Southern Poverty Law Center employees vote to join union

December 17, 2019 at 6:00 a.m. | Updated December 16, 2019 at 11:38 p.m.

by Associated Press

United Auto Workers members and their volunteers stand outside an entrance to the Nissan vehicle assembly plant in Canton, Miss., and greet each arriving and departing vehicle, Thursday, Aug. 3, 2017. Union members set up informational lines outside employee entrances at the plant and greeted all shifts of workers reminding them to vote for the union. The vote for union representation of line workers runs Aug. 3-4. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
United Auto Workers members and their volunteers stand outside an entrance to the Nissan vehicle assembly plant in Canton, Miss., and greet each arriving and departing vehicle, Thursday, Aug. 3, 2017. Union members set up informational lines outside employee entrances at the plant and greeted all shifts of workers reminding them to vote for the union. The vote for union representation of line workers runs Aug. 3-4. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Employees of Southern Poverty Law Center civil rights organization the have voted to unionize, the SPLC announced Monday.

The employees voted to join the Washington-Baltimore News Guild. The vote was 142-45, according to the SPLC union twitter account.

Karen Baynes-Dunning, interim president and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center, said the organization's employees "have spoken through a process that gave every eligible person the opportunity to weigh in on this important decision."

"We go forward as one SPLC with gratitude for the commitment and engagement of our talented staff and the work we will continue doing together," Baynes-Dunning said in a statement announcing the union vote.

A supermajority of employees this fall requested representation by the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, Local 32035 of The News Guild-Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO.

The nonprofit is perhaps best known for its work monitoring hate organizations but also does extensive civil rights litigation.

The move to unionize follows upheaval at the organization that saw the departure of longtime leaders and the announcement of a review of workplace culture.

The organizing committee has said that it wants to form a strong union that lays a "foundation for a legacy of equal rights, respect and dignity for all workers, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical ability, and national origin."

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