BACK IN the summer of 2004, employees at the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project were eager to find a union to represent them.

The reason? The 25 staff members of the organization, which operates out of offices in Seattle and Granger in Eastern Washington, were concerned because new interim management was talking about removing the protection afforded them by progressive discipline provisions in their manual. Management was seeking to replace that protection with fire-at-will provisions.

Erik Nelsen

“We were grateful when Council 2 stepped right up,” says Erik Noel Nelsen, president of what is now Local 21-N.

The workers took their first step when members voted to join Council 2 in August 2004.

The next step was for the employees — attorneys, legal advocates and support staff who assist immigrants with immigration issues — to bargain their first contract.

The bargaining process was fraught with delays, which are typical of first-time contracts.

“At the start, the board of directors froze because they could not move forward with their fire-at-will plans,” Nelsen says. After that, drawing up the wording and arranging bargaining sessions all seemed to take longer than they had anticipated.

An added complication was that the organization is funded by federal, state and other public and private grants and donations. “This means we never know how much money we are going to have because we live and die on grants,” Nelsen explains.

Now, after two years of bargaining, the employees finally have their first contract.

“The assistance we received from Council 2 was all we had hoped for — and more,” says Nelsen. “We received their benefit and experience, which every union that joins gets. In a thousand ways, Bill Keenan (Council 2 Director of Organizing) could speak with authority and bring his experience to each benefit in crafting what became our final contract.”

The contract contains all of the important provisions needed in a first-time contract, says Keenan. It includes mandatory union membership, a grievance procedure with final and binding arbitration, improvements in medical benefits and in pay. Provisions for arbitration instead of a strike are also included.

“The contract, which runs from July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2008, also includes something I have not seen before — the late United Farm Workers Union President Cesar Chavez’s birthday (March 31) is a paid holiday,” says Keenan.

The members of the Local were so pleased with the result they arranged a public signing of the contract in addition to the private signing, which took place Nov. 8.

“This is a very connected organization,” explains Keenan. “Labor unions representing groups across the state who perform similar public services are interested. We have invited a variety of organizations in Seattle to the signing.”

The bargaining committee consisted of Nelsen, Stella Dokey, Bina Hanchinamani Ellefsen and Adela Ruiz. Matt Adams, who served on the committee at the start, later joined management.