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Sign Petition to Show Solidarity for SPLC Union

We are so grateful for the outpouring of support we’ve received over the past week since a supermajority of Southern Poverty Law Center staff signed union authorization cards and filed an election petition with the NLRB.

Many folx have asked us what else they can do to show solidarity with the SPLC Union. Please take a few minutes to sign this petition letting the SPLC Board and Senior Leadership know you stand with us.

At the end of the day, we are committed to winning our union, whether through voluntary recognition or election. We appreciate y’all.

Add your name here.

SPLC Union Will Not Be Intimidated by ‘Union Avoidance’ Law Firm

A supermajority of SPLC staff signed union authorization cards and filed an election petition with the NLRB. We asked leadership to voluntarily recognize SPLC Union. Instead, they hired Hunton Andrews Kurth, a “union avoidance” law firm.

“The Center cannot truly claim to support workers’ rights, while also hiring a ‘union avoidance’ law firm to prevent its own workers from exercising our right to collective bargaining,” the SPLC Union Organizing Committee said in a statement to the Montgomery Advertiser.

SPLC Leadership is being advised by Amber M. Rogers, who specializes in decertification elections and “union avoidance strategies.”

In their own words, “Hunton Andrews Kurth has a successful track record of advising companies and trade groups facing the threat of corporate campaign attacks. …We have successfully used litigation strategies to bring these campaigns to a halt.”

The law firm’s experience includes RICO cases against labor unions at a Fortune 100 company and an international food service client with over 200,000 employees, according to its website. The firm has helped quash union efforts of workers across industries, from electric workers to bartenders to manufacturers.

A supermajority of SPLC staff across all eligible departments and offices are seeking union representation. We will not be intimidated by SPLC leadership or its “union avoidance” law firm. We will see our SPLC Union drive successfully through an election, if necessary.

Southern Poverty Law Center Staff File for Union Representation

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Staff at the Southern Poverty Law Center — a historic Civil Rights organization advancing social justice through legal, educational and advocacy efforts primarily in the Deep South — are forming a union.

A supermajority of employees spanning SPLC’s 11 offices across five states and Washington, D.C. today filed a union election petition with the National Labor Relations Board requesting representation by the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, Local 32035 of The News Guild-Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO. 

The SPLC Union organizing committee is calling on SPLC leadership to stand by the principles that animate the nonprofit — equity, justice and diversity — by voluntarily recognizing the Union and respecting employees’ call for deep and lasting engagement in the future of the Center.

“We ask SPLC’s senior leaders to respect the desire of its dedicated employees to form a union and have a say in what the future of the Center looks like,” the committee said. “Current leadership has committed itself to the task of changing SPLC’s workplace culture. Collective bargaining ensures workers the opportunity to play a leading role in this transformation.”

“Forty years after the Greensboro Massacre, we hope to rekindle the flame of labor organizing in the Deep South and form a strong union at SPLC that lays the foundation for a legacy of equal rights, respect and dignity for all workers, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical ability, and national origin.”

Washington-Baltimore News Guild Organizing Director Bruce Jett said, “The Washington-Baltimore News Guild supports — and is proud to represent — SPLC staff. Workers rights are human rights. Today, a supermajority of SPLC’s workforce took a historic step toward upholding and protecting those rights.”

The News Guild filed the petition in Baltimore, Maryland this morning. The organizing committee awaits the response of SPLC’s senior leadership and stands ready to work together with management and begin negotiating the organization’s first contract. 

To contact the SPLC Union, email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @SPLCUnion.

To contact Bruce Jett with the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, call 703-627-4547 or e-mail [email protected]. Find the Washington-Baltimore News Guild on Twitter @WBNG32035.