TOP's Petition

Out of thirteen employees, twelve had signed petition cards for a vote to unionize with the Teamsters. In the weeks preceding the union vote, scheduled for September 22^nd, 2005, our supervisors kicked their union-busting tricks into high gear. They constantly distributed union-busting propaganda around the office. They crafted their "nightly announcements" to include articles depicting the Teamsters as bad on environmental issues. The TOP directors constantly referred to the "bad ancient history" of the Teamsters, and consistently attempted to defame Teamsters' Joint Council 42 President Jim Santangelo. Santangelo had been fined a small amount for a minor issue years earlier. They kept citing information they'd retrieved from nlpc.org (a right-winged-conservative website) to make us feel that we would be in bad hands if we joined the Teamsters. The fact that FFPIR directors would reference and honor the opinion of such a website was at the very least hypocritical and all-telling. Ironically, all of this was going on right under an enormous banner that Jenny Shanley, Faye Hopper and Will Isenberg had suddenly decided to hang on the wall of the TOP calling room in the days leading up to the union vote. The banner read "FIRST YOU TELL ONE PERSON... THEN YOU TELL ANOTHER…," the words of labor organizer Caesar Chavez.

This went on nightly. Prior to the union petition, our supervisors had spent daily announcements enlightening us on environmental victories that they (claimed to) have accomplished. But between the petition and the vote, these blocks of time were now used for a different type of propaganda... union dissuasion. FFPIR spent serious money flying in supervisors from elsewhere to be on-site during any and all shifts. Alongside Jennifer Shanley (head director), Faye Hopper and Will Isenberg (assistant directors), were Lee, a higher-up from Portland, and Nancie Koenigsberg (national TOP director). To create even more pressure, the ever-elusive Wendy Wendlandt was suddenly, constantly around. This would ensure that the callers were surrounded at any and all times in the few weeks leading up to the union vote. Additionally, two of PIRG’s lobbyists, Steve Blackledge and Dan Jacobson, who've never spent a moment with the calling room (save rushing in to give the very occasional update, only to immediately rush out), were suddenly sitting with callers on our breaks, talking to us about the Teamsters and FFPIR, and how it wouldn't be good to vote yes. We were being "lobbied" by these fast-talking pros who before had never given us the time of day. This was obviously very intimidating. They accompanied us wherever we'd go. Outside in the courtyard, to the convenience store across the street- they made sure at every moment that none of us could possibly have a conversation without their intervention. It was obviously highly orchestrated, and highly offensive, both personally and professionally. This behavior continued right up until the vote.