Migrant Council, union reach settlement

YAKIMA, Wash. -- The Washington State Migrant Council and a union trying to organize its employees have settled two of 36 allegations of unfair labor practices. The other 34 were dismissed by federal labor officials.

Meanwhile, Teachers United, the union, said Wednesday the more than yearlong union campaign will continue.

"The employees are still interested in being organized," said Mary Jo Shannon, a Seattle-based representative of Teachers United, a joint effort by the American Federation of Teachers and Washington Federation of State Employees.

The settlement of the two remaining unfair labor practice charges requires the Migrant Council to post notices to employees about their rights under federal labor laws.

The agreement also reinstates and awards $13,000 in back pay to Christina Novoa, who was fired from her job as a bus monitor at the College Place education center. The National Labor Relations Board found that the Migrant Council discriminated against Novoa for her active role in trying to form a union.

"The union supported me and saw this through," Novoa said in a news release.

Tadeo Saenz-Thompson, chief executive of the Sunnyside-based Migrant Council, which provides early childhood education to low-income families, said the agency decided to settle the charges "so that everyone could move on with our true focus and mission."

He said the settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing on the part of the Migrant Council.

Last year, employees narrowly voted down the union by a vote of 290-287. A second vote had been scheduled in August ,but Shannon said the union decided to pursue the unfair labor practices instead.

The $30 million agency operates 27 learning centers, mostly in Central Washington, and employs about 725 people.