Bernie Sanders Accused Everlane of “Union Busting” Following Staff Cuts Amid COVID-19 Crisis
Bernie Sanders has accused Everlane, the brand famous for its “radical transparency” and ethical looks, of alleged "union busting."
On March 27, WWD reported Everlane’s massive cuts to its staff. According to Vice, 42 of its 57-person customer experience team and 180 part-time retail employees have been laid off, with an additional 68 full-time retail employees being temporarily laid off or “furloughed.”
Some activists have questioned the timing of these layoffs, noting that employees had recently tried to form a union.
Some workers at Everlane, which per Business Insider reported was valued at $250 million in 2016, had spoken out about what they saw as insufficient wages and unpredictable scheduling, according to reporting from Vice, leading them to announce their intention to form a union back in December 2019. At the time of the report, in January 2020, the company responded that it had investigated the concerns and made necessary changes. Workers had been reassured recently, in light of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, that the company was "stronger than ever," according to WWD, until the firings and furloughs announcement.
Some are deeming these actions “union busting”. Among those is 2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who took to Twitter to express his outrage and demand Everlane both rehire those workers and recognize the Everlane Union. “Using this health and economic crisis to union bust is morally unacceptable,” tweeted Sanders on March 28. “I’m calling on @Everlane to bring workers back on payroll and recognize the @EverlaneU.”
In a response to Sanders's accusations, Everlane responded on Twitter that this was "the hardest decision" the company has ever made and that the firings and furloughs were unrelated to the union and were about the company no longer being profitable.
Bernie's original tweet was responding to a previous one from the Everlane Union’s Twitter account that said, “Nearly every member of our team was just laid off. Retail workers from Everlane stores are being trained to replace us to answer your support emails.”
Teen Vogue reached out to Everlane for further comment, and the company provided the following statement:
"COVID-19 has dramatically impacted the entire world, and Everlane is no exception. Our retail stores closed indefinitely and total revenue is off our original plan by 25%. This impact on our business put us in a position where we had to let go of 290 talented people across the company, 14% of which were on our customer experience team. Those impacted were offered two weeks severance and we were able to transition 20 customer experience team members into full time roles with benefits. These decisions had nothing to do with the unionization effort and everything to do with the dramatic impact COVID-19 has had on the global economy."
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Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue
