One of the nation's most influential Muslim advocacy groups is resisting attempts to unionize its staff, according to a report.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) pushed back against political powerhouse Service Employees International Union's organizing overtures, according to Sean Higgins of the Washington Examiner. The advocacy group argued that it should be exempt from federal labor laws governing union organizing because it is a religious institution.
That argument was rejected by a regional director at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the top federal labor arbiter that oversees union campaigns.
"The evidence establishes that the employer is not an organization that exists to propagate a religious faith, but rather is engaged in a commercial-type activity," NLRB Regional Director Charles Posner said.
CAIR, Posner said, does not fall under the blanket of religious exemption because it operates as a civil rights organization rather than a traditional religious group. CAIR is widely seen as a liberal group and has become one of President Trump's most vocal antagonists, maintaining a website dedicated to exposing "Islamophobia and the Trump Team."
Christopher Honey, communications director for SEIU Local 500, told the Examiner that unionization would present employees at the group's D.C. headquarters with a "great opportunity."
"Like other similar groups, CAIR's staffers should have an opportunity to have representation," Honey said.
SEIU 500 has waged controversial organizing campaigns at other liberal groups that have generated negative responses. It launched an organizing campaign at Media Matters for America, the organization founded by Hillary Clinton ally David Brock, in 2014. MMFA had been a longtime supporter of card check organizing campaigns over secret ballot elections.
When the group's management demanded a secret ballot election and hired anti-union labor attorneys, some liberals called on MMFA to "walk the walk." SEIU Local 500 blasted the liberal attack site's hypocrisy. The staff voted to join the union in July 2014.
CAIR staffers will vote on whether or not to join the union on April 24.