20 ▼ may 17. 1096 ▼ just out
Years of management problems at the AIDS service agency have led employees to organize to form a union
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by Inga Sorensen
(From left) Tom Cotter, Laura Rittall, Wendi Johnson, Brian Hoop, David Brinkman and Ena Eakin, some o f the employees who support
union organizing efforts at CAP
t press time, Amy Stear, Oregon Pub­ Grant, a 30-year-old OPEU union organizer who
lic Employees Union’s director o f first met with CAP staff several weeks ago to
organizing, told Just Out that the rel­ discuss the possible formation of a union.
On April 16, a petition for election was filed
evant parties in this case signed an
with
the National Labor Relations Board, after
agreement on May 13 paving the way
more than 80 percent of CAP employees signed
fo r a card count that could lead to the establish­
the
cards to authorize the election.
ment o f a union at Cascade AIDS Project.
“People who are happy with their work envi­
She says the count is set fo r the week o f May
ronments usually don’t come to us, so I assume if
20-24. CAP staffers supporting the union hail the
they do there is a problem in the workplace,” says
move, calling it an important step in the agency’s
evolutionary process. We spoke with some o f Grant. “At CAP, the problems really revolved
around issues of respect and dignity—in that
those staffers days before the agreement was
employees
do not feel they are being respected—
signed. What follows is a look at some o f their
and of a lack of clear personnel guidelines per­
concerns.
taining to the hiring and firing of employees,
evaluations—you name it.”
hen roughly half of Cascade AIDS
tep into the downtown Portland lobby of
Project’s staff—carrying a stack of union
CAP, Oregon’s largest HIV/AIDS educa­
authorization cards—recently marched
tion and nonmedical service organization,
into the office of the nonprofit agency’s execu­
and
you’re
greeted with walls coated with calm­
tive director, Susan Stoltenberg, it was, she ad­
ing shades of green, blue and lavender.
mits, one of life’s “mystical moments.”
The atmosphere seems tranquil to the uniniti­
“It was one of those moments where you go,
ated, but talk with many CAP employees and they
‘W hoa...’ ” recounts Stoltenberg, an occasion­
will tell you that looks can be deceiving.
ally contentious figure in the HI V/AIDS commu­
They say high staff turnover, subtle and overt
nity, who took a “very, very long walk” afterward
threats of dismissal from some supervisors, and
to try and clear her head and “root out what was
lax personnel policies have created an often insuf­
or wasn’t to be taken personally.”
ferable environment that distracts them from effi­
“I was completely surprised,” she says. “I had
never before been approached by them in a uni­ ciently serving their clients.
Controversy is not new to the agency, which
fied way.”
was founded in 1983. Over the years CAP, which
During the afternoon of April 15, after the
relies heavily on private donations as well as
overwhelming majority of CAP’S estimated 30
federal and state funding, has experienced numer­
employees had signed union authorization cards,
ous managerial, procedural and financial prob­
a group of staffers piled into Stoltenberg’s office.
lems.
They came—unannounced—to demand recog­
One example: In the early 1990s CAP had a
nition of the union they were building with Or­
projected $140,000 budget shortfall. A subse­
egon Public Employees Union/Service Employ­
quent probe by the state Justice Department led
ees International Union/Local 503.
investigators to conclude that the shortfall grew
“At that point Susan could have said, ‘I recog­
from administrative mismanagement, but they
nize you.’ That didn’t happen. It is, of course,
also believed it “more likely than not” that the
very rare for management anywhere to automati­
former chief financial officer, Rob Kaola Bradley
cally recognize a new union,” explains Laura
A
W
S
group dynamic is critical when you’re talking
about unionizing,” Grant told Just Out during an
earlier interview.
Grant says when she first met with CAP em­
ployees about unionizing, they shared stories of
abuse and an “unhealthy power dynamic” be­
tween workers and management.
“In the CAP Employee Handbook there is a
section that says ‘You are at-will,’ meaning em­
ployees can be fired any time for any reason or no
reason at all. People generally don’t press the
point,” she says. “Apparently CAP employees
were constantly being told that ‘You are an at-will
employee, and we could let you go at any time.’
There was no subtlety about it.
“One thing that really shook people was the
recent dismissal of an employee who was re­
spected and viewed as having done a good job,”
continues Grant. “The employee was let go with­
out having an opportunity to say, ‘Hey, what did
I do wrong and how can 1 improve?’ ”
She adds, “We believe there should be a series
of disciplinary actions that employees undergo in
order for them to have a chance to improve. The
steps are progressive. If, after the employee has
gone
through the process, they still aren’t doing
his is not a personal thing. These problems
the job, then they should be let go. Not before.”
have existed at CAP for a long time, cer­
According to Brian Hoop, CAP’s HIV pri­
tainly before Susan got here,” says 26-year-
mary prevention specialist, staff seriously began
old Ena Eakin, CAP’s HIV education program
pondering launching a union in late winter and
coordinator.
early spring after a respected employee was alleg­
With roughly three years of employment at the
edly “told to pack his stuff up and be out of the
agency under her belt, Eakin describes herself as
building in 10 minutes.”
a long-term employee, perhaps the most senior of
“In a nutshell, that’s what happened,” says
them all.
Jonathan Kessler, 30, who maintains he was laid
“Many of the people here stay for a year and
off Jan. 31 after nine months of full-time employ­
then leave,” she says. “I believe a union will make
ment at CAP.
it easier for employees— who do this because
“I had been praised by the board and the
they love the work—to stay longer than that,
executive director for some of the events I had
which benefits our clients and the community.”
pulled together,” says Kessler, who was a devel­
Eakin was among a group of agency employ­
opment associate handling special events.
ees, all of whom support the union, who met with
Kessler says he helped organize the annual
Just Out on May 9 at the CAP office.
AIDS Walk list September, which he estimates
“This isa very strong group of people, and the
Strahan, had siphoned about $15,000 of CAP
funds into his own bank account.
Strahan was officially removed from the post
in April 1994, and several steps were taken by
CAP to clear up the financial debacle, including
the hiring of a new executive director—
Stoltenberg—and a treasurer, as well as a re­
vamping of the board.
A Department of Justice report released in the
fall of 1994 gave CAP a clean bill of financial
health and endorsed Stoltenberg and new policies
that were being implemented.
As the administrative problems festered, how­
ever, CAP’S client base and staff grew. In 1992,
for example, the agency had a staff of 16, a
$600,000 budget, and an active caseload of 400-
plus clients. Four years later, the client caseload
has rocketed to 1,500, the budget has increased to
$1.4 million, and the staff has nearly doubled.
In such a climate of incredible growth and
ongoing flux, personnel policies have fallen by
the wayside, say some employees, who now be­
lieve a union is the only way to protect themselves
and clients and create a stable work environment.
T