We’ve been trying to tell y’all about PUSH Buffalo since March, and a lot of you have said “me too” which has been powerful and validating – thank you. Still, we know and hear that many of you are still drinking the KoolAid and don’t believe and/or avoid the ugly truth that despite its mission statement and funding materials, PUSH harms its workers and the community it claims to serve.

To those who still think we are lying and/or doing this because we are “haters” with nothing better to do: do you believe us now that an Administrative Law Judge out of Washington DC has decided, based on facts established in a hearing on a legal record, that PUSH violated the National Labor Relations Act for firing of its two employees after they organized for better working conditions at PUSH with their fellow workers?

Well it’s true, public, and official! On August 27, 2021, Administrative Law Judge Arthur J. Amchan ruled that PUSH violated the National Labor Relations Act when PUSH fired Aminah Johnson and Kat Ceijka last August after they and the rest of the PUSH Organizing Department sent an email to the PUSH Board of Directors asking to see their department’s final 2021 budget.

Here is a link to the NLRB webpage with all of the case information and documents (including the briefs that we talk about in Part I and Part II).

Here is a link to the judge’s opinion (it’s not as dense as it looks, and it’s so entertaining! We highly recommend reading it straight through. And definitely read the Appendix – it’s the poster that PUSH is required to send to its employees and post around its offices, complete with a QR code to the NLRB case website lol).

So about this decision: it’s a big deal, for PUSH workers, nonprofit workers, and the labor movement at large! The National Labor Relations Act gives employees the “right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.” Although the NLRA has some specific benefits for unionized workers, as you can see here, all employees (including those who work on staff at a nonprofit) have a right to organize collectively for better conditions in their workplace. PUSH has interfered with its workers ability to exercise these rights when they asked questions about the budget, and now PUSH is on the receiving end of a federal labor violations charge.

One highlight (of many) from this case and the opinion (read it! read it!) is that the judge found that PUSH “constructively discharged” (a.k.a. fired) Kat because even though she technically resigned, she only did it because after she and the rest of the PUSH Organizing Department sent that email to the Board:

– “the burdens imposed upon her caused or were intended to cause a change in working conditions so difficult or unpleasant as to force [her] to resign”, and

– “the burden was imposed because of [her] protected activities”

The judge finds that Kat and Aminah experienced animus (which the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines as “a usually prejudiced and often spiteful or malevolent ill will”), and backs it up with some crazy facts! For example, this is an actual, on-the-record established fact that demonstrates animus taken from a work email sent by Harper Bishop to Rahwa Ghirmatzion:

“And Aminah still suckered me into lunch during Covid. Can we set a timeline for
Releasing her into the world?”

Can we take a minute to reflect on the hypocrisy of this animus bullsh*t? We’ve already established in many posts that PUSH’s on-the-ground actions do not reflect it’s pie-in-the-sky public-facing narrative or mission statement, but here we have a Board member of the New Economy Coalition being a classic jerky boss to his passionate staff of a social justice organizing nonprofit. You can’t make this stuff up.

It’s important to remember that this entire case is only one well-documented incident of many that has happened to PUSH employees over its 15-year history. That means that PUSH Executive Management’s collective animus towards its staff over the years has hamstrung the organization’s ability to fulfill its mission, as well as the staff’s ability to contribute to local, statewide, national, and international social, housing, climate, water, eco, criminal, etc. justice movements.

So whether you like it or not, we here at PULL Buffalo are trying to expose the truth. If you or someone you know works at a nonprofit, we are willing to bet that they are experiencing flavors of what goes on behind PUSH’s closed doors and zoom meetings. Maybe you dismiss the culture as “just the way things are” while fighting the good fight, but we believe that the illusion of a functional nonprofit “sector” being effective in our toxic capitalist economy is not worth the lies and pain required to maintain it, and this NLRB decision backs us up.

We have been trying to tell you about the working conditions of PUSH Buffalo. We have been trying to tell you about the animus we have all experienced and witnessed while trying to do the right thing, but because of PUSH’s ability to put on a great show using community members as props (note the 2-plus-year-old pictures slapped on every fake article about what that they do!), you’ve been hoodwinked and bamboozled. Do you believe us now? What are you going to do about it?

We know that some of you are still going to double-down on defending PUSH’s actions and behaviors, but unfortunately the facts of this case are not even the worst that has been done to PUSH employees. For most of us, the facts around our individual exits will never be clear or well-documented, and many of the 100+ victims have been forced to sign NDAs as they are shown the door.

We appreciate and uplift the strength and courage of Aminah and Kat. This is a moment of truth for all of us – there are literal facts labeled as truth by an Administrative Law Judge in a public, federal, legal record. PUSH has the right to appeal the decision, and they’ve already taken it so far we wouldn’t be surprised if they go for it, but what happens then? Is PUSH Buffalo really going to appeal the newly established legal precedent doubling down on the protection of workers and connecting their budget concerns to their mutual aid and protection? Is PUSH really going to fundraise to afford big law firm money (it should cost them a few hundred thousand dollars) while continuing to gaslight themselves, their staff, and the community to avoid accountability?

Do you believe the people who have been harmed? Or is it easier to push forward without stopping, recognizing reality, and coming back for the people and places PUSH Buffalo has harmed and left in its toxic wake?