FM Union files for election with NLRB after Feminist Majority Foundation leaders refuse to recognize staff union
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: Katie Barrows, NPEU, kbarrows@npeu.org, 360-624-6936
WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2020— Today, FM Union, the staff union of the Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF), filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) after President Eleanor Smeal and Executive Director Katherine Spillar refused to voluntarily recognize the union. FM Union asked management to voluntarily recognize the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union as their staff’s representative in early September, but management refused, claiming that an election at the Trump labor board would be more fair.
“It is extremely disappointing that the Feminist Majority Foundation refuses to voluntarily recognize FM Union, especially as most ‘progressive’ nonprofits opt to voluntarily recognize their workers’ unions. FMF prides itself on being a feminist organization, but by forcing our union to go to the Trump administration’s labor board for an election, has shown that it is anti-worker and therefore, anti-feminist.
We all come to this organization with a shared commitment to the values in FMF’s guiding principles, and we believe unionizing is inherent to a fight for a more just world under dominant systems of white supremacy, capitalism, and cisheteropatriarchy. We also believed our unionization would be applauded and seen as an extension of our work as feminist activists, especially due to FMF’s pro-union stance and labor leader Dolores Huerta’s prominence on the organization’s Board of Directors,” said FM Union.
An overwhelming majority of eligible staff are in support of FM Union, and over 500 individuals, including former FMF and Ms. Magazine staff and interns, members of FMF’s Feminist Campus student network, and leaders and workers within both the feminist and broader progressive movements, have signed on to a letter of solidarity calling on FMF to voluntarily recognize the union.
“It is disgraceful that any nonprofit organization would refuse to recognize their staff’s union and force them to the Trump labor board—let alone one that claims to be pro-union and feminist,” said NPEU President Kayla Blado. “The staff of Feminist Majority Foundation fight against the Trump administration's racism and misogyny everyday, so forcing them to the anti-worker Trump NLRB is union-busting, plain and simple.”
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 (and counting), 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.