Philly Cultural Workers United, an AFSCME-affiliated union which covers the Phildadelphia Museum of Art, the Penn Museum, and Please Touch Museum—have a new union going into the new year: the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education. Staff there, who are in a wide variety of positions due to the nature of the Center's work, have formed Schuylkill Center Staff United and are asking for voluntary recognition from the Center this week.
The Schuylkill Center, for those unfamiliar, is a self-described urban environmental education center located in one of Philadelphia's northern peripheries. They do a pretty wide array of things, ranging from environmental education to land stewardship to wildlife rehabilitation; they currently privately steward 365 acres of city land surrounding the Center itself. Most recently they were in the news for 24 acres of that land which they were granted the right to sell off in case of emergency. They intended to do this, but the surrounding community successfully mobilized to keep the land in the Center's possession, which was announced last month.
Hopefully—and optimistically—the Center will quickly recognize the union, as voluntary recognition does tend to be more common among environmental and conservation nonprofits. They're usually progressively-oriented and more receptive to letting their staff collectively bargain with them. However, the bad environmental nonprofits tend to be some of the most vicious union busters. The IWW's experience with unionizing the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and the aftermath of that comes to mind as one such example—the organization literally dissolved rather than negotiate a contract and then was charged with a labor violation for doing so. (Although something that extreme is almost certainly not in the cards here.)
Schuylkill Center Staff United has released the following statement talking about what the Center has been up to since I made this post—the answer, mostly, is leaning on union busting consultants and lies about unions:
Last week, Schuylkill Center executives brought in a consultant to "educate" us about unions. Turns out the consultant is from "corporate America's favorite union busting firm."
This week, the union busting started in earnest...
Our Interim Executive Director concluded an all-staff meeting on Tuesday by telling us a union isn't right for us.
Apparently, workers at the Schuylkill Center don't need a union. According to our Director, unions don't belong in non-profits where no one is getting rich off our labor. She asked us to vote "no."
We are disheartened that Schuylkill Center executives are trying to impose their anti-union stance on us. Employees have the right to a fair union election, free from employer interference.
We call on the Board of Trustees and executive management to cease and desist all anti-union activities, including spreading misinformation about unionizing and encouraging eligible staff to vote "no."
We know no one is getting rich off our labor, but without it, none of the core programs of the Center would exist or generate the revenue that they do. We're not asking for riches. Just to make ends meet.
Non-profit workers like us have the same right to bargain for fair pay, safe working conditions, and job security as an other workers do.
FAIR ELECTION NOW!
