FOR RIGHTS

was the classic union-busting stuff,” said Espinoza. “They said people would be ‘hurt’ if we joined a union because wages would go up and that would mean fewer jobs.”

When rumors started flying that Espinoza had recordings of some of these talks — and had also filmed a highranking supervisor during a red-faced meltdown in which he screamed antiunion rhetoric at Carrión and others — his bosses started finding problems with his timecards, he said.

On March 21, the NLRB investigation found, Shred-It changed Espinoza’s work reporting requirements. On April 4, he was suspended for allegedly falsifying paperwork, and on April 7, he was fired, the NLRB found.

In the settlement with the NLRB, the company didn’t admit to violating the National Labor Relations Act.

But it did agree to pay Espinoza roughly $15,000 in back pay along with $1,000 in damages and $13,000 in other pay, for a total of $30,000.

The NLRB, which sent its inspectors to Shred-It’s Bronx and Westbury, L.I., sites Thursday to announce its findings to the workers, also ordered the company to widely disseminate information on workers’ rights.

The entire NLRB settlement must be posted in “prominent places around the facility,” including the break rooms and employee mailboxes, the settlement said.

The company will also call companywide meetings at peak working times so an NLRB agent can read the notice to workers in multiple languages.

Espinoza’s co-worker Carrión was able to retain his job after having the false accusations against him expunged, Local 813 said.

But Espinoza himself was unable to get his job back, he said.

“The company didn’t want to take me back, and in the end, I was doing this to try and get better job security for everybody there, not just myself, and while I came out short in that regard, I’m really hoping this empowers the others there to join a union. That’s how I feel in the end,” he said.

He did get to return to his former place of employment Thursday with the NLRB to help hand out flyers to his co-workers — and he’s picked up some part-time work with the Teamsters helping organizer Allen Henry on other drives in the Bronx and Long Island City, Queens.

Sean Campbell, head of Local 813, said Stericycle and Shred-It’s union-busting tactics were all too common in the industry.

“When you are threatened and interrogated because you stood up for your rights, it only confirms why you wanted a union in the first place,” he said. “The Teamsters will keep fighting in support of these workers and their campaign for a union.”

Stericycle and Shred-It didn’t return calls for comment.