A unit of around 85 workers at Oregon Tilth, a nonprofit that certifies organic crops and livestock, is unionizing with Office & Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 11.
In a petition signed by 54 of the union-eligible employees, workers asked Oregon Tilth executives and board members for voluntary recognition of Oregon Tilth Workers United on March 4.
Management didn’t agree immediately, but as of March 12, a spokesperson for Oregon Tilth said they were working with the union to finalize an agreement on a voluntary recognition process.
Megan Ogle, a certification officer based in Ohio, said workers were motivated to unionize by stagnant wages and frequent policy changes they had no say over, like reductions in health insurance coverage and paid holidays.
“We were watching a lot of our best, most-experienced staff leave at an accelerating pace and wondering what we could do,” Ogle said. At least 17 employees left Oregon Tilth in the past year, Ogle said.
Workers reached out to the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee, a project of Democratic Socialists of America and the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, which connected them to OPEIU Local 11.
Oregon Tilth is headquartered in Corvallis but has employees working around the United States and Mexico. The handful of employees who work in Mexico wouldn’t technically be eligible to be in the union, OPEIU Local 11 organizer Mallory Gruben said.
“That said, I know it’s their coworkers’ intention to advocate that any contract provisions they win also extend to Mexico employees, because they view the workplace as one united team,” Gruben said.
Ogle said organizing a remote workplace was challenging but created an opportunity to connect with coworkers.
“I’ve gotten to know more people more deeply than I ever would have for work specific purposes,” Ogle said.
