EMPLOYMENT
Employees Rip “Union-Busting” at Housing Works
Agency’s CEO, longtime activist Charles King, sees reputation challenged in ongoing batttle
BY MATT TRACY
Housing Works employees and the
union aiming to represent them are
expressing anger over the ongoing
resistance of the non-profi t’s out gay
CEO, Charles King, a man they say has drifted
from his radical activism to become a unionbusting
boss. The rift comes in the fi fth month
of contending with the coronavirus pandemic, a
stretch with major staffi ng changes there.
The union proponents’ latest beef is with
King’s appeal to the Washington headquarters
of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB),
where employees believe their efforts are viewed
less favorably by Trump appointees than in the
federal agency’s Brooklyn district offi ce.
The Housing Works organizing group, represented
by the Retail, Wholesale and Department
Store Union (RWDSU), has spent months
pushing their effort at unionizing, complaining
of shoddy health insurance plans, high caseloads,
a meager paid time-off policy, and more.
RWDSU and some employees say the battle represents
an ironic twist at a non-profi t that spent
decades preaching progressive causes while
serving homeless clients with HIV/ AIDS.
Workers stormed off the job last October and
held a rally at Brooklyn’s Borough Hall, where
folks heard testimonials from employees like
Siobhán Fuller, a trans woman who explained
her agency health insurance plan included a
high deductible that forced her to shell out hundreds
of dollars for necessary hormones as well
as a $100 bill for every doctor appointment.
Earlier this year, King argued that such complaints
about co-pays failed to note that Housing
Works carries secondary insurance covering
up to $50 of any co-pay, and that for services
provided at the agency’s clinics or affi liated
pharmacies co-pays are waived altogether. The
union responded that, even with the fi rst $50
in co-pays covered, employees face between $15
and $45 in out-of-pockets to see a specialist.
Union activists said they were stonewalled
by King, who wouldn’t accept their neutrality
agreement. In February, they fi led for an election
through the NLRB and the ballots were to
be mailed out March 20, but one day earlier the
NLRB postponed elections due to COVID-19.
The federal agency resumed elections in
April, and in May Housing Works and the union
unsuccessfully sought to navigate an agreeable
path forward. The agency wanted to include its
new COVID-19 “isolation shelters” in the bargaining
unit, but the union pushed back because
the shelters did not exist at the outset of
the election process and employed workers who
didn’t petition for the election.
MATT TRACY
Housing Works employees chanted “union busting is disgusting”
and “fi x Housing Works now” when they marched out of work and
protested on the steps of Brooklyn’s Borough Hall last October.
Finally, on July 9, the Brooklyn-based NLRB
offi ce ruled the election should move forward.
Ballots were set to be mailed out on July 31, but
on July 23 Housing Works stepped in with an
appeal to the NLRB’s Washington offi ce.
In comments last week, King acknowledged
the confl ict between the two sides, saying their
differences stem in part from staffi ng changes
brought about by the pandemic’s arrival.
“We’ve obviously had some signifi cant changes
in our staffi ng so we want to renegotiate the
proposed bargaining unit to eliminate people
who are no longer part of our staff and add people
who are part of our staff,” he said.
Some people previously in the bargaining
unit had moved to other jobs, such as working
in the isolation shelters and would be ineligible
to vote, he said. The union dismissed King’s argument,
arguing that many of those had been
promoted to management posts making them
ineligible for union membership anyway.
But King asserts that the union’s position
ignores the operational restructuring Housing
Works was required to undergo in order to sustain
itself and meet its clients’ needs.
“The issue the NLRB is currently reviewing
is whether there have been changed or unusual
circumstances that warrant updating or revising
the election agreement — surely a global
pandemic, coupled with the massive shift in
operations, would qualify,” he said.
“From the beginning, the RWDSU wanted to
organize Housing Works staff as one bargaining
unit that included everyone from the thrift
stores to the supportive housing — we are simply
ensuring that every employee is included,”
King said on August 7.
Regarding employees furloughed or laid off in
the wake of the pandemic, King asserted that
“every single person who Housing Works laid
off” was offered “alternative positions.”
“That is just not true,” RWDSU’s out gay president,
Stuart Appelbaum, told Gay City News.
Appelbaum and current and former agency
employees allege that its behavior regarding
furloughs and rehiring refl ect an ongoing effort
at union-busting by Housing Works.
“The bottom line is this: Every time workers
at Housing Works have tried to demonstrate the
overwhelming support the union has, Charles
King has fought any effort to let his members
have a voice,” Appelbaum said.
Eric Fretz, a former Housing Works thrift
shop employee, said he was furloughed on April
2 for what was to be four months, but then got
a note in May saying he was laid off.
“The weird thing about that email was they
said they decided to reorganize the bookstore,
and because of that my position was being
eliminated,” Fretz recalled. “I said, ‘Wait a minute.
I didn’t work in the bookstore.’”
Fretz applied for other positions, but was rejected
— and he wonders whether his involvement
in the union drive was a factor.
“It’s certainly what I suspect,” he said. “They
knew I was involved in this. They haven’t come
back with an explanation why. They said I was
doing a really good job.”
Fretz added that he “absolutely” believes the
reason the organization turned to the NLRB’s
Washington offi ce was because of the anti-union
sympathies Trump appointees there harbor.
Venitia Boyce, a former Housing Works peer
navigator, said she received a vague email on
March 30 asking her to check in.
“When I hopped on the call, they said, ‘Sorry,
you’re being permanently let go,’” Boyce recalled,
noting the agency pointed to the pandemic and
budget cuts as reasons why she was laid off.
“It was weird because I was one of the most
senior folks there and defi nitely the most senior
navigator,” she said. Like Fretz, she was not offered
any other position in the organization.
Boyce said that when she fi rst arrived at
Housing Works she was forced to take on a
caseload of 80 clients, which she said was at
least 25 more than the recommended amount.
She also recalled a workplace culture of friction
between management and workers.
“The level of disrespect coming from management
became more apparent,” she said. “Housing
Works really champions how they’re good
at organizing, but when it comes to workers
actually organizing on behalf of themselves, it
➤ RWDSU V. HOUSING WORKS, continued on p.13
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