500 signatures reached
To: Jose M. Muñoz and La Casa Norte Board of Directors
Tell La Casa Norte ED Jose M. Muñoz: Respect your Workers and Stop Union Busting in Our Community!
Please sign our public petition to demand respect for workers’ rights and a fair and timely vote for staff at La Casa Norte. We call on La Casa Norte’s Executive Director, Jose M. Muñoz, and Board of Directors to do the following immediately:
Agree to a fair and timely Union election for all staff that have signed cards seeking to be represented;
Sever LCN’s relationship with the union-busting law firm Franczek P.C. – a firm that has fought against CTU and represented Trump Hotels in the past – that are currently trying to deny LCN workers their rights to be unionized;
Stop all retaliation against LCN workers for their Union activity as is required by federal law; and
Allow LCN staff to have a fair election process, free from intimidation or coercion from you or anyone in, or deputized by, LCN management.
Why is this important?
On July 13, an overwhelming majority of our staff at La Casa Norte, a local organization serving youth and families experiencing homelessness in Chicago, informed our management team and Executive board that we had decided to form a Union with OPEIU Local 39 and asked them to voluntarily recognize our Union. We have organized a Union for many reasons that all help build a stronger and more sustainable La Casa Norte for our members, clients, and communities that we serve.
Shockingly, in direct opposition of their purported ‘values’, Mr. Muñoz and La Casa Norte leadership have not only refused to recognize our Union, but have begun pursuing an aggressive anti-union effort against us. We were disappointed to see that the leadership of an organization that exists to promote dignity and respect has had a distinctly anti-worker response to our unionizing efforts. La Casa Norte leadership have chosen to expend limited resources to contract union-busting lawyers in an attempt to obstruct and delay our access to a timely and fair Union election, and have begun to illegally retaliate against coworkers that are visible leaders of our campaign.
It is time that Mr. Muñoz and the La Casa Norte Board of Directors hear, loudly and clearly, from those of us who denounce their engagement in such dishonest and unethical practices. It is time that those of us who do the real work serving clients and meeting community needs are treated with the dignity and respect that we deserve. We must take a stand against unjust practices, and make clear that we will not accept behavior that violates our shared values, particularly the greater mission of La Casa Norte.
