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June 1, 2018 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
...Outside In staff vote overwhelmingly to join AFSCME
From Page 1
health issues. Services include
health care, drug treatment, tran-
sitional housing assistance, job
training, even tattoo removal.
Today, the organization has
grown to about 170 employees,
and an annual budget of nearly
$12 million.
The effort to unionize picked
up momentum in January, after
workers formed an organizing
committee and began working
with Oregon AFSCME. The or-
ganizing committee decided
Oregon AFSCME was a good fit
because it represents workers at
similar nonprofits, including
Transition Projects and Central
City Concern.
In February, committee mem-
bers laid out what they’re seek-
ing in a mission statement: “As
workers at Outside In, we care
deeply about our clients,” the
statement says. “To that end, we
are coming together to form a
union and harness the power of
collective bargaining to raise
standards for the workers of
Outside In and across the indus-
try so that social service jobs can
be good jobs with less turnover
Last November, a violent attack at Portland homeless teen nonprofit Outside
In laid bare the gulf between top management and front-line employees.
and more stability for our clients.
… We ask that our co-workers
come together and stand with us
in solidarity to fight for an open,
compassionate and democratic
workplace that values every in-
dividual that comes in contact
with our programs.”
That client-focused message
resonated with staff, says clinic
operations assistant Eddie Charl-
ton.
“How you treat your care
workers is a direct reflection of
the value of the care you pro-
vide,” Charlton said. “And
turnover has become a hin-
drance to the mission of our or-
ganization.”
“Below a supervisory level,
there’s only a handful of people
that were there when I started
[two years ago],” Charlton told
the Labor Press. “We’re losing
time, money and resources con-
stantly training new staff. And
we have trouble hiring for posi-
tions because they aren’t being
listed at a market rate.”
With the union campaign un-
der way, Outside In executive di-
rector Kathy Oliver announced
plans to retire in June after 38
years. And she began sending
emails to staff arguing against
unionization.
“Outside In’s leadership does
not believe a union would ulti-
mately benefit Outside In, its
employees, and its clients,”
Oliver wrote in a mid-March
email to staff that was shared
with the Labor Press.
But a majority of the workers
disagreed, and signed cards say-
ing they wanted to join AF-
SCME. Workers asked Oliver to
voluntarily recognize their
union; she declined.
So on April 27, AFSCME
asked the National Labor Rela-
tions Board to schedule a union
election.
Though Oliver expressed her
opinion in multiple emails to
staff, Outside In didn’t hire
union-busting consultants or
wage a full-fledged anti-union
campaign like many employers
do.
“I appreciated that they were
pretty straightforward and did
not spend client resources on
consultants or attorneys,” said
Oregon AFSCME organizer
Doug Lantz.
The union election took place
May 15-16, and the result was
an overwhelming 88 to 18 vote
in favor of unionizing.
The newly unionized unit will
consist of about 125 workers in
about 50 separate classifications
— from physicians and psychi-
atrists to bookkeepers and inter-
preters. Alongside the vote to
unionize, Outside In employees
who hold advanced degrees also
voted 21 to 7 to be in the same
bargaining unit as their non-pro-
fessional co-workers.
Now the two sides will meet
to negotiate a union contract.
What do workers want to see
in such an agreement? For
starters, concrete emergency
procedures, to allow people to
react quickly. Better trainings for
de-escalation, maybe even self
defense courses. And better
wages and regular wage in-
creases — to curb staff turnover.
“We’d like to create a contract
with Outside In that allows us to
retain our highly qualified work-
ers,” Charlton says, “in order to
more sustainably serve our
clients.”
... Uber driver standards
From Page 4
so at a moment’s notice we could
be earning even less.” Drivers
also have no recourse in the
event of an unfair deactivation or
other grievance, Christofferson
said. “The TNCs have unilateral
authority to determine our ability
to work, and us as drivers have
no ability to hold them account-
able for their actions.”
The commissioners then heard
an hour of public testimony from
taxi drivers feeling squeezed by
the TNCs, from TNC drivers in
Transportation Fairness Portland
who support the resolution, and
from TNC drivers wearing Lyft
T-shirts who oppose it.
Opponents said things are fine
the way they are. Drivers can
speak for themselves in dealing
with Uber and Lyft and don’t
need a city board or a union to
speak for them, several said.
Full-time TNC driver Douglas
Wright, who’s driven for Uber
and Lyft for six months, said he
saw no need for an oversight
body, even though he at times
earned less than minimum wage
when he started. Wright said he
had no sympathy for any TNC
driver complaining — if they
don’t like it they should do some-
thing else. That drew an ani-
mated reaction from Commis-
sioner Fish.
“When I hear, and you’re not
alone, people come before this
body, and essentially say that the
claims of other drivers are in-
valid, and that they don’t need to
have a forum to have those issues
addressed, it almost sounds to me
like the taxpayer who says ‘I’m
never going to have a fire, so
why do we have a fire bureau?’
… or maybe even Zsa Zsa Ga-
bor’s first husband saying, ‘We
love each other; I don’t need a
pre-nup.”
“I’m persuaded that TNC
drivers do not have a meaningful
voice in the workplace,” Fish
said later, explaining his vote in
favor of the resolution.
“Corporations do a great job
looking out for their own inter-
ests,” added Commissioner Eu-
daly. “Workers, whether they are
employees or independent con-
tractors. have a right to organize
and advocate for their rights, and
it’s our duty as elected represen-
tatives to look out for their
rights.”
—Don McIntosh