{"id":9995,"date":"2023-04-19T00:20:57","date_gmt":"2023-04-19T04:20:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tempestmag.org\/v01_2020\/staging\/?p=9995"},"modified":"2023-04-25T01:16:42","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T05:16:42","slug":"justice-for-joe-evica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/2023\/04\/justice-for-joe-evica\/","title":{"rendered":"Justice for Joe Evica!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Y<\/span>ou can support Joe and his family by donating to the GoFundMe page<\/a> organized by members of the union.<\/p>\n

Workers at CUNA Mutual Group (CMG) with Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 39 in Madison, WI have been deadlocked with management in contract negotiations for months. Despite clear justifications for their demands and increasing levels of militancy and public support, CMG management has utilized a variety of tactics to obstruct bargaining and break their union. Last week, the company fired<\/a> Chief Steward Joe Evica in retaliation for his and his coworkers\u2019 efforts to hold CMG accountable to its own mission and ensure just compensation and stable employment.<\/p>\n

CUNA Mutual Group is an insurance company that sells a variety of insurance and investment products to other credit unions worldwide. The company established its headquarters in Madison in 1935. Today it operates out of offices in Washington D.C., Iowa, Kansas, and Texas. It runs international operations out of the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and Trinidad and Tobago. In addition to services provided to credit unions, CMG sells auto, life, and other types of insurance to individuals and companies under its TruStage brand.<\/p>\n

The company prides itself on an orientation to social justice and philanthropy, and credit unions are often perceived as progressive alternatives to traditional banks. CMG\u2019s \u201cgood cop\u201d reputation is being challenged now as workers expose its treatment of the people who make the company run.<\/p>\n

Negotiations began in February 2022. After reporting \u201cexceptional growth\u201d<\/a> in 2021 with a year-end net income of $622 million, CMG management tried to cut their employees\u2019 health insurance plan, freeze pensions for new hires, and continue outsourcing without offering wage increases nearly commensurate with inflation. Over the last twenty years, CMG has outsourced 1,200 union jobs, reducing its Madison-based workforce from over 1,600 to about 450 employees and contracting with non-union firms to avoid paying respectable wages and benefits. Meanwhile, managers have awarded themselves 22 percent bonuses, recently spent $1.3 billion<\/a> acquiring another company, and spent millions more on new construction at the Madison office.<\/p>\n

At the beginning of 2023, CMG management threw up significant obstacles to bargaining that have stalled what little progress was being made. Many CMG employees, including most of the union\u2019s bargaining team, work remotely and negotiations had been held virtually. In a blatant effort to exhaust union leaders, CMG management began requiring the union bargaining team to meet in person and off the clock. This meant a loss in pay if they chose to meet during work hours or, for those working remotely from outside Madison, a drive into the city at the end of the day.<\/p>\n

Union leaders have filed unfair labor practice lawsuits with the National Labor Relations Board, citing these and other blatant violations of the company\u2019s legal obligation to bargain in good faith. The workers have also engaged in several spirited informational pickets, joined by other union workers and community allies. Their union has found support among members of the County and City governments, which passed resolutions supporting good-faith bargaining between the parties. The workers have also sent letters to more than seven thousand credit union leaders with whom CMG does business. Finally, in what veteran union activist and journalist Frank Emspak calls a \u201cpossible game-changer\u201d<\/a>, the union filed charges with NLRB under new \u201cjoint employer\u201d rules, claiming the nature of the supervisory relationship between CMG and non-union contractors should obligate the company to bargain over their wages and working conditions as well.<\/p>\n

\"Joe
Joe Evica leads chants at an OPEIU informational picket. Photo by Will Roberts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Instead of listening to its employees and the Madison community, CMG has doubled down and begun targeted retaliation. On March 14, Chief Steward Joe Evica was placed on two weeks paid leave, pending the investigation of management\u2019s claim that he illegally shared company information. OPEIU started a petition<\/a> charging that the action taken against Joe was clear retaliation for \u201chis role as a leader on the bargaining committee and in the union, and his effectiveness at organizing a collective response to management\u2019s bad faith bargaining tactics.\u201d<\/p>\n