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Workers at Berkeley’s Ecology Center aim to unionize
By Iris Kwok - Berkeleyside, February 28, 2023
Administrative employees at the 53-year-old Ecology Center, which operates Berkeley’s three farmers markets and a store on San Pablo Avenue, are seeking to form a union.
Administrative and farmers market employees at Berkeley’s Ecology Center are hoping to unionize.
Twelve workers at the Berkeley environmental nonprofit notified their managers via email on Friday that they want to join the Industrial Industrial Workers of the World Union (IWW), which the Ecology Center’s recycling drivers have been organized with since 1989.
The Ecology Center currently employs 20 non-managerial workers who help operate Berkeley’s three farmers markets, staff the center’s store at 2530 San Pablo Ave. and do other administrative work like writing grants and teaching classes, according to union organizers.
Organizers are seeking voluntary recognition from management, but have not yet received a response, said Lucy Asako Boltz, who coordinates the center’s farmers market access and equity program.
They are asking that inflation-based cost of living adjustments be guaranteed to help afford the cost of living in the Bay Area. They also hope a union will ensure worker protections and eliminate favoritism.
“Having the ability to negotiate with management as a group will help us to gain respect and make our workplace more equitable,” worker Beth Williams said in a press release issued by organizers.
Martin Borque, the Ecology Center’s executive director, has not responded to emails and phone calls requesting comment.
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