Media Matters for America is resisting SEIU's effort to unionize its staff | WashingtonExaminer.com
Media Matters for America is resisting SEIU's effort to unionize its staff
BY SEAN HIGGINS | APRIL 17, 2014 AT 2:36 PM
TOPICS: BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL LABOR UNIONS LABOR NLRB MEDIA SEIU
Members of the Service Employees International Union, SIEU, rally in front of the Illinois State...
Media Matters for America is apparently resisting an effort by Service Employees International Union Local 500 to unionize its staff.
Last week, the union filed a representation petition with the National Labor Relations Board, indicating that the nonprofit media watchdog organization rejected an effort by the union to organize MMFA's staff through a Card Check election.
A filing with the NLRB does not necessarily mean that the union and management are in direct confrontation. For example, although Volkswagen tacitly backed the United Auto Workers' recent effort to organize its Chattanooga, Tenn., plant, the company still insisted on an NLRB-monitored election.
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But the filing does indicate that MMFA is not automatically accepting Local 500's attempt to represent it's staff. The nonprofit media watchdog group has hired the law firm Perkins Coie, which specializes in representing management in labor disputes, to represent it before the board.
Neither Media Matters for America nor Local 500 responded to requests for comment.
MMFA has regularly presented itself as a supporter of organized labor. It has argued that "economists point to declining union participation as one cause of the growing economic rift in America" and claimed it was a fact that "unions increase productivity [and] do not reduce business competitiveness."
It seems to be somewhat less enthusiastic regarding unionization when it is applied to itself, though.
UPDATE: MMFA told Gawker.com, "We respect the rights of our employees and will work through this process."
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