NARA IWW declared illegal impasse against the Staff Union

On December 18, 2025, management presented a so-called “last, best, and final offer” (LBFO)  and tried to treat it as a take-it-or-leave-it deal. Calling something “last, best, and final” does not make it so. It is still just a proposal, and the union has the right to review it, ask questions, make counterproposals, and take reasonable time to respond. Bargaining is about mutual exchange, not ultimatums.

In the same bargaining session, management attempted to impose a deadline for the union to respond and suggested that failure to meet that deadline would mean bargaining was over. This is another major problem. Employers do not get to set unilateral deadlines and use them to force acceptance or claim impasse. Deadlines only matter if both sides agree to them. Otherwise, they are just pressure tactics. The GEB should know this- these are core labor principals. We think this is egregious, and not something IWW would tolerate from employers of our members.

Management declared impasse unilaterally and on Christmas Eve, moved to implement a highly concessionary contract. Under labor law, an impasse cannot be declared just because one side says so. An impasse exists only when both sides have genuinely exhausted bargaining, and further discussion would be pointless. That was not the case here. We were still proposing ideas, asking questions, and offering to keep bargaining. Declaring impasse while the other side is still actively bargaining is not how this works.

Finally, management decided to end negotiations rather than continue bargaining, despite our repeatedly stating we were ready and willing to keep going, including with the help of mediation. That conduct shows that management was trying to control the outcome, not reach mutually beneficial agreement. This does not align with the ethos of the IWW. 

Management did not fail because the union was “unreasonable.” Management failed because it tried to replace bargaining with declarations, deadlines, and ultimatums to force a contract with drastic pay and PTO cuts. We did what workers are supposed to do: show up, engage, respond, and insist on a real bargaining process.

We are filing an Unfair Labor Practice as a result of management’s illegal declaration of impasse.  

In the meantime, we are working under a highly concessionary contract forced upon us- our pay was cut by 16.5%, and our workload has increased upon the exit of the Membership Coordinator.

Show your support for union staffers: Click this link to send a letter to the general headquarters demanding the General Executive Board return to the table to bargain a fair contract and align with the actual values of the IWW.

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/urge-the-iww-geb-to-return-to-the-bargaining-table