CWA Members Win Big Against Musk’s Big Green

Members of the Denver Newspaper Guild-CWA Local 37074 have won a major victory over the union-busting Musk family. When program coordinators and program managers at Kimbal Musk’s nonprofit, Big Green, formed their union in 2021, leadership responded with a campaign of intimidation, surveillance, and retaliation, then escalated by laying off the entire 10-person bargaining unit.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado has ordered the organization to reinstate, and make whole, workers whose positions were eliminated in a blatant attempt to thwart the workers’ desire to form a union. The court further issued a bargaining order, compelling Big Green to recognize the workers’ union and bargain a union contract.

“It is very validating to see the law affirm that I did the right thing. I was shamed and threatened by leadership within Big Green for exercising my right to organize,” said Colleen Donahoe, an unlawfully terminated program coordinator in Indianapolis, Ind. “I’m glad to see them held accountable for betraying their staff and abandoning the schools we worked with.”

Big Green program coordinators build and operate “learning gardens” in schools to teach children about healthy eating. The workers began their union campaign to address concerns of racism at Big Green.

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This post originally appeared on cwa-union.org.