CONGRATS TO NFFE FOR ORGANIZING YELLOWSTONE

Everyone is out there trying to convince unorganized workers to join their union.  In the federal sector, some unions have directors of organizing with budgets, organizing staff, and IT support–and still do not succeed.  Yet, we just heard that NFFE, which has limited organizing resources, pulled off a major success in the National Parks Service.

It organized the staff at Yellowstone National Park, the gemstone of the national parks system.  What a feather in the caps of all unions that the millions of folks to vacation in that park will now see that even what I lovingly call the “wilderness people” have gotten the message about the value of unions.  A special tip-of-the-hat goes to Randy Erwin, the NFFE National President whose personal style set the tone of this drive.  And another one to Jeff Friday, the NFFE General Counsel. I worked with Jeff at another union and he is perhaps the most skilled organizer among the nearly 300 labor lawyers I worked with in my career. It was a real coup when NFFE signed him. Kudos to NFFE Deputy General Counsel Yvette Piacsek, another great organizer, as well. And most of all to the Yellowstone employees who carried the load putting the successful drive together themselves.

Here is wishing NFFE another dozen organizing victories soon.  Here is their own story about the organizing drive.