TOP's Contract Negotiation Process...

FFPIR has spent months engaged in same stalling tactics with LA Telephone Outreach Project (TOP) as they've used against the door office- not returning countless phone calls, not confirming contract negotiation meetings until the last minute, and sending only PIRG underlings who are ill-equipped and unauthorized to accomplish anything, thus keeping the meetings short and pointless.

Since our union vote on September 22^nd, 2005, LA TOP has had only one small "round" of negotiations. These were scheduled in a pair of two-hour increments on January 16^th and 17^th. Lacking the guts or ethics to send in someone with the authority to accept or reject contract terms (like Wendy Wendlandt or Doug Phelps), the PIRGS instead flew in Nancie Koenigsberg from Boston, with Faye Hopper to take notes. After waiting until the preceding business day to confirm the meeting, Koenigsberg set the meeting in Pasadena, knowing full well how difficult it would be for Joe Chifari and Marcy Harris, the two union stewards (who rely primarily on mass-transit), to get somewhere so far away. Regardless, both stewards made it to both meetings, as did Emilio Arias, our union representative.

During the meeting, Koenigsberg refused to agree to any part of the contract, claiming ignorance of the law, only to be asked why, in that case, she hadn't brought her Harvard-educated mastermind lawyer/director Mr. Doug Phelps. Koenigsberg kept trying to jump ahead, asking Chifari and Harris what the employees were specifically requesting, knowing full well that this stage of the process comes much later, only after both parties have agreed upon the most basic elements of any union contract. Several times, when Arias referred to the PIRGs as a company, Koenigsberg corrected him, saying it was an “organization.” The meeting finally became so tedious to everyone that Chifari and Harris had to remind Koenigsberg that the PIRGs are a corporation, sistered (if not parented) by several other corporations, with portions dedicated to non-profit status, for various reasons (such as tax advantages). PIRGs also take monies from students on many college campuses to do their “public interest” work. Chifari and Harris let Koenigsberg know that they were aware of the stockpile of investments that the PIRGs are accumulating, and that FFPIR wasn't "running a fruit stand!" in Chifari’s words. Koenigsberg then went back into the litany of reasons why would-be-new-hires would not want to work for an organization that was connected to the Teamsters. She further fabricated that employees' union dues go directly to lobbying work in support of Arctic oil drilling. Arias set Koenigsberg straight, explaining that this is an option for the union member. No one's values are compromised. Chifari and Harris reminded Koenigsberg that if would-be-new-hires really investigated the FUND/PIRG empire, there would be untold numbers of people who would never, ever even want to work for them (nor would untold numbers of contributors want to give to them). The employees (as well as many others) have done their homework; Chifari and Harris reminded Koenigsberg that Telefund keeps 65% of each dollar raised for these groups- 65% !!!  As Koenigsberg protested "we haven't broken the law here," the employees reminded her that there are plenty of ways to use the law for right and wrong, and that union-busting is actually illegal. The PIRGs consistent failure to disclose to its employees the extent of their major interests in business holdings, corporations, stocks, real estate, etc. reveals the flip-side of this "non-profit group" that claims poverty and can't possibly afford labor rights for its own employees. The employees also told Koenigsberg that they'd seen records of unions standing up with California representative Jane Harman. Among those speaking out against unfair labor practices resulting from CAFTA was our very own shining, unscathed, Wendy Wendlandt, who hadn't even had the guts to show her face at these negotiation meetings, now standing alongside every labor group and union in the state.

 The person with the least time to spare would be Arias, who is very busy bettering the lives of workers in admitted corporations, and who has never wasted so much time getting nowhere as he has with the PIRGs. Obviously their plan is to "run him off" so that he has no more energy to help us. At the end of that last meeting, Arias asked Koenigsberg when she would like to meet next. She said February 20^th and 21^st. Arias asked her to confirm a time and a place now, instead of waiting until the last minute, as she did last time. She refused. He also asked her to make any changes to his proposal that she wants to make and run it by him (long-distance) by phone or email. He asked her not to show up next time only to play games, picking up where we left off, and not getting anything done. Koenigsberg verbally agreed, but then recently phoned Arias confirming a different date altogether: February 27th. Arias is very busy, and will be out of town that day. So now, both the 20^th and the 27^th are out. The very least Wendlandt and Phelps can do is instruct Koenigsberg to schedule a meeting for the beginning of March, and at least make the bargaining session as long or longer than her plane flight out from Boston. Of course, we must remember that if FFPIR can stall the contract negotiation process for an entire year after the union vote, they can hold a re-vote to possibly decertify the union. Visit our updates page to read the latest develpments.