There's More to the Poets House Closure: Ex-Staff Release Details on Mass Firing

A press release by former Poets House staff was released yesterday, following the news that the literary center has abruptly closed. The release details proceedings—including a mass firing of staff who were preparing to unionize and articulated complaints about "workplace discrimination, sexual harassment, and exploitative labor practices"—that led to the announcement.

Following continued conversations in the spring and summer about implementing change, held with HR and labor consultants, for both the board and the staff:

…[A] majority of Poets House staff began meeting with representatives from United Auto Workers Local 2110 and signed union support cards. We filed our petition to unionize with the National Labor Relations Board and notified Poets House executive management of this petition on November 4, 2020; the deadline for their response was November 17, 2020. After the petition was filed, management abruptly cancelled two consecutive weekly staff meetings, citing reasons such as “paperwork” and “deadlines,” and all executive correspondence with staff slowed to a standstill.

On the morning of Monday, November 16th, all staff received notice of a mandatory meeting about the future of Poets House to be held at noon on that day. No information was given regarding this meeting beyond the subject line, “IMPORTANT MEETING,” and a zoom link. During the meeting, management announced that all nine union-eligible staff were being laid off, effective immediately, leaving only Lee Briccetti and Jane Preston on payroll to “wind operations down, and to plan succession.” Simultaneously, the institutional email accounts of all nine laid off staff members were frozen, preventing them from accessing their inboxes or tying up existing commitments. Staff who weren’t able to attend this last-minute meeting were not officially notified of their termination until three hours after the public announcement.

Read on here.