June Newsletter – 🚫 No Layoffs 🚫
TL;DR
Involuntary layoffs without bargaining are illegal and irresponsible. They will be opposed with every tool at our disposal by staff and the community.
Learn more about administrative bloat and inflated executive pay at the Academy.
Actions to take now!
We will bargain over layoffs.
Freshly hired senior leaders may not realize we won our union in a landslide victory after a hard-fought organizing drive and despite management’s efforts to undermine staff’s desire to build a more democratic workplace. We are now recognized by the National Labor Relations Board and leadership is legally obligated to negotiate in good faith over layoffs with our bargaining team.
However, many of us watched in disbelief at May 30th’s town hall (password: 1923-steinh@rt) as management framed position eliminations and program “pauses” as inevitable and non-negotiable. We consider this both an intimidation tactic and unfair labor practice. It’s also an insult to the staff members that have worked tirelessly to further the Academy’s mission and are now facing the prospect of losing their livelihoods.
In the last few weeks, while many of us try to pick up the pieces of our departments in the wake of the Voluntary Severance Program, management decided to flout the law and undermine the bargaining process by informing at least one of our colleagues that their positions are being eliminated. It’s irresponsible and illegal to inform people that their layoff is a forgone conclusion until the bargaining process has played out, let alone have employees “report to SEIU” for answers to questions about when they will lose their job and where they should turn in their Academy property. Read our full response to management on the topic of illegal, unilateral layoffs.
According to management, the Academy needs to close a budget gap (surprise!) and the only ways to do that are to pressure staff to quit “voluntarily” and to eliminate positions that many of us have dedicated our careers to foster. We do not accept the premise that the Academy’s budget should be balanced on the backs of workers. Our city leaders, our community, and most importantly, the people that actually run the institution, will not allow management to treat our friends and colleagues as disposable.
Of course, we are willing to negotiate in good faith to set the Academy on a sustainable path and have several proposals to do so. This is not an “us vs. them” situation—we all have an interest in making the Academy a more equitable, financially-sound institution. Read more about our thinking below, which has developed over the last year via research, extensive discussions, member surveys, and one-on-one meetings. If you have additional ideas, thoughts, or want to get involved, show up to union events and reach out. Let’s organize and build power together!
HR hiring numbers
Despite the proposed cuts to our Education, IBSS, and Planetarium departments among others, Academy management has found room in our budget to significantly increase the size of our human resources department, aka PACT, to fifteen full-time staff members. Entirely new, highly compensated roles have been created that did not exist prior to this year. For example, Jim Gohary presented in May’s town hall that a new “labor liaison” will cost the Academy an additional $200,000 annually. This role was presumably created to assist management’s lead contract negotiator, a paid legal consultant from the notorious union-busting law firm Jackson Lewis. In total, PACT accounts for nearly $2 million in labor costs, not including consulting fees.
If you’re interested in looking at the numbers yourself, we tracked salary ranges from PACT job postings and put them in a spreadsheet. You may be familiar with a visualization of this data which we presented in a pie chart in the May newsletter.
Executive pay
Over the past 17 years, executives, directors, and other highly paid employees have taken an increasing share of the Academy’s labor budget. Total funds allocated toward bonuses, housing stipends, and salaries for our top fifteen earners came to $5,024,643 last year. When issues of pay equity are raised by staff, vague justifications about the necessity of maintaining “lifestyles” and “competitive salaries” have been given. Management’s dismissive attitude is especially abhorrent when many of us are struggling to make rent while at the same time facing layoff threats. Executive pay must be a serious part of negotiations.
Our analysis of executive pay is based on a charting of compensation data from the Academy’s IRS filings. This is a straightforward apples-to-apples comparison over time of data derived from the Academy’s 990s, which all nonprofit organizations are required to file and publicize annually. (Source: ProPublica)
If the task at hand is to balance the budget, does the financial bloat described above seem sensible or sustainable, let alone equitable? Should an overstuffed HR department, expensive legal consultants, and lavish executive pay take priority over education and research? Like our Chief Financial Officer mentioned in the last town hall, “everything is on the table.” If we take management at their word and they’re serious about rebuilding trust, at a bare minimum they can start by negotiating with our elected bargaining representatives in good faith.
Movement events & news
Attend the SF Museum Worker Committee meeting tomorrow night! Strategize together and build solidarity among SEIU 1021 San Francisco museum chapters at the union hall on the evening of June 11th or via Zoom. Details and RSVP here. CalAcademy Workers United is on the agenda
This past March, OMCA Workers United won their union via voluntary recognition. Congratulations to our colleagues across the Bay at the Oakland Museum of California!
A study from Stanford about misperceptions of what those in the labor movement call “the union difference”.
Actions to take right now
The petition is still live and relevant. Sign the petition: No involuntary layoffs!
Make our union visible. Wear your CalAcademy Workers United button at work every day until we have a contract.
Wear your CalAcademy Workers United T-shirt every Tuesday until we have a contract.
Make your Academy profile picture our union emblem until we have a contract.
Sign up for union membership if you haven’t yet! Encourage your colleagues to sign up and discuss why it matters.
Stay tuned for more actions you can take on our website or Instagram.
CAT can use your help
The Contract Action Team is a group of union members (like you!) volunteering to keep staff connected throughout contract bargaining to build the power of our union. We have a fairly loose and fluid organization; everyone on CAT is a volunteer activist. There is a lot of work to be done, and we need your expertise! Whether you’re up for a small but important research project or an ongoing time commitment, get in touch if you’d like to help:
Welcome new hires to our union
Interface with the bargaining team
Tabling and flyering
Organize events and actions
Calendar
11 June, Tuesday 6:00pm-7:30pm
SF Museum Worker Committee Meeting
Strategize together and build solidarity among SEIU 1021 San Francisco museum chapters! Details and RSVP here.
12 June, Wednesday 12:00–1:00pm
Contract Action Team general meeting
L2-E large. Making connections, bargaining support, and more.
18 June, Tuesday 12:00–2:00pm
Bargaining Team office hours
L3 Breakroom or Balcony. Drop-in and connect with a bargaining team member and learn more about the ongoing contract negotiations! Share what's important to you and your department.
20 June, Thursday 12:00–1:45pm
All-Unit Lunch Meeting
In the Classroom this month (near the Naturalist Center). Our monthly opportunity for in-person bargaining and organizing updates and discussion. Lunch provided.
23 June, Sunday 2:00–3:00pm
Zoom Gathering
Can’t meet in person? Attend your monthly union meeting in cyberspace! Get the latest news about bargaining and have your questions answered by members of your bargaining team. Share your thoughts. Join here: https://seiu1021.zoom.us/j/6818350315?pwd=ODN5WjlmRUV5dCt4aGdsL0M1TUxvUT09
Meeting ID: 681 835 0315
Passcode: 1021
Ongoing events
For more event information, meeting times, and locations, check (or subscribe to) the CalAcademy Workers United Google Calendar.
Get in touch with our SEIU field rep
Hours or working conditions changed without your agreement? In need of representation for a disciplinary action? Our interim staff field representative is Claude Joseph, claude.joseph@seiu1021.org.
