The earnest young person who knocks on your door to talk about environmental issues, representing Clean Water Action, now will know a thing or two more about unions, too.

In a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election February 9, workers at Clean Water Action Alliance of Minnesota voted 28-15 to join the Minnesota Newspaper Guild- Typographical Union.

Terry Chaney, a Clean Water field canvasser, said worker support for the union effort was about ?fairness? and ?being more involved in decisionmaking.? With 60,000 grassroots members, Clean Water Action is Minnesota?s largest environmental advocacy group. In recent years, Clean Water has been allied with Labor in opposing so-called free trade agreements that fail to protect the environment and workers.

About 50 Clean Water Action field canvassers, phone canvassers and program staff will be represented by the Guild.

?We?ll be a more progressive organization, more democratic, and truly be a part of the blue-green alliance,? said Christian Utne, a field canvasser.

Phone canvasser Gabe Hargrove said wages, benefits and job security also concerned Clean Water staff. ?The health care benefit is something we want,? he said.

Hargrove emphasized that ?every single one of us ? we love Clean Water Action, we love what it?s about? We love our job. We want to keep our job. Having a union will help ensure that.?

Clean Water Action Alliance of Minnesota is part of a national organization with offices in 18 states and the District of Columbia. The Minnesota office is the first to unionize, said Marie Zellar, Minnesota?s state director.

Now that the NLRB vote has passed, Zellar said she is ?really looking forward to sitting down with our union allies to discuss what is the model for organizing in the nonprofit workplace and lessons learned.?

?We look forward to working with this agency,? said Marty Demgen, local representative for the Guild. ?We hope the good relationship Clean Water Action has had with labor continues to be strong.?

The Guild also represents workers at the Resource Center of the Americas and at Minnesota Public Interest Research Group (MPIRG), another Minnesota nonprofit advocacy group.

?Our organizing program, both nationally and locally, has organized staff at nonprofits, labor union staff, interpreters, and our main jurisdiction, people in the printing and publishing industry,? Demgen said.

?Since we started our organizing program we are 5-0 in our campaigns and we have organized more than 150 workers,? he reported.

Demgen observed that ?normally, non-profits are more willing partners with labor organizations than many [employers] in the private sector.?

?We organize workers who believe in the agency mission and believe that union membership does not conflict with that in any way,? he said.

Demgen extended credit for the successful Clean Water Action campaign to former Guild organizer Abram Isaacs, who recently moved to a position at the Minnesota Nurses Association. He also thanked Rob Meyers, a former MPIRG employee, who helped staff the Clean Water organizing campaign as a volunteer.