Contractor in Passport Scandal Called Anti-Union

Stanley Inc., one of two federal contractors implicated in the scandal over unauthorized viewing of the passport records of presidential candidates, has also been embroiled in a controversy over its labor practices. The United Electrical workers union (UE), which got involved in organizing Stanley workers who process immigration records, called the company’s opposition to the drive “one of the most intense and brutal anti-union campaigns UE has faced.” UE is a rank-and-file-oriented union not affiliated with the AFL-CIO or Change to Win.

Stanley, a $400 million company that depends entirely on the federal government for its business, won a contract last year to take over operations at a 400-employee processing center of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in St. Albans, Vermont. The contract also covered another center in Laguna Niguel, California. The facilities handle citizenship applications for USCIS, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security.

As it was about to assume control late last year, Stanley announced that it would be changing job classifications at the facilities, resulting in a pay decrease of about 12 percent for up to half the workers. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders called on the Labor Department to investigate what he charged was a violation of the Service Contract Act.

Stanley’s move also prompted the union organizing drive. The National Labor Relations Board scheduled nine different elections to reflect the fact that some of the workers are employees of subcontractors such as Northrop Grumman. UE official Chris Townsend told me that Stanley employed a variety of union-busting tactics—from hiring the union-avoidance law firm Seyfarth Shaw to forcing workers to watch propaganda videos. Townsend says workers were held in captive-audience meetings for up to one-quarter of their shifts in the period leading up to the elections—this at a time when the backlog of citizenship applications remains a serious problem. Stanley also pressured its subcontractors to adopt the same tactics of intimidation, Townsend added.

Given these conditions, it is remarkable that UE won six of the nine elections held at various times over the past two months. Townsend estimates that his union now represents about 714 of the 950 workers at the two facilities.

Stanley’s website brags about its inclusion on the Fortune magazine list of the “100 best companies to work for.” Most of the workers in St. Albans and Laguna Niguel apparently beg to differ.

Leave a Reply