Source: Communications Workers of America
San Francisco, Calif. — Wiki Workers United U.S. (WWU-US)/Communications Workers of America (CWA) has released the following statement after announcing today that it will file for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) after the Wikimedia Foundation declined the union’s request for voluntary recognition:
We are deeply disappointed that the Wikimedia Foundation has taken the low road by declining our request for voluntary recognition, despite the fact that an overwhelming majority of employees have signed union authorization cards indicating support for the union. Thousands of workers across the tech and nonprofit sectors have achieved voluntary recognition through this “card check” method. Our demand of the Wikimedia Foundation was simply that they live up to their values and be the high-road employer that they purport to be. They refused.
While the Wikimedia Foundation touts to the public that they plan to take a neutral stance in our organizing efforts, they have already proven that not to be the case behind the scenes. When the Foundation rejected our request for voluntary recognition this week, they immediately sent out to employees and the public statements couched in classic union-busting rhetoric, rhetoric undoubtedly provided by outrageously expensive union-avoidance law firms. This insulting and wasteful use of Foundation resources is both an insult to Foundation employees and to the Free Knowledge Movement as a whole.
Insisting that our right to organize be adjudicated by the National Labor Relations Board is not a neutral choice; it has nothing to do with election procedures or employee choice. It has everything to do with delaying the process and stalling the vote in order to give time to the union busters to launch a potentially coercive anti-union campaign against Foundation employees. Nonetheless, we are proud of our colleagues for reaching this point, and we remain committed to securing our union through a traditional NLRB process.
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About CODE-CWA
The Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE-CWA) is a network of worker-organizers and their staff working every single day to build the voice and power necessary to ensure the future of the tech, game, and digital industries in the United States and Canada. CODE-CWA is a project of the Communications Workers of America which represents hundreds of thousands of workers throughout tech, media, telecom, and other industries who stand together to fight for justice on the job and in our communities.
About CWA
The Communications Workers of America represents working people in telecommunications, customer service, media, airlines, health care, public service and education, manufacturing, tech, and other fields.
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