Former Causa leaders at a rally at the Oregon Capitol in 2019. The Salem-based immigrant rights advocacy organization’s board announced it would dissolve Causa in July 2022 (Saphara Harrell/Salem Reporter)
An Oregon immigrant rights nonprofit is shutting down amid a dispute with its labor union and financial challenges, concerning allied Salem-area nonprofits serving Latinos and farmworkers.
Salem-based Causa Oregon’s board voted June 24 to close the organization, which was founded in 1995. The vote was announced to employees June 30, with a public statement posted July 1, according to President Yesenia Gallardo.
The organization is working to close by July 31. A board statement, which replaced the entire Causa website last week, blamed the closure on union unwillingness to reach a contract and financial difficulties. Union leaders disputed the closure was necessary.
“After more than two years of fundraising difficulties and unprecedented turnover among staff and leadership, the organization has reached a point where it will begin spending down its financial reserves to cover expenses. This is not sustainable for the organization,” the statement read.
Causa’s tax filing for 2019, the most recent publicly available, shows the organization had about $55,000 in net operating revenue with expenses of about $1.1 million, and $550,000 in net assets.
The statement said that leaders of the Unidxs por la Causa union were “unwilling to enter mediation or put a fair contract offer to a vote, focusing instead on a damaging public pressure campaign.”
Causa is part of the Alianza Poder, a network of nine Salem organizations focused on “building the leadership of the Latina/o/x communities in Oregon to improve the quality of life for all, especially working families,” according to its website.
The organization led the effort in 2018 to defeat Measure 105, which would have repealed Oregon’s sanctuary law limiting local law enforcement’s ability to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. The coalition also successfully pushed for an Oregon law passed in 2019 allowing immigrants without legal status to get driver’s licenses and state ID cards. It’s also been active in advocating for reform to federal immigration laws, and in voter registration and civic engagement campaigns aimed at getting Latinos involved in local politics.
Causa during the pandemic helped set up and administered the Oregon Worker Relief Fund, which provided cash grants to immigrants who had lost jobs or income during the pandemic but were ineligible for state or federal assistance due to their immigration status. The fund distributed about $60 million in its first year, with money from private donations and some government grants.
Leaders in other Alianza organizations said Causa’s closure was troubling. “It’s going to leave a really big gap in the work,” said Reyna Lopez, executive director of PCUN, Oregon’s farmworker union. “We had been really worried about the situation for a while and had made it really clear to the board and the staff that we support a union contract. It was pretty clear that the situation was hard, but we had no idea the situation was this difficult and it was going to come to this.”
“We’re disheartened and disappointed with the news that Causa is dissolving today. Alianza Poder had been concerned for the last two years about the lack of settling of the union contract by Causa staff, and management – and the hostile work environment that developed there,” said Jaime Arrednodo, executive director of CAPACES Leadership Institute, in a statement on behalf of the network. “While we had a sense that the situation was difficult, we do not support the idea
that dissolution is the only path for Causa. We hope the staff and board can reconsider, and make the necessary compromises to settle this contract. We hope there is still a possibility for its survival – but if not, Alianza Poder … will do everything in its capacity to ensure the Oregon’s immigrant community has a home to continue to defend and organize for their rights.”
Labor disputes
The announcement came weeks after Causa executives agreed to a settlement with its union after a National Labor Relations Board investigation found the nonprofit had violated federal law while negotiating with employees, according to a June 9 letter from the NLRB.
The settlement agreement did not detail the violations the board found, but said Causa would not make changes to wages, hours or working conditions without good faith bargaining, and said the organization would pay back pay to employees affected by changes that weren’t bargained.
Causa employees formed a union in 2020, said A.J. Mendoza, president of the Communications Workers of America Local 7901, which represents the employees. At its peak, Mendoza said 15 employees were in the union, but there are eight now.
He said negotiations quickly broke down after Causa hired what he described as anti-union attorneys.
Contract negotiations stalled over issues including the organization’s pension plan. Employees wanted to sustain what was in place while Causa wanted to create a new one.
Gallardo said that in 2019 an actuary found Causa’s pension plan was in critical status. Employees also were allowed into board sessions then except for executive – or closed door – sessions concerning labor and personnel issues.
Gallardo said Causa leaders consulted attorneys to understand their legal obligations after recognizing the employee union, but disputed the organization was anti-union or not negotiating in good faith. She said union leaders refused to put to a vote the organization’s final contract offer in June 2021, which included 3.5% wage increases, according to a summary provided to Salem Reporter.
Last November, the union accused Causa of unfair labor practices for cutting a health benefit, ending annual raises and declaring an impasse in labor talks, Mendoza said.
“This is really a picture of an organization that was gutted, and it was done to avoid labor obligations,” Mendoza said. “The picture of these greedy workers they’re insinuating through innuendo is really gross. It’s just not true.”
Gallardo said it’s untrue Causa is dissolving to avoid negotiating with the union.
“We don’t believe that we violated labor law in any way. We were willing to resolve the charges CWA/Unidxs filed through a Settlement Agreement in an attempt to move the organization forward,” she said in an email.
Leaders for Causa and the union said in separate interviews that the nonprofit has endured significant turnover and a difficult working environment. Gallardo became interim board president in last month. She said the nonprofit has had four board presidents in the past two years and high turnover on the board and in management.
The executive director, Jenny Pool-Radway, has been in the role since September, Gallardo said. Pool-Radway did not respond to emails from Salem Reporter seeking an interview about the closure.
Gallardo attributed the turnover in part to union tactics.
“The truth is that the organization has suffered a great deal as a result of internal conflict, much of which was exacerbated by the union’s aggressive and damaging tactics, including the spreading of false information. This resulted in irreparable damage to Causa’s credibility, brand, and financial position, which the community and workers spent more than 20 years building,” Gallardo said in an email. “In the end, Causa could no longer be effective in our mission to uplift the community and advance immigrant rights.”
Gallardo said the board decided to close after determining Causa had reserves reserves to cover six months of operations but no clear path forward toward financial sustainability.
“We made the difficult decision to dissolve and opted to give employees a generous severance before we depleted our reserves,” Gallardo said in an email.
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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