An open letter to the EWUA board members

||| FROM EASTSOUND STEWARDSHIP ALLIANCE |||

At the recent Board meeting on May 19th, over 75 members attended and delivered a clear and urgent request through public comment and applause: We need a 3rd party investigation into the workplace environment at EWUA. 

This meeting was also attended by EWUA’s operators, who have had nowhere to go with their serious concerns about a deeply toxic workplace and grievances about the General Manager.  Members were read a public letter written by all six of EWUA’s certified operators which detailed how working at EWUA has gone from a “dream job to a place we dread working,” how their “morale is at an all time low,” that “serious concerns have been dismissed,” and how “this is why operators are leaving and why we are on the brink of losing more.”

During the response from Board members, some Board members shared their concern and need for action, some shared they felt things were going pretty well, and another repeated that all allegations and concerns with the General Manager had been investigated by the Board and debunked.

The Board claims to have investigated all grievances while not a single EWUA operator has been interviewed about their grievances or allowed to present their concerns in any kind of formal forum. This discrepancy further highlights the urgent need for a neutral 3rd party to intervene and investigate the workplace. 

Furthermore, the Board’s claim that they cannot talk to operators because of the ongoing union contract negotiations has been refuted by the operator’s union representative who confirmed that “Union negotiations do not prevent the Board from conducting a neutral 3rd party investigation into workplace concerns, and the Board is not prohibited from communicating with staff members regarding workplace or operational issues”

Only with an impartial assessment of the troubles facing this organization can the tide begin to turn towards stabilization and growth.

This is what we ask of the EWUA Board:

1. Immediately begin the process of identifying and employing a specialized 3rd party workplace investigator to interview all parties: employees, management, Board members, and former employees who have left in the past two years. 

2. Prior to June 3rd, engage with a committee made up of members to review the options for a 3rd party investigator and discuss timeline and implementation. A suggested volunteer member committee will be presented to the Board.

3. At the June 16th public Board meeting, present to the membership the 3rd party agency who has been hired for the workplace investigation and a timeline for the investigation of Board-GM-Staff interactions.

4. Once the investigation is complete, make the results publicly available to all members, and implement a public timeline for addressing report recommendations.