Layoff Update
By now, Tim Baack has sent everyone a communication regarding layoffs. On Friday, July 24th Andy was contacted by a few employees who were being pulled into meetings with Ed Johnson and Pathfinders management – Pathfinders had not contacted the Union prior to these meetings, and OPEIU had no knowledge of any tangible plans to downsize. We immediately contacted Pathfinders’ attorney to get information about what was going on and was then sent emails by Ed that three individuals were going to be laid off in two weeks. As we do not have a contract yet, legally this is a “mandatory subject of bargaining” and we raised that with Pathfinders – basically, they have to bargain with your union before they can implement any decision to lay off.
On Thursday, July 30th, the bargaining committee (Megan, Ellie, Joseph, and Rachel) and Andy met with Pathfinders to discuss the situation. Pathfinders presented us with some financial information about a shortfall and explained that they were aware of this need at the beginning of the summer but were only now executing it. With the financial information and the time available, we made proposals about severance for the people being laid off and ensuring that they had a right to recall to open positions before Pathfinders hires externally. Pathfinders signed that agreement this morning. The bargaining committee asked specifically about how and when PF would be communicating the layoffs to ensure that things were done respectfully – their communications are ultimately up to them.
The Agreement between the Union and Pathfinders is included here – we’ve redacted sections only where they name individuals or discuss their circumstances to respect their privacy. Please note, that while Tim’s email named out six positions, they only raised the issue of four of these positions in bargaining. We have alerted their attorney to this. For the time being, it is our understanding that two of the positions were eliminated by attrition (the person in that position left PF already and they decided not to fill it).