(NEW YORK CITY) - Workers employed at New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) who Unionized last month say management's bad-faith bargaining and attempts to carve over a dozen members out of the nascent Union show the Immigrant Rights Organization is failing to live up to its professed Pro-Worker values.

In June, over 40 NYIC Workers notified management they had signed Union Authorization Cards to join Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 153 and requested voluntary recognition of their Union.

There were signs management would quickly offer that recognition, but those hopes dissipated when NYIC retained a law firm known by Local 153's leadership for its delay and Union-Busting tactics and then requested to revise the Bargaining Unit. 

Lawyers with Kauff McGuire & Margolis have since argued that under Federal Law, more than a dozen workers - including NYIC’s entire Communications and Development Teams, should be excluded from the Union, Workers said. 

"Management is really just trying to weaponize the law and slow down our Union process,” said Kaija Groom, a Community Programming Manager at NYIC for almost five years. “The longer they draw out this process, the more they'll beat people down and wear down our Union. It's a well-known tactic.” 

The Union has filed an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) Charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), alleging NYIC management was bargaining in bad faith about the Bargaining Unit size. 

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