Group Defies NLRB Order to Rehire Workers

A prominent immigrant rights organization with ties to Los Angeles labor leaders has been ordered to reinstate two workers who were allegedly fired for engaging in union activities.

One Stop Immigration, which has helped thousands of immigrants become citizens and which publicly advocates union membership, has so far defied orders issued Dec. 30 by the National Labor Relations Board to provide back pay and reinstate the workers, who were fired in late 1997.

The standoff presents a quandary for local labor, which has worked with One Stop to politically mobilize newly naturalized citizens. Fabian Nunez, political director for the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, is president of One Stop’s board of directors. Several other highly placed Los Angeles labor leaders also sit on the board, including Mike Garcia, president of a union local representing immigrant janitors.

National representatives of the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture Workers, which successfully organized One Stop workers two years ago, met with Nunez on Friday afternoon at county federation offices.

Nunez later said he would call an emergency board meeting. “As far as I’m concerned, a decision from the NLRB is as good as a document signed by God,” he said.

Nunez said he first learned of the NLRB ruling two weeks ago, when it was discussed at a board meeting. He said the board told Executive Director Juan Jose Gutierrez to settle with the union. “That meeting hadn’t taken place, and I didn’t know that it hadn’t taken place,” Nunez said.

Interviewed at his Boyle Heights office Friday, Gutierrez said he was “not at liberty to discuss” the worker firings or the NLRB order. “We’re not an anti-labor organization,” he added. “Labor is well-represented on our board.”

The case was first heard by the NLRB more than a year ago, and the regional board found in favor of the two workers in February. One Stop, with the board’s approval, appealed to a three-member panel in Washington, which upheld the ruling in December. On Jan. 20, after One Stop failed to reinstate the workers, regional NLRB director Victoria E. Aguayo asked staff attorneys to petition the court for enforcement.

One Stop has other problems. The nonprofit organization recently lost state and city funding that once subsidized citizenship classes and other services, and is struggling financially. Nunez said a recent accounting found it is “two or three months away from insolvency.” He said the board would need to negotiate a settlement with the union, because full back pay for the two employees would bankrupt the organization.

“This is nothing against the organization. It’s an important resource for the community,” said Jaime Martinez, the union’s organizing director. “But we can’t turn our backs on these workers.”

One of the affected employees is Gumaro Oviedo, a former clerk at One Stop who was fired after seven years of employment. Standing outside One Stop’s mural, which features a Statue of Liberty, Oviedo said he and his wife, who also lost her job there, have operated a small bridal boutique for the last two years. He said he and co-worker Hector Alvarado merely want to go back to work. “We’ve been waiting and hoping all this time,” said Oviedo, an immigrant from Mexico.