LABOR
Housing Works Employees Vote to Join RWDSU
Workers land key breakthrough in prolonged labor battle; negotiations slated for 2021
BY MATT TRACY
Housing Works employees
voted by an overwhelming
margin to
join the Retail, Wholesale
and Department Store Union
(RWDSU), representing a major
victory for workers at a non-profi t
organization that serves individuals
living with HIV/ AIDS and experiencing
homelessness.
Employees voted 88 percent to
12 percent to join RWDSU in a lopsided
vote that sent a strong message
to out gay Housing Works CEO
Charles King and his management
team, which has mounted resistance
to the organizing effort.
According to RWDSU, contract
negotiations will kick off in 2021.
Workers under the bargaining unit
include case workers, social workers,
healthcare and retail employees,
and maintenance and legal staffers.
“We’re proud to fi nally and offi
cially welcome the 605 workers
employed by Housing Works into
our union,” RWDSU’s out gay president,
Stuart Appelbaum, said in a
written statement. “Workers experienced
a needlessly long fi ght to
unionize their workplace. Their tenacity
and fortitude never wavered
in this unnecessarily long process,
which was stalled by their employer
at every turn.”
The vote came more than a
year after workers stormed off
the job last October and marched
to Brooklyn Borough Hall, where
employees — backed by RWDSU
— aired out their concerns about
low pay, poor healthcare coverage,
high caseloads, and other issues
at Housing Works, which also operates
thrift shops in multiple locations
around the city.
Staffers went on to fi le for an election
with the National Labor Relations
Board (NLRB) in Brooklyn just
before the pandemic temporarily
threw the union effort into limbo. But
King, who has received signifi cant
criticism for what employees have
described as union-busting tactics,
appealed to the Washington headquarters
of the NLRB — a move that
outraged employees who felt their
Housing Works employees are celebrating more than a year after they stormed off the job and demanded
better working conditions.
Brian Grady (left) and Brian Fleurantin (right) have played leading roles in the organizing effort.
CEO was turning to the DC-based
board because Donald Trump’s appointees
there could have been inclined
to side with management.
“It’s about time,” Ella Evans, a
social worker based at Housing
Works’ midtown offi ce, told Gay
City News just minutes after the
votes were tallied. “This could have
been over a long time ago. They had
so many chances and put so much
effort into stalling and not letting
us vote. But it’s what we need.”
Evans elaborated on what they
described as “extremely expensive”
healthcare costs for employees
and poor benefi ts overall. They
hope negotiations yield more improvements,
such as hazard pay
for employees who face COVID-19
risks.
“I’m chronically ill, disabled,
and trans,” Evans said. “They
make it so hard.”
Brian Fleurantin, a care manager
at Housing Works’ downtown Brooklyn
MATT TRACY
MATT TRACY
location at 57 Willoughby Street,
refl ected on the organizing effort as
he celebrated the signifi cant victory
for the non-profi t’s employees.
“I feel a sense of satisfaction and
pride because we have been fi ghting
for the past two years to get to
this point,” Fleurantin said in a
phone interview. “We were able to
stand together with our co-workers
and build unity and solidarity even
during the pandemic.”
Housing Works management,
which faced heat from the beginning
when workers said CEO
Charles King would not accept a
neutrality agreement, acknowledged
the results of the vote in a
lengthy statement that insisted
management stayed impartial.
“For two years as the union organized
Housing Works employees,
we remained steadfastly neutral
and worked to ensure that every
eligible employee had the opportunity
to make their voice heard
in this election,” Housing Works
president Matt Bernardo told Gay
City News in a written statement.
“And for the last two years, we have
affi rmed and reaffi rmed our commitment
to do what a majority of
our employees wanted, and we will
of course abide by that commitment
in light of this result.”
Bernardo continued, “For three
decades, Housing Works’ priority
has always been our mission and
the clients we serve: New Yorkers
experiencing homelessness while
managing HIV/AIDS or, more recently,
COVID-19. At the same
time, we care deeply about our employees,
and we will continue to do
our best to support and advocate
for them as we always have.”
Throughout what has been a
long and arduous organizing campaign,
Housing Works employees
and members of RWDSU have kept
the pressure on management. Most
recently, current and former employees
positioned an infl ated rat
in front of the non-profi t’s South
Slope thrift shop in September after
Housing Works staffed the store
with only volunteers following a
round of layoffs.
But now, having made their voices
heard at the ballot box, workers
and RWDSU leaders are looking
forward with optimism as they
seek to carry their momentum into
the next stages of their campaign.
“Together, employees are ready
to win a strong contract that will
only enhance their ability to care
for the Housing Works community,”
Appelbaum said. “The results of this
union election continue to show that
the best way for working people to
protect themselves and their families
is to join together in a union.”
Housing Works management is
vowing to work with the union.
“We promised two years ago and
have repeated frequently since
then that we would bargain in good
faith with the union if they received
a majority of votes, and with our
work as essential as ever, we will
work constructively with the union
to achieve our shared goal of advocating
for our clients as we always
have,” Bernardo said.
December 31, 2020 - January 13, 2 2 021 | GayCityNews.com
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