Danbury, CT—After the National Labor Relations Board found merit in allegations that Matrix Reality Group President Glen Nelson threatened to shoot and kill a laid-off worker, Nelson was forced to settle the charges to avoid a federal administrative law judge trial. Nelson made the threat last December during a food drive to support workers who lost their jobs at the Matrix Corporate Center in Danbury.
Under the settlement, Nelson has to post a notice stating that Matrix will “NOT threaten to kill you or to cause you bodily harm because you engage in activities in support of SEIU, Local 32BJ.” Former janitors at the Corporate Center were holding the food drive near Mr. Nelson’s Miller Place, New York, home when the threat was made.
“First Glen Nelson refuses to protect our jobs, and then he threatened to go get a gun and shoot me,” said Arthur Tiscia, who cleaned the complex for 15 years and was threatened by Nelson. “We were peacefully protesting the unfair loss our livelihoods and were shocked when he responded with such awful threats.”
Tiscia and 40 other cleaners lost their jobs after Nelson assumed management the complex in June 2009. Nelson brought in a non-union cleaning firm that refused to hire any of the currently displaced janitors. The workers were members of 32BJ SEIU.
“In all of my years in the labor movement, I have never seen an employer resort to death threats,” said Kurt Westby, Connecticut State Director of 32BJ. “Nelson and Matrix should have to do more than post a notice for such thuggish and egregious behavior. These 40 workers deserve justice and deserve their jobs back.”
Even after the death threat, displaced workers have continued to hold regular protests to return to their jobs. Under the settlement, Nelson did not have to admit wrongdoing.
With more than 120,000 members along the East Coast, including 4,400 in Connecticut, 32BJ is the largest property services union in the country.
updated 6/28/2010
