➤ HOUSING WORKS, from p.12
workers’ offi cial bargaining representative.
Employees submitted
more than 400 cards in support of
their unionization campaign.
“King says the company is neutral,
but all his actions are stopping
just short of saying, ‘Don’t vote for
the union’ but doing everything
to try to convince people not to,”
Eric Fretz, who works at a Housing
Works’ shop in Park Slope, told
Gay City News as he and his colleagues
waited for NLRB offi cials
to process their fi ling.
Stuart Appelbaum, the president
of RWDSU, is standing fi rmly
behind the employees and blasted
King in strong terms for “trying to
stand in their way.”
“Workers stood before their employer
yesterday, with a majority
of workers supporting the union,”
Appelbaum said in a written statement.
“But their so-called progressive
employer leaned back and said
no to recognizing their union…
Charles King is gaslighting his
workers when he says he is ‘neutral,’
and the workers won’t stand
for it any longer.”
Other employees on hand during
the mid-day visit to the NLRB
offi ces in Brooklyn shed light on
poor conditions they say they are
facing, noted that pay is too low,
and elaborated on their low-quality
health insurance plan.
“Having to have very high
➤ STATEN ISLAND ST. PAT’S, from p.12
and City Councilmember Deborah
Rose are among Democrats who
have tweeted support for the Pride
Center’s desire to participate in
the parade, while Republican Borough
President Jimmy Oddo also
published a tweet backing LGBTQ
groups like the Pride Center’s right
to march.
Staten Island GOP Councilmember
Steven Matteo, who has a record
of voting against transgender
rights initiatives and previously
refused to boycott Manhattan’s St.
Patrick’s Day Parade during the
long era when queer groups were
banned, also made his position
clear in response to questions from
Gay City News.
“I strongly support the SI Pride
Center and other LGBT organizations
openly participating in the
who decide how much of
that money goes into health insurance
and how much of it goes into
other things.”
King met questions about employees’
low pay with a mixed response.
He conceded “there are
certain parts of the organization
where people either carry too heavy
a caseload or could be better compensated,”
but he still maintained
that salaries “by and large rank
above the industry standard.”
He cautioned, however, that efforts
by Governor Andrew Cuomo
to cut $2.5 billion from Medicaid
could negatively impact Housing
Works’ Health Home care management
program, which King acknowledged
would be more effective
with higher salaries and lower
caseloads but is completely funded
by Albany. Should the state eliminate
that program or dramatically
decrease its funding in the budget
adopted for the fi scal year beginning
April 1, that would likely lead
to layoffs at the agency, he said.
Nonetheless, workers are confi dent
the election will go their way — and
they hope their employer doesn’t
drag things out any longer.
“What I hope for is a quick and
easy election and what I believe
will happen is this election will
have a ton of support among coworkers
from all different sites and
job titles,” Engelberg said, before
acknowledging, “It’s very possible
that there will be delays.”
St. Patrick’s Day Parade,” Matteo
said in a written statement February
17. “It’s way past time for this
to become a reality.”
Matteo’s Republican colleague
Joe Borelli, who also has a poor
record on LGBTQ rights, did not
return requests for comment for
this story.
It is the third consecutive year
Bullock has unsuccessfully tried
convincing organizers to let her
organization participate in the parade.
At this point, she appears
to have accepted that homophobia
will win out for now — but
she hopes the rest of the borough
doesn’t suffer as a result.
“Last year I was really positive
about the whole thing,” she said.
“This year I’m just asking people to
still go and visit amazing bars and
restaurants — just don’t march in
the parade.”
What exactly King means by
“neutrality,” however, is anyone’s
guess because no agreement has
been signed. Notably, King was
caught up in a distortion of the situation
last October when he sent
an email to staff attempting to outline
reasons why he refused to sign
the neutrality agreement, despite
the fact that his email came more
than a month after Appelbaum offered
multiple concessions in writing
on the very issues King cited.
Appelbaum’s concessions included
a willingness to allow secret-ballot
elections and to hold union meetings
“with employees when employees
are not required to work.”
During the February 14 phone
call, King asserted that he met with
the union for a negotiating meeting
on the Monday before Christmas
last year — and at that meeting the
union withdrew its request for the
neutrality agreement.
When reached after that phone
call with King, the union head disputed
King’s assertion.
“That’s a mischaracterization of
the facts,” Appelbaum said. “After
several delays by Housing Works,
workers had no choice but to fi le
for an election.”
Meanwhile, King also went on to
defend the organization’s healthcare
benefi ts and instead shifted
the onus back on employees, saying
that Housing Works “makes available
the resources we can make
available for benefi ts… it’s the employees
TWITTER/ @PRIDECENTERSI
monthly health insurance cost,
and even with the amount they
pay a month, it still is $45 to see a
specialist,” said Ilana Engelberg, a
care manager for Housing Works.
“If that’s a mental health provider,
that’s considered a specialist. Even
with what the employer contributes,
that’s a cost that is very prohibitive
to most of us in the helping
profession. We need to be seeing
mental health providers regularly,
and $45 to see a therapist every
week is just really a barrier.”
King argued that the union organizers’
complaints about copays
failed to note that Housing
Works carries secondary insurance
covering up to $50 of any copay,
and that for services provided
at the agency’s clinics or affi liated
pharmacies co-pays are waived altogether.
On that point, the union
responded that, even with the fi rst
$50 in co-pays covered, employees
face between $15 and $45 in out-ofpockets
to see a specialist, depending
on which of the agency’s three
healthcare plans they choose.
Reached by phone hours after
the workers took their case to the
NLRB, King defended his position.
“From the very beginning, we
encouraged the union to fi le for an
election,” he told Gay City News.
“We’re glad the union has moved
forward and fi led for an election.
We intend to continue our neutrality
and hope that we reach quick
agreement with the union.”
Carol Bullock (left), who heads the Pride Center of Staten Island, stands by a sign posted by the St.
Patrick’s Day parade organizers.
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