Casey Trees Administration: Bargain With Your Workers
Casey Trees Administration
Casey Trees Workers overwhelmingly voted to unionize in August of 2024. Unfortunately, Casey Trees Administrators have yet to agree to any dates to bargain. In fact, at our last meeting, Casey Trees (CT) Administration indicated they had no intentions of signing a contract. They said the same thing last week in a letter claiming to be the “last and final communication to the union.” They are making this argument because they are trying to overturn the vote of the workers to form a union.
Recently we filed an unfair labor practice (ULP) charge with the National Labor Relations Board in response to CT Administration’s refusal to bargain. Refusing to bargain, even when an employer is trying to appeal a union vote, is a clear violation under the National Labor Relations Act. To make things worse, the Casey Trees Administration is likely depending on the Trump Administration's dismantling of the National Labor Relations Board to indefinitely delay their federal obligation to bargain in good faith. We're calling on the DMV community to stand up to Casey Trees Administration's anti-worker tactics and demand they take a seat at the bargaining table.
DC taxpayer dollars that fund Casey Trees are being redirected by CT Administration towards hiring lawyer David Campbell of Gordon, Rees, Scully, Mansukhani, LLP to union bust. CT Administration accepts taxpayer funding while spending hundreds of dollars an hour on lawyers instead of their workers and achieving canopy goals. In fact, CT Administration is giving their workers unfair performance reviews while asking them if they think their work can be replaced by outside contractors. No nonprofit in DC should behave this way towards taxpayers or their workers.
Please use the draft letter below to demand CT Administration come to the bargaining table with Casey Trees Workers.
Petition by
Sponsored by
To:
Casey Trees Administration
From:
[Your Name]
We are writing as a DMV residents who supports Casey Trees’ mission of expanding canopy coverage across the DMV. We are also a strong supporters of workers’ right to form a union and bargain collectively for a fair contract. We are troubled to learn about Casey Trees Administration's refusal to bargain with the workers who make the canopy goals happen. It is disheartening to hear that Casey Trees is abusing the law to relitigate the overwhelming vote of the workers in August 2024 to form a union.
We are confident that a fairly bargained union contract would benefit not only the workers at Casey Trees, but the organization itself, as well as the entire DMV. Bus drivers, teachers, firefighters, EMS, sanitary workers, and many journalists across the District work productively day in and day out under union contract. Casey Trees Workers deserve the same clarity and respect that comes with a union contract.
We hope Casey Trees’ Administration will begin using my tax dollars to improve the lives of workers, and not anti-union lawyers. Taking a seat at the bargaining table is the only honorable thing to do as a fellow humans, fellow environmentalists, and administrators of one of the DMV’s most successful environmental nonprofit organizations.