What does your boss really think about you? Do they view your workplace complaints as frivolous, your efforts to communicate with them as a fantastical form of torture? Do they see you as another whiny member of the "'iPhone generation?"
Eight former employees who were trying to unionize the New York City office of the Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta know the answer to those questions, thanks in part to evidence that could be the basis of a case of illegal union-busting against their old employer.
In July 2023, days after a union drive ended in a 35-29 "no" vote from the prospective unit members, eight workers were laid off from Snøhetta, the firm behind (among other notable NYC projects) Eric Adams-favorite the SUMMIT One Vanderbilt. At the time, representatives for the firm told The Architect's Newspaper in a statement that management was looking forward to "working together as one studio to continue building on our legacy of creativity and collaboration." But in August 2023 Architectural Workers United, which worked with Snøhetta employees during the 2023 union drive, filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board against the firm, alleging that it "unlawfully discriminated against several employees for exercising their right to engage in concerted activities."
Almost three years later, the Region 02 NLRB has finally decided that those allegations have merit. On January 16, the NLRB filed its own charges against the firm, alleging that Snøhetta broke the law by firing the eight employees for engaging in pro-union organizing in order to "discourage employees from engaging in these activities," as well as "[interrogating] employees about their union sympathies or activities." (A representative for the NLRB declined to comment for this story.)
What convinced the board to take on the case? An internal email from a Snøhetta director, passed onto the NLRB as evidence of illegal termination, holds some clues. On July 11, 2023, four days after the union vote, and using their work email address, a director described the recent union drive and its participants in vivid and unflattering terms.