-year con-
tract, Boeing demanded that the Wash-
ington Legislature extend special tax
breaks.
Gov. Jay Inslee quickly called a spe-
cial session and within a week — on
Nov. 9 — lawmakewrs overwhelm-
ingly passed a $8.7 billion package of
extended tax breaks, education and
workforce support, and permit stream-
lining for Boeing.
Inslee signed the bill Nov. 11.
Depending on the outcome of the
union vote, another special session
could be called later this month to con-
sider a $10 billion, 10-year, transporta-
tion infrastructure package that Boeing
wants.
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
NOVEMBER 15, 2013