The Bird Union Is Done With This Shit

Two years in, our favorite union is still fighting for a fair contract with The National Audubon Society.

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Just over a year ago, Discourse Blog’s collective ears perked up when we heard the news that the staff union of the National Audubon Society was changing its name from Audubon for All to the Bird Union. That’s literally our two favorite things put together into one glorious package—two great tastes that taste great together, name a more iconic duo, with their powers combined… etc. etc. Just legendary all around.

To mark that occasion, we reached out to the Bird Union and they were kind enough to record a podcast with us, and proved to be delightful people and forever comrades. At the time, we discussed the name change, the union’s ongoing bargaining negotiations with Audubon, and Audubon’s union-busting tactics (which they described as “embarrassingly disappointing”), among other things. Now, a year later, the union’s name is still different, but the continuing contract negotiations and Audubon management's scummy behavior are not. 

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When we saw that tweet, we knew it was time to reach out and hear a little more about what the union is fighting for (basic protections and livable wages), and how Audubon was fighting against it (read on for all the gross details). 

I spoke with Rodrick Leary, a data scientist at the Audubon Society, and our former podcast guest, to get the scoop. Our conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity. 

It’s been a year since we last talked to you—right around the time that the union had decided to change its name. Can you fill me in on how the last year has been for the union, and what's been going on lately? 

Over the last year we haven't really come close to making the kind of progress that we had hoped we would make. On a lot of the non-financial stuff, I would say we're moving closer. Some of the more procedural things like workplace practices and things like that—we've pretty much got most of those wrapped up. But in terms of the things that the union was really founded on—compensation, good healthcare, good family leave, and having a good policy around things like potential layoffs—we're still very far apart on those issues.

It sounds like you've made some progress, but how has your experience been dealing with management and how are you feeling about the future? 

It's been stressful. Part of the reason is because [Audubon CEO] Dr. Elizabeth Gray or our managers have a harsh way with words, and will say very disrespectful things at times. We'll be in bargaining sessions, most of which are public, and she'll call us an unreliable workforce.

Wow, so they’re pretty openly playing hardball with all of you. 

Yeah.

Can you tell me a little more about the things you're still fighting for?

One of the biggest things for us is Audubon's wage structure. Audubon basically has three different job families based on what part of the organization you're in. Whether or not you're in legal, whether or not you're in IT, or whether or not your job is explicitly conservation-focused. But what that structure has created is a huge wage inequality gap where individuals in IT make way more than their counterparts who might be at the same level or similar levels in experience as individuals in conservation and or individuals in legal. We're actually going to be releasing a report soon that shows that the gender and racial pay gaps that other companies often see, we’re also seeing them at Audubon. 

Yeah, on the topic of pay disparity, I saw the union posting that a colleague was literally selling plasma to get by while all these negotiations are happening. 

Right, one of the things Audubon has done while we've been negotiating the contract is withheld the annual raises that were earned by union members last year. The rest of the organization got raises in December and they have withheld those raises from union members. We have some people who are waiting on a four, five, or six percent pay raise for about four months. The union has filed a charge with the NLRB [National Labor Relations Board], but as I'm sure you know, those charges take time to get resolved.

What is the status of the complaint now?

Well we have about four charges out right now, and that one is closer to the beginning. We have a couple more that we're in the process of settling with Audubon. But that one in particular is one where, because it didn't happen until December, we've gotta basically restart the entire clock.

How is everyone in the union doing as this has been drawn out over the last year? In my experience, I know it’s not unusual for negotiations to take a year—it’s not the longest I’ve heard for these things—but for a lot of people who are waiting on pretty important upgrades to their lives, that can be forever. Especially since I know it takes a toll on you emotionally too, all while you're just trying to do your jobs and get these pretty basic things in place. 

Yeah. It's been frustrating because it's been a year since we spoke, but at that point we had already been negotiating for a full year. So now we've crossed over the two-year threshold and it's become frustrating for our members. They're stressed, they're angry, they wanna fight back. And that's really how we're organizing as a union as we move forward into the summer—a strategy where we begin to escalate and take the fight to management. Because like I said, we have a lot of members who are angry. We have a lot of people who have left. But we also have a lot of members who have stayed, and those members who have stayed are very, very angry. 

Are you saying people have left Audubon out of frustration with the company and negotiations? 

Yeah, I'm constantly talking to members who are either thinking about leaving, or some members who have left. Even members who played an integral role in the union getting off the ground, eventually they were like, “Hey, there's a better job than Audubon out here for me,” and they left. 

It must be so frustrating to see valuable people leaving. And it’s hurting the union but also the company itself, which is the company’s own fault. 

Exactly. We know there are some managers who are burnt out. We've written multiple letters to the Audubon board of directors and we haven't gotten any kind of meaningful response from them or meaningful change in management's bargaining strategy when we've written to them. We're in the process of writing a letter to the executive team, basically compelling them to be like, “Hey, if we want to achieve these strategic goals that we say we wanna achieve, we can't if we're at war.” One of the things we've begun to tell our members this year is, “Hey, this is the year where we are gonna make the decision to fight back. And if we aren't willing to fight back, then we're gonna have to accept a crappy contract.”  

What’s on the table for all of you now as you’re strategizing about fighting back? 

We're a very digital company, so one of the things we've begun to do as far as escalating goes is a blackout on Slack. We started with 30 minutes, and we're moving up to an hour this Thursday. Every week we're going to double that time. And so over the next months we'll probably be at an eight-hour day where our entire union is off Slack. And then if we have to move up—like a week where everyone's off Slack—then that just makes it more difficult for people to be reached. We have different events that we're talking about targeting. We've considered a whole bunch of different options—pickets, walkouts, these Slack blackouts. We have an action this Thursday where we're going to have our members mass email the executive team. These are ways where we're trying to not only talk to members, and not only talk to individuals external to Audubon like yourself, but also turn up the heat on management internally. 

I know we talked about this a little bit last time we chatted, but have you gotten a sense of whether the public has started to catch on more to your efforts? Has it started to reflect on Audubon as a whole?

Yes, but there's still always more room to turn up the heat. We have had our different petitions out and every time someone does the petition, a member of Audubon leadership gets that. We've begun over the last month to reach out to Audubon chapter leaders. That's a huge part of the Audubon network—there’s over 400 active Audubon chapters right now. We have also begun reaching out to individuals who participate in the Christmas Bird Count or other bird counts that Audubon does. We've done some stuff externally, but we really want to turn up the heat and start to connect with those individuals who have deep relationships with Audubon. 

Has management given you any reason for why they're still dragging their feet?

There has not been an explicit thing. Like of course they will say things like, “We don't have any more money,” while we're able to check their financial statements and see they have money. As a member of the bargaining committee, occasionally I pick up on when management's bargaining chair lets something slip. Like a couple weeks ago at a bargaining session, she said it was a management right to erode the union. I just think leadership at Audubon and their bargaining chair have such a disgust for unions and workers rights. I think that's what's driving a lot of this.  

Wow, I need a minute to process that. Do you all have a deadline in mind for when you would like to get the contact finalized? I know it’s probably ASAP, but as you start to escalate, what’s your goal? 

Yeah, you read my mind. It needs to get done ASAP because the deadline has come and gone. Most first contracts traditionally take about 18 months to get done. I want to say we're close to like 25 months now. So the deadline has come and gone, and I think now it’s just about escalating until we see a change at the bargaining table. 

That makes sense. Is there anything else you want people to know about the Bird Union or your efforts right now? 

The big thing that I want to share is that there are so many people at Audubon struggling. I talk to so many members on a regular basis who are worried about being able to put food on their table for themselves and their kids. I talked to three members the last couple weeks who have basically had to pick up second jobs to be able to care for their families. And I don't think management really gets that. There's so many people who have sick kids who are worried about health insurance coverage. Management wants to stick with Cigna, which is not who's not a great healthcare provider, and they want to reserve the right to change the healthcare provider or get rid of it unilaterally throughout the contract. It's really heartbreaking for me to see people who have get away with treating people who don't have so poorly. 

Absolutely. Before I let you go, I have to ask: Do you have any bird-related things from the last year that you wanna share? Any outings or notable bird moments? 

So yeah, over the last year I've had a chance to do a little bit of real birding. My big birding shout-out for this year was actually having the chance to go to Colorado and see a magpie for the first time.

[Audible gasp]

Like, I didn't even think magpies were in this hemisphere, so it was really awesome for me to get a chance. That was one of my big burning memories over the past year. 

That's so cool. Did you go specifically looking for a magpie or did it just kind of happen?

We were actually having our Audubon annual retreat for the entire chapter network. And so we just happened to be doing it at the YMCA of the Rockies in Colorado, and we get there and we're arriving, and there's just like magpies all over the place. 

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We know and love magpies here on the blog, but not as much as we love unions. If you’re interested in keeping up with The Bird Union, follow them on Instagram or Twitter.