Dozens of faculty, parents, and students at Brooklyn Friends School rallied on Friday morning to demand that administrators stop their union-busting efforts and honor the staff’s calls for collective bargaining, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to one teacher.

“We need a union in order to hold those in power accountable for listening to our voices, for following just and transparent procedures and including us as equals for decision-making that affects our livelihoods — and at this moment also our lives and our health,” said BFS Union negotiation committee member and teacher Sarah Gordon at the Sept. 4 protest near the school at Willoughby and Pearl streets.

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One math teacher of the pricey Quaker school said the union — which consists of educators, cafeteria workers, and maintenance staff — was more essential than ever, as the coronavirus-related budget gaps have already prompted BFS honchos to lay off more than 30 employees.

“Not everyone has a voice, not everyone has the power to have a voice,” said Jonathan Edmonds. “People really feel that their jobs might be on the line if they critique or complain. And so banded together, we are a stronger voice.”

Under the leadership of Crissy Cáceres, the school’s administration filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to decertify the union on religious grounds, arguing that collective bargaining violates the school’s “Quaker values” by coming between administrators and staff.

More than 1,000 members of the school community shot back with a letter urging Cáceres to withdraw the petition to dissolve the union, which the staff formed in 2019 with United Auto Workers Local 2110.

Source: Protesters rally against Brooklyn Friends School union busting