In a stinging public rebuke, a contingent of field organizers for the progressive youth mobilization group NextGen America called on the group’s management on Monday evening to end a month of “stalling” and agree to the employees’ terms for union recognition. “While NextGen America’s field staff continue breaking turnout records in the ten states we organize, our management is siding with the GOP’s union-busting tactics,” the staff union said in a statement posted on social media. Although NextGen America insists it has already recognized the union and is merely haggling over details, the public feud complicates the presidential campaign plans of Tom Steyer, the billionaire hedge fund manager and liberal megadonor who founded and continues to fund NextGen America. Steyer announced Tuesday he has reconsidered his decision not to seek the Democratic presidential nomination and will join the 2020 primary race. Even though he is not involved in day to day management of NextGen America, the association with a group accused of anti-union tactics distracts from Steyer’s announcement. (Steyer plans to resign his formal leadership posts at NextGen America and Need to Impeach, a separate group he founded promoting the impeachment of President Donald Trump.)

The @NextGenAmerica field staff have fought for justice for years. Now, we are fighting for justice in our organization with a union. After a month of management stalling the organizing process, we ask you to join us in demanding their voluntary recognition! #1u#UnionYes (1/4) pic.twitter.com/7D5NwJLrMN — NextGen Field Staff Union (@NextGenUnion) July 8, 2019

“It’s important as a progressive organization that we are living our values,” said Violet Kilmurray, a regional organizing director based in the Milwaukee area. “It’s important for workers to feel empowered and that we are valued as a team and that our voices are valued too so we are part of making our organization and its culture better.” Kilmurray and Isabella Dickens-Bowman, a NextGen America organizer based in Manchester, New Hampshire, declined to comment on Steyer’s presidential ambitions. They denied that their decision to go public on Monday evening was timed to maximize pressure for recognition. They claim to have notified management a week ago of their plans to go public on Monday barring a resolution before that. NextGen youth vote director Ben Wessel released a statement saying that the organization had already recognized the union, but was merely waiting for third-party verification that the union had garnered majority support.

And now this statement from NextGen pic.twitter.com/gfRBadzelP — Gideon Resnick (@GideonResnick) July 8, 2019

The union told HuffPost it already agreed to let a third party verify majority support on cards completed by employees, though management said it has yet to be presented with a detailed plan for implementing the verification process. NextGen America spokeswoman Heather Greven confirmed that the dispute is chiefly over which employees are eligible for the union. The organization’s leaders consider many of the higher-level organizers to have enough supervisory capacity that they should be classified as managers and be excluded from the union. “We fully expect to sign a [collective bargaining agreement]. We’re in a fact-finding process,” Greven said. “Unionization efforts do not happen overnight.” The conflicting accounts of what has occurred since organizers asked management for voluntary union recognition on June 7 reflect disagreements over the size of a bargaining unit that are common in the early stages of a union recognition process. What heightens the stakes of the dispute is that it is occurring within the boundaries of a progressive organization that regularly collaborates with labor unions ― to say nothing of one founded by Steyer, who has for years aligned with the Democratic Party’s pro-labor wing. Within hours of the NextGen America organizers going public, they attracted high-profile shows of support that also reflect criticism of Next Gen America management. “Democracy starts in the workplace,” Association of Flight Attendants President Sara Nelson tweeted at NextGen America. “Don’t pretend you’re for the people of this planet if you’re not for your own worker’s rights!”

ASSOCIATED PRESS/Steven Senne Liberal billionaire Tom Steyer is announcing Tuesday whether he plans to run for president. Could a union dispute at a group he founded get in the way?