Teamsters Union threatens labor complaint against New Georgia Project

ATLANTA - Some ex-employees of New Georgia Project are accusing the progressive voter registration organization of big-time hypocrisy.

They say that after working for years as community organizers for the nonprofit founded by former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, they lost their jobs because they wanted to organize.

"It hurts," said JaMae Rooks, 32, who worked on New Georgia Project’s black maternal healthcare campaign. "Because people that I love, people that I care about, are being harmed in this process."

Demanding recognition

What we know:

Five former New Georgia Project workers – Rooks, Klaire Gumbs, Jasmine Keith, Christian Miranda and Eric Robertston – sat down with the FOX 5 I-Team’s Johnny Edwards earlier this month, soon after being axed during a Microsoft Teams meeting on Jan. 28.

They described inner turmoil at the nonprofit centered around board Chairman Francys Johnson. They said their terminations came as they were taking steps to shield themselves from what they describe as "mismanagement" at New Georgia Project.

"It was direct retaliation to our unionizing efforts," Gumbs, 32, who had worked there since April 2020, said.

A cell phone video provided to the I-Team shows Keith, 37, reading a demand for union recognition to her manager, a formal step in unionizing, at what’s apparently the manager’s apartment complex, on Friday, Jan. 24.

"We were able to get a majority," Keith, who had worked there since 2022, said. "We delivered our letter demanding recognition. And Tuesday, we ended up fired."

A representative of Teamsters Local Union 728 backed up that account.

Recent layoffs

By the numbers:

According to the union, 14 people were laid off in January, all of them workers who had signed union cards.

However, 20 people who also signed the cards were not laid off.

And others laid off by the organization late last year, a few days after Christmas, hadn’t been involved in unionizing.

"On December 27, the New Georgia Project laid off 19 members of their staff with fewer than 12 hours of warning," Stephanie Ali, a policy director for the organization who created the GoFundMe, wrote on the page. "On January 28, they did the same to another 14 staff members, this time allowing for only 3 days of remaining pay and benefits."

As of Monday, the GoFundMe had raised more than $10,500. All proceeds will be given to laid off employees on an at-need basis, and the remaining funds will be divided equally between the former staff members, Ali wrote on the page.

Retaliation by termination?

What they're saying:

Stiles told the I-Team the Teamsters union plans to file a complaint against New Georgia Project this week, alleging retaliation in violation of the National Labor Relations Act.

He also said that if the nonprofit doesn’t recognize the union, a strike isn’t out of the question.

"In my opinion, this is an unfair labor practice that the New Georgia Project has committed," Stiles said. "We feel like the company sent a very chilling message with these layoffs. Like, ‘We will target known union supporters,’ which is illegal."

Asked why they wanted to unionize, Miranda, 29, said it was "for stability."

"We felt like we needed to protect ourselves," Gumbs said.

"When we saw other people getting laid off, and them holding on to these new people that they were bringing (in)," said Robertson, 51, who worked for the nonprofit’s election monitoring program, "that was just another reason people needed to organize to get some protection."

‘Reductions are never easy’

The other side:

Francys Johnson – a Statesboro attorney who became board chair after former chair Raphael Warnock stepped down in 2020 for his successful run for U.S. Senate – declined an interview request from the FOX 5 I-Team.

New Georgia Project did not make anyone else available for an interview, instead sending a written statement about the five ex-workers’ allegations.

The statement said the New Georgia Project Action Fund, the partisan arm of the organization, "has long worked in solidarity with Organized Labor to move Georgia forward for working families. NGPAF is committed to following up with our partners in Organized Labor to ensure compliance with applicable law."

To questions about the layoffs, the nonprofit sent an identical statement to one provided for a previous FOX 5 story on the job cuts:

"The volunteers, members, and staff of NGP are family, and reductions in staffing are never easy. Nevertheless, NGP must meet its obligation to align its staffing plan with available resources to accomplish its mission."

Continuing, "NGP remains committed to leading efforts in building power through voter registration, organizing, and advocacy."

The I-Team asked the organization to verify the layoff figures provided by ex-employees, the union and the GoFundMe page. But New Georgia Project did not respond.

NGP’s gargantuan fine

The backstory:

Between those two rounds of layoffs, the State Ethics Commission fined New Georgia Project $300,000 for allegedly functioning as an illegal Super PAC for Stacey Abrams' first losing campaign for governor, then illegally campaigning for an unsuccessful Gwinnett County MARTA referendum.

It was the largest fine in the commission's history and possibly the largest state ethics fine ever issued in the U.S.

The New Georgia Project was established by Abrams in 2013 to register voters, specifically the "New Georgia Majority" – black, brown, young and other historically marginalized voters, according to the nonprofit’s website. Abrams stepped away from the group in 2017 to run for governor.

NGP came to national prominence for its role in helping turn Georgia blue for Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential election.

However, the State Ethics Commission had already begun investigating the group's fundraising and spending practices at the time. The investigation spanned five years. The commission's findings revealed that the organization raised $4.2 million in dark money for Abrams and other candidates and spent $3.2 million on various campaign activities.

In a commission hearing last month, New Georgia Project admitted to 16 violations of state law.

‘We could rebuild’

What they're saying:

The ex-employees who spoke to FOX 5 said they don’t believe the ethics fine led to the layoffs. They said they do believe internal discord at New Georgia Project hurt the mission during the 2024 presidential election.

"What made it go back red is lack of voter turnout among the base voters of Georgia," Robertson said. "Had we done our job, had we engaged black voters on the scale that we normally engage black voters on in the state of Georgia, Kamala Harris would have won Georgia."

However, the ex-workers said their job was to push progressive issues, engage voters and monitor elections, and they weren’t allowed to campaign for candidates.

"What’s at stake is not necessarily the loss of an election for a particular party," Gumbs said. "What's at stake are reproductive justice issues, economic justice issues, health care, housing issues."

All five said they would go back to work for New Georgia Project if they could.

"We could save that organization," Robertson said. "If (Chairman Johnson) got out of the way, the donors would come back. We could rebuild the entire organization."

What's next:

Stiles, of Teamsters Local Union 728, said the union intends to file a complaint this week with the National Labor Relations Board.

However, the labor complaint could get stymied because of actions by President Donald Trump, Stiles said.

Last month, the president removed board member Gwynne Wilcox, leaving the board without a quorum of three members to make final decisions.

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