After more than two years of negotiation, the union for the Animal Legal Defense Fund, ALDF United, has officially ratified its first collective bargaining agreement with its employer. The agreement was unanimously ratified this month, and according to a Nov. 2 press release, the new contract includes pay and benefits improvements, including equitable and guaranteed salary increases for staff, a retroactive cost of living adjustment for this year, a monthly remote work stipend, and expanded holidays for all staff, along with ALDF’s commitment to continue to provide generous benefits such as paid sabbaticals, alternative work schedules, and a health insurance plan with 100% of the premium paid by ALDF. 

“After years of hard work, we are thrilled to have ratified our first collective bargaining agreement,” ALDF United leaders said in the press release. “We are so grateful to [the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union] and [International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers] for their support and for their leadership in the labor movement, and we look forward to continuing to work with ALDF management to build a stronger, more equitable, and effective ALDF.” 

The agreement comes months after Prism reported on the unionizing efforts at ALDF where workers said they faced extensive union-busting and tense employer-union relations. Despite its mission to improve the living and working conditions for animals, former employees said management at ALDF engaged in union-busting tactics while perpetuating a transphobic, racist, and retaliatory work culture that undermined the organization’s mission and pandered to conservative donors. 

A union organizing committee formed in November 2020, and the bargaining unit signed cards Dec. 14, 2020, when a majority of the 70 or so staff members at ALDF signed up to form ALDF United. The union is affiliated with the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union, which represents nonprofit workers. ALDF United asked management for voluntary recognition of the union. They filed for an election with the National Labor Relations Board on Dec. 28, 2020, after then-Executive Director and CEO Stephen Wells told the staff during an all-staff meeting that management would not recognize the union. 

ALDF retained Ogletree Deakins, a law firm known for representing management in union organizing disputes, and engaged in what former staffers say was a relentless union-busting campaign, involving captive audience meetings (mandatory meetings during working hours with the purpose of discouraging employees from joining a union) and threatening to fire workers. From July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022, ALDF’s IRS Form 990 documents list Ogletree Deakins as being compensated $317,146. Documents from previous years do not list the legal team, despite 990 forms that support the organization having already hired them in 2020 when the union drive began.

But, as of Nov. 2, ALDF United’s contract has been successfully negotiated. ALDF United was unionized through the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union (NPEU), a local of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE). 

“It is my goal for the Animal Legal Defense Fund to attain a standard of organizational excellence that will serve as a model to which the rest of the nonprofit community can aspire—and ALDF United’s open and productive communication during this period is making that vision a reality,” said Chris Green, the executive director of ALDF in a press release. “The talented individuals who make up our team are ALDF’s greatest asset, and the terms and improvements memorialized in this agreement will help us ensure that every single staff member feels fully valued and empowered to accomplish their greatest work at the Animal Legal Defense Fund.”