Legal Services Workers Vote to Join IFPTE

by Mike Hall, Sep 17, 2009

By an overwhelming 26-1 vote, a group of lawyers and professional staff at the Legal Services Corp. (LSC) voted to join the International Federation of Professional and Technical Employees (IFPTE). The LSC, which receives federal funding, provides legal services to the poor.

The Sept. 15 vote to form a union came following the LSC’s refusal to recognize the workers’ choice after 95 percent of the bargaining unit signed union authorization cards and after the LSC hired an anti-union law firm to fight the workers’ choice.

Earlier this month, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), a co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act, criticized the agency’s anti-union action. In a letter to the LSC President Helaine Barnett, Harkin wrote:

Not to support the employees’ desire to unionize is troubling. The card-check process is a fair and unbiased way for employees to choose a union. I am disappointed that an organization committed to protecting the rights of our most vulnerable citizens did not support the free choice of its workers to organize through this process.

The union says Ford & Harrison LLP—the firm hired by the LSC—specializes in “union avoidance” and engaged in mandatory meetings and other efforts to suppress union support. In January, President Obama issued an Executive Order (1394) that forbade government contractors from using taxpayer resources for the purposes of discouraging workers from organizing a union. IFPTE says LSC appears to have violated that order. But with overwhelming support for the union from the 30-worker bargaining unit, IFPTE Secretary-Treasurer Paul Shearon told the GovExec.com, the union decided not to pursue legal action against the agency.

IFPTE President Greg Junemann says the union is “thrilled” the workers chose to join the union.

Professional employees are increasingly looking for a collective voice on the job and a union such as ours guarantees them greater influence in decision-making in the workplace and a voice to explain the importance of LSC’s mission to Congress and others.

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