FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 25, 2022
For Our Future Field Staff Join IBEW
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, For Our Future (FOF) – one of the largest progressive field organizations in the country – announced that its Canvassers and Organizers have unionized, joining the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2304 (IBEW Local 2304). FOF is currently operating in Florida, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
“For Our Future was proud to voluntarily recognize the union and is thrilled that our staff came together with a strong, collective voice calling for representation. We are a stronger and more productive organization with a unionized field staff,” said Sky Gallegos, Executive Director of For Our Future. “As an organization that fights every day for workers, pro-worker candidates, and shared economic prosperity, it is imperative that we live our values within our own organization.”
“IBEW Local 2304 is proud to represent frontline workers at For Our Future,” said Nate Rasmussen, President and Business Manager of IBEW Local 2304. “These workers are well educated on the values of having a union and engaged fully throughout the organizing process. I am proud of what our bargaining unit workers were able to accomplish with FOF management throughout the course of negotiating and ratifying a first contract. IBEW 2304 looks forward to building on the mutually beneficial partnership we have been able to establish with management at FOF.”
“The bargaining unit at For Our Future is extremely excited to stand in solidarity and so proud to be represented by IBEW Local 2304,” said Aislinn Bauer, a Digital Organizer at For Our Future-WI and Assistant Business Representative at IBEW Local 2304. “As a supporter of the labor movement in our work, it is important that we stand together and show that we too, are a part of the labor movement.”
In the fall of 2021, a group of energized workers at For Our Future Wisconsin decided to come together, form a union, and join the IBEW. Following the early commitment from the Wisconsin staff, FOF staff and management and the Union worked together to expand the bargaining agreement to include the field staff in all FOF states.
FOF engages in issues and elections that impact working families. Through voter engagement and community organizing, FOF aims to create shared economic prosperity, strengthen public education, advance social and racial justice, and preserve the environment. FOF’s board includes the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the National Education Association (NEA), and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
“Workers nationwide in all sectors of the economy are organizing for a voice on the job and a seat at the table, and the people who make For Our Future a dynamic grass roots organization are no different,” said Lee Saunders, president of AFSCME. “For Our Future helps working people in our communities live out their dreams – For Our Future canvassers and organizers themselves deserve that same opportunity. Congratulations to the newest members of IBEW Local 2304!”
“The For Our Future workers stood up—and their employer stepped up, to honor their freedom to join together with the IBEW, a move that gives workers the freedom to continue to fight daily for a more progressive future while having a strong voice at work,” said Randi Weingarten, president of AFT. “This is a model of labor relations that should be embraced in other workplaces. When we respect and value the workers who power our organizations by giving them a voice and the ability to bargain, we are walking the walk—not just talking the talk—and will emerge stronger as a movement and a country.”
“All workers deserve the right to have a voice in their workplace,” said Becky Pringle, president of NEA. “For Our Future plays an integral role in advocating for working families and for the policies that provide the support and resources our students and educators need. The fact that For Our Future’s staff is unionizing will further strengthen their efforts to be successful going into November and beyond.”
Approximately 150 For Our Future staff are eligible to be in the union. As the November election approaches, that number will increase significantly. By election day in 2020, For Our Future employed more than 1,000 field staff across the country.
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