Washington, DC, July 17, 2024 – The Washington-Baltimore News Guild issued the following statement:
“The Washington Baltimore News Guild Local 32035 TNG-CWA condemns the anti-union layoffs of more than 60 workers at the Southern Poverty Law Center and supports the internal actions taken to show solidarity.
The union busting by SPLC CEO Margaret Huang and her executive team is unbecoming of a progressive organization which claims to be rooted in the struggles and legacy of the Civil Rights Movement. The evidence is clear:
- Union members have been targeted by the layoffs in right-to-work states, echoing the Jim Crow decades of the last century. 92% of bargaining unit firings affected dues paying union members, making members three times more likely to be targeted.
- Included in the firings were the entire labor side of the Labor-Management Committee (which, at the time of layoffs, was working on developing participatory decision making principles), the SPLC Union unit chairperson and vice president of our local, nearly one third of union stewards, and a member of our local’s executive council.
- These layoffs disproportionately affected workers of color, eliminating the jobs of half of SPLC’s Latinx/Hispanic bargaining unit staff as well as the entire leadership of SPLC’s AAPI Affinity Group.
These actions by SPLC Leadership are a blatant betrayal of the values they claim to possess. These actions are anti-worker and anti-union, set a bad example for non-profit industry leadership, and cause harm to the individuals and communities–particularly educators and immigrants– that workers at SPLC have long served.
The Washington Baltimore News Guild Local 32035 TNG-CWA calls on all labor organizations and people of conscience to join us in echoing our calls for SPLC leadership to live by the values they profess, stop union busting and reverse the layoffs, and bargain with workers.”
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The Washington-Baltimore News Guild is the union of more than 3,000 news, information, nonprofit and labor organization workers in the mid-Atlantic and beyond. Together, we hold our employers accountable and ensure that our workplaces reflect our values, which include ensuring everyone is free from harassment and retaliation, earns equal pay for equal work and has a voice in their workplace.
For more information, please contact dgabor@wbng.org.