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August 7, 2020 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
UNION ORGANIZING
Enviro nonprofit would rather lay
off all staff than deal with union
By Noah Wass
Last month we reported what
happened when all five workers
at Center for Sustainable Econ-
omy (CSE) announced their in-
tent to join Communications
Workers of America Local
7901: Management at the tiny
climate change nonprofit hired
the union-busting law firm
Bullard Law, and suspended and
threatened key union supporter
Nick Caleb. Advised by Bullard,
CSE even filed an unfair labor
practice charge against itself —
alleging to the National Labor
Relations Board (NLRB) that
Caleb was a supervisor and thus
it was illegal for him to support
a union drive.
All that drew some pretty bad
publicity. Since then, CSE
dropped Bullard, withdrew the
charge, and said it would volun-
tarily recognize the union.
Time for union supporters to
celebrate? Not so fast. Now
CSE’s husband-and-wife leader-
ship team plans to “restructure”
the 25-year-old organization and
lay off all staff in September.
Citing “human resource chal-
lenges” and “growing pains,” a
July 22 email from CSE presi-
dent John Talberth gives work-
ers three options.
Option one: Set up their own
organization, with CSE man-
agers’ help, and migrate CSE’s
grant money to fund it.
Option two: Go to work for
CSE executive director Daphne
Wysham at a new non-profit she
registered the day before, called
Just Climate, Inc. (The email
says she commits to voluntarily
recognize a union if one appears
there.)
Option 3: Become independ-
ent contractors (no union rights)
and continue working for CSE.
“But I am not sure that CSE
could legally make such a tran-
sition right now and want to be
clear I am not advocating this
change,” Talberth wrote. [No
kidding: The NLRB would
likely see this as a transparent
attempt to evade the union.]
Caleb, staff attorney for
CSE’s climate justice program,
says he was told the restructur-
ing plan was in the works a long
time. The union isn’t buying it.
Local 7901 President A.J. Men-
doza believes the announcement
is a response to the union’s or-
ganizing efforts.
THIS NEWSPAPER BROUGHT TO YOU BY AMERICA'S LABOR
MOVEMENT. SHOP LOCAL. AND BUY UNION AND AMERICAN-MADE.
University of Oregon and
Oregon AFL-CIO host free
talks for union members
This summer, the Oregon AFL-
CIO is teaming up with the La-
bor Education and Research
Center of the University of Ore-
gon to bring national experts and
labor leaders to Oregon union
members via Zoom calls. Here
are the upcoming talks:
■ August 12: Education in the time of
COVID Presenters are Diane Ravitch,
former U.S. Assistant Secretary of
Education; and Oregon Education
Association President John Larson..
■ August 26: The state of Oregon’s
budget and Oregon workers
Presented by Oregon AFL-CIO political
director Jess Giannettino Villatoro; and
an Oregon legislative leader.
All talks are free and open to
all Oregon union members.
Talks will start at 5 p.m. and go
for one hour, with time for ques-
tions and comments from audi-
ence members. Register at
https://bit.ly/38Srn8m for one or
more of the talks, and you’ll be
sent a link to the Zoom call
shortly before the event.
Bethany Sherer
971.978.9534
12/31/20
2020