by DC Jobs with Justice | Nov 17, 2014 | Campaigns, Immigrant Rights
IMPORTANT UPDATE: Less than a week after winning their case at the NLRB, Tito workers won their election to bring a union to Tito Contractors after more than a year of organizing. A group of men and women in Washington, D.C., who have been organizing to expose abuse and form a union just won their case before a National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge. As a result, many employees who were illegally fired and retaliated against by Tito Contractors will get their jobs back. The judge’s ruling will help prevent employees at Tito Contractors from further retaliation and marks another milestone for these brave immigrants in their campaign to stand up for better jobs. A number of immigrants employed at Tito Contractors were interested in the idea of forming a union to help change the culture of exploitation at their company. In 2013 Tito’s employees began meeting with their local painters union, IUPAT District Council 51. The workers reported to IUPAT organizers that they were cheated out of overtime and routinely intimidated. IUPAT began an organizing drive, but shortly thereafter Tito’s management started to retaliate. According to Tito’s workers’ testimony presented under oath at the NLRB hearing, supervisors threatened that they would report them to immigration officials, withheld necessary equipment and even terminated several employees. In the face of this retaliation, IUPAT organizers witnessed a palpable wave of panic among the men and women of Tito who feared they could lose their jobs or be deported and torn from their families if they continued to organize. The story of too many organizing drives stops here. But IUPAT organizers...
