Managers fired 19 employees from a furniture distribution center in North Bergen, more than one-third of the staff, on March 27.
Why those workers were let go is now the subject of a federal labor investigation.
Layoffs and firings are now the reality for more than 1 million New Jerseyans. But workers at CORT Furniture say they were fired because they tried to unionize, not because of the pandemic.
Edwin Egee, a spokesman for the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that certifies labor unions and enforces U.S. labor law, confirmed that regional staff members are investigating and could hold a hearing in June or July. Egee declined to comment on the workers’ claims.
When the managers of CORT Furniture, owned by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, told each worker that their position was being eliminated, they said it was because the pandemic caused a slowdown in business.
Workers tell a different story. Several weeks before the mass firing, they signaled their intention to unionize. The workers said those who were fired were among the most active in the effort.
One of the key pieces of evidence for their case, workers said, is the fact that CORT hired outside delivery drivers, allegedly to replace the CORT drivers. CORT would typically hire outside contractors in the summer, but not March, workers said. Workers filed for an election March 10 and less than a week later contractors were at the warehouse, according to records and interviews.
Workers also said they had raised concerns that the company wasn’t doing enough to protect them against the coronavirus, even presenting management with a petition. They said they never received face masks or coverings to protect themselves, even though some workers were delivering and moving furniture in New York City, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S.
Now, union leaders with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 814, allege the firings occurred, “in retaliation for their support of Local 814 and while continuing to use outside vendors to perform bargaining unit work.” In other words, union busting, said Julian Tysh, the political coordinator for Local 814.
Union leaders also briefed both Gov. Phil Murphy and Sen. Cory Booker about the situation.
In a statement, Thomas Pietrykoski, a spokesman for Booker, said the senator “fully supports” the CORT workers and attempted to meet with CEO Jeff Pederson about the matter.
“We will continue to work with our constituents to ensure that the workers’ voices are heard and their right to organize is protected," Pietrykoski said.
Murphy’s office declined to comment.
It’s not a question that the coronavirus has ravaged New Jersey businesses. But the situation at CORT Furniture raises questions about whether the company used the crisis to its advantage, experts say. In a pandemic, employers may be able to claim economic hardship more easily.
But, said James Cooney, a former trial attorney with the labor board and current Rutgers professor, “It’s going to come down to why were those particular workers selected.”
When asked if he would answer specific questions related to the firings and workers’ allegations, CORT’s District General Manager Dominic Sardilli, who oversaw the North Bergen facility and was involved in the firings, said: “Absolutely not.”
Adam Keating, an attorney representing the company before the labor board, also declined to comment. And Kelly Maicon, a company spokeswoman, declined to comment, too.
Workers who spoke with NJ Advance Media said those who were fired were among the strongest supporters of unionizing, or had raised workplace concerns with management. Derryck Reddens, a delivery driver turned order picker who’s been with the company for 21 years, said he was a union supporter and had raised safety concerns with management. Like other workers, he was never given a mask to wear at work and said, at 60 years old, he was afraid of getting sick.
“Anything that came in on the truck, we were breathing it in,” Reddens said.
One of the central issues in the dispute is whether CORT did indeed fire the workers for economic reasons. Workers said CORT had used contractors in the past, but only for big contracts or during the summer. March, they said, was an average month, no busier or slower than usual.
The contracted drivers began working two weeks before the firings, according to records and interviews, and NJ Advance Media reviewed documents showing contractors continuing to work for at least a week after firing. One contractor, L M C Trucking, confirmed that CORT recently contracted his company for deliveries.
Before the firings, in mid-March, managers had tried to dissuade workers from voting for the union, multiple workers said in interviews. Corporate officers from the company’s Washington D.C. headquarters and others visited the facility to meet with workers and tell them a union wouldn’t solve their concerns. And behind a glass window of an office, managers played two different slideshows on a loop, both attempting to intimidate workers.
Even if the labor board rules in the workers’ favor, said Rebecca Kolins Givan, associate professor in the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, it could take months or even years, depending on the appeal process, before workers get their jobs back or any of the back pay they’d be owed. And, she added, the company will have likely succeeded in quashing a future union drive, either at the North Bergen facility or across the entire company.
Today, Anthony Salcedo, one of the fired drivers, his wife and two children, are getting by in Jersey City on his unemployment payments and their stimulus checks. Getting fired was demoralizing, he said, because he was trying to improve his working conditions.
“Basically it’s either you don’t fight for your rights and you stay with the company, or you fight for your rights and you lose your job," he said. “We were fighting because we wanted what’s right for us."
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J. Dale Shoemaker is a reporter on the data & investigations team. He can be reached at jshoemaker@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JDale_Shoemaker.