Ripe for Organizing
'1180' Out to Enlist Not-for-Profit Staff

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

As the Bloomberg administration shifts some education and social service functions to the private sector, one city union has turned in that direction to increase its membership.

ARTHUR CHELIOTES: Going where the work is.

Local 1180 of the Communications Workers of America has launched an organizing drive targeting employees of not-for-profit groups - some of which receive city dollars - who are frustrated with low salaries and sparse benefits.

Organizers say that unions could help provide much-needed stability in nonprofits where low wages can lead to high staff turnover rates. Labor leaders also argue that poor working conditions in the private sector undercut city workers' bargaining position.

Dangerous Paradox

"If we don't have people organized in the private sector, our benefits are threatened in the public sector," said Local 1180 President Arthur Cheliotes, "because workers as taxpayers will ask, 'Why is it that I can't get these benefits yet my tax dollars pay for these benefits?'''

New York City is home to some of the country's, and the world's, largest nonprofits, ranging from advocacy groups like Amnesty International to service groups such as Catholic Charities to funders like the Ford Foundation. The city also houses thousands of smaller community-based groups that receive city or state funding to provide counseling, health, educational and legal services.

Local 1180, which predominantly represents administrators and supervisors in city agencies, currently has collective bargaining agreements at Planned Parenthood, Human Rights First and Human Rights Watch.

Giving Begins at Home?

"Often these employees are undervalued and underpaid and working hard to help others," said Erin Mahoney, who is helping to lead the organizing drive and previously worked at Human Rights Watch.

Organizers acknowledge that one of the obstacles they face is the argument that money coming into the social service groups should not be diverted away from the group's cause and into the pockets of its workers.

"It's true we're fighting for the group's mission, but we're living in New York City, and we need to actually be able to live here," said Ms. Mahoney. "If we're building social justice elsewhere, that has to start at home."

Union officials also say that they believe that unions can make nonprofits stronger, by slowing down the staff turnover with better wages and benefits.

"There are so many big-name nonprofits here," she observed, "that sometimes the attitude towards entry-level people is, we don't have to treat you that great because you're lucky to be here."

In addition to increased wages, union contracts at the organized nonprofits have brought workers paid overtime, more defined job descriptions, and improved parental leave policies.

Union leaders would not reveal which groups they are targeting, but they said they pick sites both based on requests they receive from non-union workers and through contacts current members have inside the nonprofits. Local 1180 members who work at city agencies such as the Departments of Homeless Services and Social Services often work closely with employees at nonprofits that hold city contracts to provide services such as HIV/AIDS counseling and housing assistance.

Organizers also noted that the largest nonprofits tend to set the pattern for wages and benefits and can undercut efforts to raise wages at smaller agencies. Unionizing the big groups, organizers say, is necessary to increase labor's leverage and set a higher overall standard.

"Some city services have been privatized," said Mr. Cheliotes, "and many of the nonprofits rely on some kind of government funding. We believe their workers should be treated well and be able to earn a living."