Mother Kali’s Books has been temporarily “closed for rejuvenation” after its board of directors prematurely dismissed the store’s four employees and locked them out Wednesday.
A “union-busting” strike last week, organized by employees to protest recent termination letters as “unfair labor practices,” expedited the board members’ decision to close the store.
Board members, who say the protest interrupted a board/staff meeting addressing the approaching layoffs, said the “rejuvenation” has been a long time coming. The employees, however, said the “tense” lock out and the termination letters, which were previously effective Feb.6 and Feb.13, were relatively unexpected.
The Board of Directors of Mother Kali’s Books, one of the oldest feminist bookstores in the United States, delivered termination letters to each of its four staff members on Jan. 23. About three weeks prior to the letters, the board told staff members that they could no longer access health benefits and that they “might” be taking applications for a new management and staff, former co-manager Cheryl RiversHailey said.
RiversHailey said the board failed to inform the employees that they could apply for the new positions.
“They never told us anything about applying for new staff positions,” she said. “They never even gave us job descriptions.”
But Board President Kathleen Kendrick disputes that allegation.
“We informed them before we advertised for a permanent manager that they were welcome to apply; none did so,” Kendrick said in a press release. “By then we realized that we could no longer afford to continue as we had.”
The employees, who are members of Industrial Workers of the World Local 660, filed an unfair labor practices claim with the National Labor Relations Board Portland office Jan. 26 in response to their termination. The employees also held a community protest at the store Jan. 27, involving about 30 participants, including the store volunteer coordinator and IWW Local 660 representative Jeanine Malito. Malito carried a sign stating “Union busting is the patriarchy.”
The next evening, at a board/staff meeting, the board demanded the staff member’s keys and locked them out, even though their terminations were not due to start until Feb. 6, RiversHailey said.
“The board said that they were going to close for a couple of weeks to straighten things out, or something to that effect,” she said.
Board members said Malito, who witnessed the lockout, used “unprofessional veiled threats” while talking to the board.
“We feel strongly that the employees were misinformed and misled by this union spokesperson,” board member Daryl Moore said in a press release.
Malito, a local activist and community volunteer, said she thinks board members have taken the “low road, morally” for personally attacking her via the press release.
“These two board members, who have been at the store for less time than the employees, were telling them they don’t have jobs and asking me not to speak,” Malito said. “Well, I may have called them patriarchal.”
Malito said she has never misled or misinformed the former employees of Mother Kali’s Books.
“(The employees) asked for my help but they have made their own decisions,” she said.
According to a Mother Kali’s press release, which is the only form of comment offered by the board, a combination of recent hard times and unauthorized employee expenditures caused the board members to re-assess the staff.
“We knew last year that we either needed to bring in a professional management team or close the doors,” Kendrick said.
Moore added that “everyone knew every step of the way that reorganization of some kind was coming.”
The board alleges that a series of “disturbing ” employee expenditures, including an $800 payment for massages to a new employee, led to several cost-cutting measures.
RiversHailey said she knows nothing of the payment.
When the employees responded with accusations of “unfair practices,” the board agreed to “voluntarily recognize” the staff’s desire for a union proposal. However, RiversHailey said the board has a long history of refusals to employee bargaining attempts due to “lack of time” for them.
The board has considered filing their own complaint with a labor board to defend the store’s local reputation.
“It hasn’t been fun to be so wildly misrepresented in our own community,” Moore said in the press release. “We made sure the staff was always paid, and when it became clear that things couldn’t continue as they were, we offered — and will honor — termination compensation.”
After the lockout, RiversHailey said she left a message with a case agent at the Portland NLRB and has yet to receive a response. The staff met Saturday to work on documents the board has requested and to figure out their next course of action, RiversHailey said. In the meantime, the former employees said they want their supporters to refrain from acts of vandalism on the book store or the building.
“We appreciate your support and are requesting that folks not harm the building because the building managers have been very supportive/sympathetic of our struggle,” RiversHailey said.
Supporters can e-mail the former staff at [email protected]