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December 6, 2019 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
At a Eugene environmental group,
workers move to unionize
Workers at the environmental
nonprofit Our Children’s Trust
are unionizing. Based in Eugene,
Oregon, Our Children’s Trust is
best known for Juliana v. United
States, a lawsuit in which 21
young Americans are suing the
federal government for not tak-
ing enough action to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions.
On Nov. 19, the Our Chil-
dren’s Trust management re-
ceived a petition signed by a ma-
jority of its 16 workers asking
for voluntary official recognition
of their choice to join Commu-
nications Workers of America
(CWA) Local 7901 and asking
for a response by Nov. 22.
Our Children’s Trust workers
think unionizing could help
them win a greater commitment
to diversity in hiring and a more
democratic and transparent deci-
sion-making process, a
spokesperson for the union or-
ganizing committee told the La-
bor Press.
On Nov. 22, workers did get
what Local 7901 President A.J.
Mendoza described as a favor-
able and respectful response
from the president of the board.
On Nov. 25, Local 7901 went
ahead and asked the National
Labor Relations Board to sched-
ule a union election, but the re-
quest could be withdrawn if
management agrees to voluntar-
ily recognize the union.
Local 7901 has its base at
telecom employers like Centu-
rylink and AT&T, but it also rep-
resents workers at half a dozen
non-profits, including Bark, First
Unitarian Church, Free Geek,
Fund for the Public Interest,
KBOO, Portland Jobs with Jus-
tice, and Voz Workers Rights
Education Project, as well as
union staff at SEIU Local 503
and the Teamsters.
The union effort at Our Chil-
dren’s Trust comes amid a recent
surge of nonprofit unionization:
▪ In July, workers at the League of
Conservation Voters announced a union,
which management recognize on Aug. 23.
▪ On Oct. 10, workers at Food and Water
Watch asked for voluntary union
recognition; that hadn’t happened as of
press time.
▪ On Oct. 16, workers at the climate change
group 350.org announced their intent to
unionize.
▪ On Nov. 7, over 300 workers at the anti-
hate-group Southern Poverty Law Center
petitioned for a union election. The
notoriously wealthy group, which last year
reported $492.5 million in assets, has hired
a union-avoidance law firm. A vote will be
held by mail, with ballots counted Dec. 16.
Marion-Polk-Yamhill Labor
Chapter to host Kids’ Holiday
Party Dec. 21 in Salem
the three-county area are invited
— and it’s free! The fun in-
cludes live Christmas music, a
showing of the movie “The
Grinch,” goodie bags for the
kids and—of course—a visit
from Santa and Mrs. Claus. For
more information, contact Elissa
Edge at elissa@osea.org or call
503-428-3971.
Marion-Polk-Yamhill Counties
Labor Chapter will host the 79th
annual Children’s Holiday Party
Saturday, Dec. 21, at the Elsi-
nore Theatre, 170 High St., SE,
Salem. Doors open at 8:45 a.m.
All children and their families in
REPRESENTING UNION VALUES
On billboards and online, Giovanni Caceres has be-
come one of the public faces of his union, Laborers Lo-
cal 737, thanks to a publicity campaign by Northwest
Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust
(NW LECET). A non-profit funded by signatory contrac-
tors and local unions, NW LECET helps Laborers locals
and their contractors win projects and jobs for Laborers
Union members. It does that with a project tracking
service that lets contractors know about opportunities
to bid on work in their specialties—and by getting the
word out to the public about the work union laborers
do. In the image, Caceres stands in a 15-foot ditch in
downtown Portland where a sidewalk used to be. That
day, his employer, Extreme Excavation, was putting
electric pipes in the ground, and backfilling with gravel.
Workers stay safe thanks to shoring jacks that prevent
the trench from collapsing. Earlier this year the photo
appeared on several billboards in the Portland area
and in Facebook recruitment ads. It’s still up online on
a web site called LiUNAcares.com, and on the banner
of NW LECET’s Facebook page. It operates in the nine
states on the U.S. side of Laborers Northwest region.