A Brief History on the New England Center for Change's Union Busting Ways

Workers at New England for Change continue to fight the union busting efforts of management and their antiunion lawyer, who replaced the antiunion consultant they "terminated" when it was exposed he had been disbarred in Georgia. The State Bar of Georgia did so for reasons described as "Violations of Standard 4" (engaging in professional conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit and willful misrepresentation).

It's obvious that NECfC hired this individual based on the perception he could assist them in their desire to expel the union from their organization. The fact that they couldn't be bothered to check his background to see what kind of history he had speaks volumes about management's motivation. Had they done so they would not only have found out about his past professional "difficulties," they would have found numerous instances where he had bent and broken labor laws ultimately costing those employers not only lots of money, but any semblance of good labor-management relations for years to come.

Now instead of taking the opportunity to mend bridges and bargain fairly with the workers, NECfC continues to push proposals that the workers are solidly against, like having an open shop after it has been a union shop for 23 years. Their argument for their continued insistence on proposing this against our member's opposition is the ridiculous claim that they can't hire because "people don't want to work where there's a union."

Director Hal Gibber, members of management, and their attorney have refused to accept a petition signed by all of the members demanding a strong union contract and union security on the basis that they "don't know how those signatures were gathered", inferring they were coerced from our members. Gibber has also refused numerous invitations to come to bargaining sessions to see just how hostile and disrespectful his "team" has been to both our members and their representatives.

At a recent "all staff" meeting to which few of our members were invited Hal took the opportunity to claim he wanted to sign a contract, yet he continues to push for items that are untenable to our members. Therefore we will be picketing their offices again on January 25th.

During that staff meeting and in previous "newsletters," Hal has maintained the agency lost money for the first time last year, but were still on solid ground financially. He also commented that though he does feel "some employees are underpaid no one in the organization is overpaid." When you have a 6-figure salary I guess that might be your opinion. NECfC has filed for an extension to file their tax returns until Feb 15th making it hard to see who is currently paid what. Maybe when those are filed we can see if anyone is overpaid.

Our workers have told us they want the union and the security it helps bring to a job that can be very difficult and at times dangerous. Please help us show NECfC management that the community supports these workers and the important work they do by coming to their picket at New England Center for Change's 203 East St., Easthampton offices this Tuesday January 25th from 4-7pm.

For more info contact Nancy Fish or Ron Patenaude at 413-534-7600