NRCM took in more than $8.7 million in 2021.

Staff of Natural Resources Council of Maine Look to Unionize Over Toxic Company Culture

DECEMBER 19, 2023UPDATED:DECEMBER 19, 2023

Employees of the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM), a left-wing nonprofit active in Maine politics, are seeking to unionize because of how the environmentalist organization’s new boss is running the operation.

Last week, four NRCM employees joined a conference call with the Maine Service Employees Association – Service Employees International Association 1989 (MSEA-SEIU), the union that represents most of Maine’s state government employees.

During the meeting, MSEA-SEIU Director of Organizing Angela MacWhinnie introduced the NRCM of employees to the meeting, stating that the staffers had reached out to the union seeking to join.

Outreach Director Emmie Theberge, IT Manager Lisa Hodgkins, Regional Outreach Coordinator for Franklin County Mark Edwards, and Outreach Coordinator Josh Caldwell were the NRCM staffers present on the call.

Caldwell said the 27 full-time employees of the NRCM are seeking to unionize, in large part, because of the new CEO, Rebeccah Sanders.

According to a source familiar with the organizing efforts, Caldwell said Sanders has made changes at NRCM that have exacerbated pre-existing problems within the nonprofit.

Caldwell specifically said Sanders has changed pay and benefits, conducted disciplinary meetings without representation for workers, and made decisions without transparency.

“We’ve seen firings and threats of firings, including amongst our longtime senior staff,” Caldwell told the MSEA members.

According to Caldwell, a supermajority of NRCM employees have already thrown their support behind unionizing.

Sanders did not respond to a request for comment.

Edward SImmons, the Chair of the Board of NRCM, also did not respond to a request for comment.

The NRCM announced that Sanders, the former “Strategy Officer” for the Audubon Society, would assume the position of CEO in Nov. 2022.

The NRCM would not be the first left-wing nonprofit to see its employees unionize against the leadership.

The MSEA, Maine’s second largest labor union, also currently represents employees of the Maine People’s Alliance, a political group funded through anonymous dark money, and the Maine chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The push to unionize NRCM staff comes as the group is backing for the adoption of controversial rules that would eventually prohibit Mainers from purchasing gas-powered vehicles.

The Maine Board of Environmental Protection will decided on Thursday, Dec. 21, whether to approve those rules, which were originally proposed by 150 signatories to a NRCM-led petition.

According to the group’s most recent Form 990 tax filing, NRCM took in more than $8.7 million in 2021.

PS: NRCM is entitled to be paid by ratepayer money for intervening in PUC cases:

2.  Funding sources.  If the commission finds pursuant to subsection 1 that an intervenor or participant in a commission proceeding qualifies for funding, the commission may, except as provided in subsection 2‑A and consistent with rules adopted by the commission pursuant to subsection 3:  
A. Order a utility involved in the commission proceeding to compensate the intervenor or participant. Compensation provided by a utility under this paragraph may be recovered in rates

Views: 28

Comment

You need to be a member of Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine to add comments!

Join Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine

 

Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

 

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

Not yet a member?

Sign up today and lend your voice and presence to the steadily rising tide that will soon sweep the scourge of useless and wretched turbines from our beloved Maine countryside. For many of us, our little pieces of paradise have been hard won. Did the carpetbaggers think they could simply steal them from us?

We have the facts on our side. We have the truth on our side. All we need now is YOU.

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

 -- Mahatma Gandhi

"It's not whether you get knocked down: it's whether you get up."
Vince Lombardi 

Task Force membership is free. Please sign up today!

Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

© 2024   Created by Webmaster.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service