Animal Legal Defense Fund Staff Union Files for NLRB Election After Management Refuses to Recognize
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Katie Barrows, NPEU, kbarrows@npeu.org, 360-624-6936
WASHINGTON, Dec. 28, 2020 – ALDF United, the staff union of the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), has filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Stephen Wells, Executive Director and CEO of ALDF, informed staff two days before Christmas that management is refusing to voluntarily recognize ALDF United, forcing an election with Trump’s NLRB. A strong supermajority of ALDF staff signed cards in support of unionizing with the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union (NPEU).
ALDF management has engaged the infamous union-busting law firm Ogletree Deakins. Ogletree Deakins was the firm hired to bust staff unions at the ACLU of Kansas and at the Scholars Strategy Network, and is reportedly “go-to legal counsel” for the notoriously racist Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
“It’s deeply disappointing that ALDF management would try to crush ALDF’s fledgling union. If management cared for or respected ALDF staff members, they would recognize ALDF United instead of hiring a notoriously anti-worker law firm to suppress the unionizing efforts,” said NPEU President Kayla Blado. “We call on Stephen Wells and the rest of ALDF management to fire Ogletree Deakins and immediately recognize ALDF United.”
ALDF has worked for more than four decades to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals through the legal system. ALDF staff are personally and professionally committed to this mission and to ALDF’s core values of balance, commitment, compassion, innovation, integrity, and justice. Inspired by ALDF’s mission and core values, ALDF staff formed ALDF United to foster a workplace that is anti-racist and more cooperative, equitable, inclusive, just, respectful, and transparent. By giving ALDF staff a collective voice and a seat at the table, ALDF United seeks to empower all ALDF staff members to do their best work for the animals.
“The fact that management has refused to recognize ALDF United, choosing instead to engage a union-busting law firm and utilize classic union-busting tactics like captive audience meetings and intimidation of individual members of the bargaining unit, confirms what we already knew: a union is desperately needed at ALDF,” said the ALDF United organizing committee.
“Unions give working people power in the decisions made at their workplace. In turn, this creates more transparency and equity in the structure of the organization,” said Blado. “For ALDF management to make it more difficult for them to unionize is unacceptable and outside of the norm—management at nearly every other organization unionized with NPEU has voluntarily recognized their staff union. Shame on Stephen Wells and the rest of ALDF management for attempting to stifle their employees’ voice rather than seeking to empower and unify their staff.”
About NPEU:
The Nonprofit Professional Employees Union (NPEU), a local of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, represents professionals employed at more than 30 nonprofit organizations, including employees at Economic Policy Institute, the Center for American Progress, and Community Change. With several hundred members, NPEU gives nonprofit workers a voice to strengthen their workplaces and continue to do work that makes a difference in people’s lives.