The IBEW then filed a complaint with the NLRB in May, saying that the recent layoffs of seven station employees were connected to the unionization drive and that owner Bill Evans had threatened to shutter KHBC-TV if workers voted to join a union; Evans said the layoffs were justified by the operating losses of channel 2, running into tens of thousands of dollars per month, and compared the unionization push to "socialism" and "Gestapoism".