Defenders of Wildlife Celebrates Labor Day by Denying New Parental Leave Benefits to Union Members10/28/2023 On August 28, 2023, Defenders of Wildlife’s leadership announced to all staff that parental leave would be extended from two to six weeks. There was, however, a catch. This change will go into effect on October 1st for all non-bargaining unit employees; however, “any agreed upon changes to leave benefits of Bargaining Unit employees will become effective once a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) has been finalized.”
While it is traditional that contract provisions tentatively agreed between the Union and the Employer are not implemented until the whole CBA is finalized, it is not standard practice for the Employer to offer new or improved benefits to non-bargaining unit members in the meantime – creating an arbitrary inequality that functionally “punishes” Union members. In fact, it’s not even common at Defenders. To date, Management and the Union have operationalized workplace changes for all staff on hybrid work, compensation increases, COVID-19 safety policies, and other issues by signing Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs). During negotiations with Management on August 31st, Defenders United’s Bargaining Committee proposed operationalizing the parental leave benefits change the same way, but Management flatly refused. In fact, Management’s attorney literally cited this break in practice as a “carrot” to try to incentivize the Union to work faster towards a contract settlement. This decision directly contradicts CEO Jamie Clark’s own stated desire to manage One Defenders, violates the Fairness precept of the Defenders Commitment Statement (signed by Clark and several VPs in 2020) and is a blatant attempt to pressure our union into rushing to complete a contract that does not secure all the rights and benefits we deserve. The same tactic was employed by the Audubon Society’s leadership this past July. Defenders United is working as fast as we can to negotiate our contract, but CEO Jamie Clark and her team continue to lay obstacle after obstacle in our path. They have refused to budge even the smallest amount on most of their positions, flatly rejected standard union contract language, restricted the time we are allowed to work on proposals, and routinely caused internal chaos over non-CBA issues, forcing us to devote our limited time to these instead.¹ Thanks to these ongoing challenges, we have a long way to go before we reach agreement on a full CBA. In the intervening months, union staff who are expecting new family members will be deprived of this improved benefit — for absolutely no good reason. Since Thursday, numerous members have bravely responded to Management's all-staff announcement, expressing their confusion and dismay and requesting clarification on why Management has made this decision. We hope that CEO Clark and her team will stand by their stated commitments and adhere to previous practice by making this and any other new benefits available to all Defenders of Wildlife staff equitably. ¹ Examples of such disruption include but are not limited to: unlawfully terminating a union organizer, unlawfully refusing to share basic employment data with the Union for over a year, unlawfully delaying negotiations on healthcare, unlawfully direct dealing, implementing layoffs in May 2023 before bargaining with the Union, and twice attempting to force staff back into the office – once during the first Omicron surge in 2022, and once in March 2023 before we reached agreement on a hybrid work schedule.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |