SEACC United - Public Supporters

Public Supporters of SEACC United

Responses may have been edited for length/clarity. Show your public support here.

Lindsey Ketchel

Relationship with SEACC: Former staff member

Why do you support SEACC United? I’ve worked in the nonprofit setting for almost 30 years and have had the honor of serving as an ED for 16 years. Running nonprofits is extremely challenging given the work expectations and minimal compensation. I’ve learned that managing workload, creating an open work space where ideas and issues are thoughtfully discussed and minimize Board interference. Hoping in the end SEACC can retain great staff and stay focused on protecting the Tongass.

Sydney Ribera

Relationship with SEACC: Former staff member, Supporter

Why do you support SEACC United? Workers have a right to collectively bargain to improve their work conditions and be in control of their labor. By supporting this union, SEACC would be exemplifying their values of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Workers, management, and the whole of Southeast would benefit from this solidarity in the long term.

Florian Sever

Relationship with SEACC: Former board member, Supporter, Donor, Action-taker

Why do you support SEACC United? I'm a past At-Large Board member of SEACC, as well as the Board Representative for the Sitka Conservation Society, at various times. I fully support the efforts of SEACC United to organize and engage in guaranteed, protected activity in order to protect themselves and their families; it is a right that is guaranteed not only under the National Labor Relations Act ('NLRA'), but is also embodied in the sacred language of the US Constitution.

I testified at many US House and Senate Hearings on behalf of the passage of Tongass Timber Reform Act ('TTRA'). Much of the time I spent in Washington DC, at SEACC's behest, was to lobby International Union officers, to gain union support for the TTRA; ultimately I was very successful. Documented Congressional testimony included in the record of TTRA hearings show that many, many unions signed on in support of the TTRA due to my efforts ... the United Paperworkers International Union, International Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners, Teamsters, and the International Association of Machinists (airline union), as well as others.

I am somewhat blind-sided and dismayed by SEACC's actions in regard to the workers wishing to organize. SEACC's reactions were baffling; they made me wonder whether I was being deceived in years past, or simply being used as a convenient means to achieve a desired end?

It is horribly ironic that the very organization who openly solicited support from the union movement, would now denounce and diminish the right of their own employees to organize.

At this point, I feel deeply betrayed. In my heart I hope this can all be settled amicably, but if not, my allegiances lie with my conscience ... I support the SEACC United's right to organize.

Wayne

Relationship with SEACC: Current board member, Former staff member, Donor

Why do you support SEACC United? It’s a people thing.

Guy Archibald

Relationship with SEACC: Former staff member

Why do you support SEACC United? SEACC employees deserve respect. SEACC employees deserve a safe work environment where their talents can shine.

Phil Moser

Relationship with SEACC: Former staff member, Supporter

Why do you support SEACC United? I had the pleasure of working at SEACC for several months as a part of a conservation-grant internship. After now having worked for three different nonprofits, any and all of them would be better served by a democratic workplace. I think SEACC has done well in evolving to meet an always-evolving understanding of what it means to sustain Southeast Alaska's environment. Supporting unionization would be consistent with SEACC's evolution while making both the organization and employees more capable, sustainable and effective.

Frank

Relationship with SEACC: Supporter, Donor

Why do you support SEACC United? Based on the inefficiency of the management structure, SEACC United is a necessary, needed and correct response to the practices of the organization's hierarchy and treatment of employees.

Kaitlin Donnelly

Relationship with SEACC: Action-taker

Why do you support SEACC United? It is a legal right in this country to have and form unions protected by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Capitalism is and will be the ultimate downfall of this nation if we do not band together to stop the system and bring the power back to the people/workers. The future generations deserve to live in a nation that respects, validates, adequately pays and values its employees.

Alicia Maryott

Relationship with SEACC: Supporter, Action-taker

Why do you support SEACC United? To support employee well-being through equitable work conditions and valuing them with a healthy work environment.

Lillian Egan

Relationship with SEACC: Supporter, Action-taker

Why do you support SEACC United? I support SEACC United because I believe the employees of SEACC deserve a voice in their workplace and to be treated respectfully by their employers.

Joanie Wagner

Relationship with SEACC: Supporter, Action-taker

Why do you support SEACC United? It’s an important organization. Unions make for a more stable and satisfying workplace.

Evan Anderson

Relationship with SEACC: Supporter, Action-taker

Why do you support SEACC United? In the past 5 years, nearly every major national environmental nonprofit has seen its staff unionize — groups like NRDC, LCV, and Audubon Society. Despite Alaska’s high concentration of environmental nonprofits, the lack of staff unions is a major obstacle to the future success of these organizations. If workers can get better jobs, with better benefits in the same field, we will lose the qualified Alaskan workforce to the lower 48 and no longer be competitive in attracting talent.

Government austerity has decimated Alaska’s economy, with cuts to education and the state workforce. We have been in continuous decline for nearly a decade now. By opposing the legal union election, SEACC’s board of directors risk contributing to this precipitous decline, to the brain drain that has emptied our communities in Southeast and across the state. SEACC staff have every right under the law to organize — and the SEACC board of directors should step aside and let their workers exercise their collective rights.

Stacie Evans

Relationship with SEACC: Action-taker

Why do you support SEACC United? It is their right to unionize! We need SEACC to recognize this right so that it can better fulfill its mission.

Beth

Relationship with SEACC: Action-taker

Why do you support SEACC United? Employee rights and protection.

Steve Primm

Relationship with SEACC: Conservationist, Action-taker

Why do you support SEACC United? All workers deserve living wages and fair treatment. It is vital for change-making organizations especially to treat their people with fairness and decency -- the work must come from a place of compassion and love if it is to truly make a difference. We will not succeed in our fight against exploitation of the Earth if our organizations replicate that same taker (gaslighting) mentality as the corporations and their lackeys in government.

Workers are stronger through collective bargaining. Any organization that is prepared to treat their workers decently should have nothing to fear from unionization.

Kevin Higgins

Relationship with SEACC: Supporter, Neighbor

Why do you support SEACC United? SEACC has important work to do. It can’t do it without its workers. If SEACC won’t listen to its workers, how can it expect others to listen its message? Workers that feel respected and are treated with dignity are workers that will perform.

Dr. Sonia Ibarra