Sunrise Movement Allegedly Fires Employee for Union Activity
Lia Russell
Source: Paul Becker or becker1999/Flickr
Note: This story has been updated to include comment from the employer and to clarify that retaliation is alleged.
An employee for the progressive climate change organization Sunrise Movement has told Strikewave that they were fired for organizing a union and that they have filed an unfair labor practice with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
Akshai Singh, whose pronouns are they/them, is a regional organizer based in Cleveland for Sunrise Movement. They said that the organization fired them on July 10 after their manager had told them they failed to meet performance standards.
“I was let go based on not being up to standards,” Singh said. “In reality, I was fired, not laid off. It was clear based on the other employees I talked to, that they were completely unaware of this.”
Singh alleges their firing was retaliation for their role in organizing Sunrise Movement staff with help from the Chicago and Regional Midwest Board of Workers United (CMRJB).
They said that they had not spoken to their manager in a month and a half, after they had been given a performance improvement plan during their three-month evaluation.
Singh filed an unfair labor practice with the NLRB after their alleged firing, arguing that they had been punished for union activity. Federal labor law prohibits employers from discriminating or relating against an employee for supporting a union or engaging in union activity.
“I [felt] like there was a lot of instances where it was clear I supported collective action at the workplace,” Singh said. “Looking back, it’s clear I was being tracked very closely and isolated on the job.”
Because they were fired, not laid off, Singh says they’re not eligible for unemployment insurance.
They said that Sunrise offered them one month’s severance pay and has agreed to continue their healthcare benefits, something they’re grateful for as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. However, Singh said that Sunrise did not extend those same benefits to their now-former domestic partner, despite it being “standard practice in non-profits” to do so.
Sunrise Movement responded to a request for comment and confirmed the firing, and declined to comment on the specifics of the situation. A spokesperson for Sunrise stated “Should our staff choose to unionize, we would proudly and wholeheartedly support their right to do so,” and provided a link to a tweet from other Sunrise staff commenting on the firing.
Since its 2017 founding, Sunrise Movement has made national headlines for engaging in high-profile actions, including a dramatic sit-in in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Capitol office supported by New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
In several instances, movement organizers have confronted politicians whom they thought were moving too slowly on supporting legislation aimed at addressing climate change.
Both Singh and an organizer with CMRJB said that a majority of workers supported the union drive, despite a campaign of anti-union rhetoric from organization management.
“There is a need to hold progressive non-profits [like Sunrise] accountable,” Singh said. “We should uphold higher standards than Teach For America or AmeriCorps.”
Lia Russell is a journalist in the Bay Area.