Brooklyn Friends School: Withdraw anti-union petition to National Labor Relations Board
Brooklyn Friends School Board of Trustees and Crissy Cáceres, Head of School
In May 2019, teachers, office workers, and cafeteria and maintenance staff at Brooklyn Friends School voted by overwhelming majority to unionize. This summer, in the midst of contract negotiations, the school filed a petition to the National Labor Relations Board to decertify the union. They are citing a recent anti-worker decision made by the Trump-appointed National Labor Relations Board that restricts faculty at religious colleges from unionizing. If successful, this petition would not only strip Brooklyn Friends School workers of their collective bargaining rights in the midst of a pandemic, it would potentially pave the way for other union-busting at faith-based institutions.
The Brooklyn Friends School Union is fighting back and voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike. They have pledged to go on strike next Monday, Oct. 5 if the school refuses to withdraw the petition.
Add your name to the letter to the Board of Trustees and Head of School, asking them listen to their workers and pledging our support if a strike becomes necessary!
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To:
Brooklyn Friends School Board of Trustees and Crissy Cáceres, Head of School
From:
[Your Name]
We write as people of faith and as workers in support of the Brooklyn Friends School Union and call on you to immediately withdraw your petition to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to decertify the union. We are concerned not only with the rights and well-being of the workers, students and broader community at Brooklyn Friends School, but also with the dangerous precedent that this case could set in the hands of the Trump-appointed NLRB.
The Trump administration has a clear track record of cynically using arguments about “religious freedom” to advance an extremist agenda attacking the rights of women, LGBTQIA+, and workers. We are alarmed that Brooklyn Friends School, which professes to uphold faith-rooted social justice values, is playing into the Trump administration’s hands in a way that could undermine workers’ rights to organize at other religiously affiliated institutions.
Justice and equity for workers is an important principle of all our faith traditions, including Quaker values. Labor unions continue to be indispensable to advancing the well-being of workers, our families and our communities. Unions do not contradict the values or practices of our faiths; they exemplify them.
We urge you to immediately withdraw your petition to the NLRB and work in good faith to reach an agreement with the Brooklyn Friends School Union. If you fail to do this, we will be fully behind the union in their strike.
With hope,