Perfect Timing For Pre-emptive Union Busting At JPL

Keith’s note: Just as a new threat of RIFs and cancellations across NASA emerges – and the rebound that will have across the rest of the space community – JPL picked this opportunity to talk its employees out of working together to protect their careers by unionizing. Last month I posted “Is JPL Anti-Union?“: “Last week there was a NASA JPL town hall. The ongoing effort to unionize JPL was a topic of discussion. Shortly after that an anti-union email was sent by management to all employees. Here is the JPL Workers United website: https://jplworkersunited.org” Today’s Update: There is now a website dedicated to forming a union published by JPL at https://jplbeinformed.com/ which says things such as “The idea that the formation of a union on Lab is solely JPLers coming together to brainstorm and request changes leaves out a key part of the union process. … Once certified, a union becomes a third-party legal representative with exclusive bargaining rights over your employment, and individual employees no longer have the full freedom to advocate directly for their own interests – even if an individual feels that they can better convey their own situation or contributions than the small number of JPL employee representatives who may be speaking on the employees’ behalf.” The timing of this union busting effort could not be worse than now.