Five staff members of the Northcoast Environmental Center (NEC) announced Monday in a letter to the executive board of the NEC that they had unionized and were striking until their demands were met, claiming that their “private Free Speech rights” were “infringed upon” by the board, and also that they were generally being treated unfairly.

The signees included all of the members of the NEC’s staff except for Public Lands Director Larry Glass, who is also a secretary on the NEC’s board. 

Three of the staff (Moxie Alvarnaz, Carlrey Arroyo, and an unidentified third member) were at meetings of the Arcata City Council last month where public commenters, attempting to persuade the city to change its approach to cleaning up and moving homeless people from a private property in Arcata, shut down proceedings by shouting over meeting participants, frequently berating and personally insulting them. 

City employees, including a former NEC employee and Mayor Alex Stillman, reached out to the NEC board to complain about how the staff members acted at the meetings; the board decided to reach out to meet with two of the staff to work something out, but the staff decided to unionize and strike instead.

As of publication, none of the staff members have returned a request for comment.

Alvarnaz speaks at the Aug. 6 Arcata City Council meeting

Glass said in a phone interview with the Outpost yesterday that the staff members’ actions at the city council meetings damaged the NEC’s reputation immensely. More than 20 people have unsubscribed from NEC’s EcoNews publication, and former employees and members have said they don’t want to be associated with the NEC. Member groups like the Audubon Society, the Native Plant Society, and the Sierra Club called the NEC to ask them to explain what was happening, Glass said; a board member that represents the Sierra Club almost quit. 

This month’s EcoNews will not be published. Their offices are closed, and the NEC won’t be able to conduct any business. The board will meet soon to discuss how to handle the situation.

“It showed the organization in a very unprofessional light,” Glass said. “…It’s very serious. This whole thing has been a complete disaster for us.”

In the letter, the strikers bristle at what they see as a suppression of their right to free speech, citing the First Amendment in their letter as a guarantor that they can “[voice] outrage at anti-homeless sweeps, police violence, and continued gentrification in their City of residence.” (The First Amendment only protects citizens against government suppression of free speech. Third parties, like social media companies or employers, aren’t covered.) 

Because they didn’t identify themselves as employees of the NEC at the city council meetings, the staff believe they should not be disciplined. The NEC disagrees, as does their lawyer, because plenty of people at the meetings knew who they were and their employers. 

Glass denied that they were “targeting” anyone — all they wanted to do, according to him, was discipline two of their employees for representing them unprofessionally, and couldn’t manage even that. 

“I feel betrayed personally,” Glass said. “These people were employees, and, I thought, friends. I was hoping we could resolve the issue, and we wouldn’t have any further events like that in the future. That’s what I was hoping for: a resolution. I certainly didn’t expect it to escalate the way it has.”

The strikers also complain that their workplace has become “hostile” after board members attempted to meet with them to evaluate their work performances. 

Board members also wanted to judge how well they had done at managing the NEC. Instead of having an executive director, the staff split the director’s responsibilities for a six month trial period, which started in November of 2024. The trial ended long ago, and NEC leaders still haven’t been able to set up a meeting with the staff to break down how they did.

Board member Margaret Gainer criticized the letter announcing the strike, and said she was disappointed that they had been so hard to contact and work with.

“Their announcement was, A: difficult to understand, and B: riddled with things that aren’t factual,” she said in an interview with the Outpost. “What was not explained was the typical process for employees, how to help them be their best, and all of the things that are nonprofit best management practices. None of that is explained in the announcement.”

There’s a line in public protest, she said, between what’s acceptable and what’s not. A heads-up to the NEC’s upper management that they were planning on protesting would have made a big difference. 

“I’m just so disappointed that there’s been this long history of really effective, strategic, thoughtful, well informed, well researched impact on environmental issues in our region, and strong protests that made a difference, and that they have chosen to go this route,” Gainer said. “It’s too bad. That history of strong, effective, strategic, clear, purposeful protest is a part of what we’re proud of the NEC. And this is certainly a different way.”