Today, Texas Organizing Project (TOP) and TOP staff announced that the organization and its staff union, a part of the National Organization of Legal Service Workers (NOLSW), UAW Local 2320, have ratified the organization’s first-ever collective bargaining agreement. This inflection point represents the culmination of ensuring TOP is fully behind the labor movement and working people across Texas and the country. We’re also grateful to join the ranks of other Texas-based organizations that have also successfully unionized including: Every Texan, Move Texas, and Workers Defense Project to name a few.
TOP Co-Executive Director Michelle Tremillo released the following statement celebrating this milestone for TOP and its staff: “Working together, we’ve shown that TOP is committed to worker representation and just working conditions for all people in this country, including our own staff. As big corporations, the ultra-wealthy, and right-wing lawmakers work to destroy unions and make it harder for workers to have their voices heard, we’re demonstrating our commitment to giving fair representation to the most talented, tireless, and diverse staff of progressive organizers.”
TOP Staff Union President Trent Breitung shared the following: “The professionalism, respect, dedication, and patience from the TOP Staff Union, TOP, and UAW Local 2320 empowered us to deliver one of the first-of-its-kind bargaining agreements for an organizing group. We are especially proud of the Black and Latino organizers whose leadership made this unionization possible while our external organizing continued at full speed.”
Rachel Thomas, a representative for UAW Local 2320, added this celebration of the announcement: “I am proud to be the representative agent for the employees at TOP. NOLSW Local 2320 will strive to work with our members and TOP management to create a strong, empowering workplace for everyone.”
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Texas Organizing Project organizes Black and Latino communities in Dallas, Harris, Bexar, and Fort Bend counties with the goal of transforming Texas into a state where working people of color have the power and representation they deserve. For more information, visit organizetexas.org.
This press release was sent out August 18, 2022.