The progressive world is seeing a wave of labor organizing. These unionization campaigns are about more than putting your money where your mouth is—many of these organizations have preached the values of workers rights for years—they are also producing real benefits for employees.
(See Blue Tent's list of nonprofits that have unionized.)
In the United States, union support is rising, with the largest upswing in support coming from workers under 35; we don't have to look hard to find progressive organizations unionizing. In fact, Joe Biden, Rep. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Bernie Sanders’s 2020 presidential campaigns were all unionized. The Nonprofit Professional Employees Union (NPEU), announced in April that it had successfully unionized seven nonprofit organizations over a two-week period. NELP represents workers at 27 organizations.
Typical workplaces, in some ways
While workers have had labor victories all across the progressive movement, it isn’t hard to find controversies between workers and management within progressive groups trying to reach a collective bargaining agreement. Workers often view the writing of a collective bargaining agreement as an opportunity to discuss how to make the workplace better for everyone –– sadly, management doesn’t always hold this view.
Blue Tent saw this disconnect when we found that current and even former staff members of progressive organizations were reluctant to go on the record to discuss their unionizing experience for fear of retaliation and being denied job opportunities. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) has documented how companies use similar tactics against pro-union workers. Seeing progressive professionals with concerns of similar behavior serves as a reminder of how much farther the progressive movement has to go.
As someone who has worked for two unionized progressive nonprofits, including serving as a union delegate when on staff at the National LGBTQ Task Force, I have seen how unions benefit workers and help management learn to make more effective and healthier decisions in the workplace.
Every union drive is about issues specific to that worksite or organization, yet most union efforts tackle the issues of wages, hours and fair treatment, or a combination of the three.
Money matters
Wages are often an important part of a collective bargaining negotiation. Often, workers are looking for wage floors and guaranteed cost-of-living wage increases. In places like Washington, D.C., that see rents constantly increased, cost-of-living raises are essential. While not every group has the money to give major raises, many groups of workers have secured wage floors and annual pay increases. For example, workers at the Center For American Progress (CAP) secured an agreement with guaranteed annual raises and increased the minimum starting salary at the organization by $5,000, to $37,000.
Pay floors and pay inequities between workers are serious issues in the workplace. Many organizations don’t post salary ranges for open positions ––making it difficult for progressive professionals to negotiate a fair wage. This is especially true for entry-level professionals who don’t have the inside knowledge of working in the progressive space and may not realize how valuable their work is. It can also create tension among staff when colleagues learn of pay inequities, leading to accusations of unfairness levied against management.
Collective bargaining agreements can tackle pay inequities, leading to a better working environment for everyone. According to the Economic Policy Institute, collective bargaining significantly reduces gender and racial wage gaps. In 2016, ThinkProgress––the now-defunct news site that was affiliated with CAP’s political action fund––was able to receive a pay floor of $45,000 for reporters and editors, as well as additional raises for staff to reduce pay inequities between colleagues.
Other demands
Another need in many offices is the number of hours worked. Too often, staff at progressive nonprofits are salaried with no additional time off or compensation for working extra hours. At both unionized progressive organizations for which I worked, our contracts provided compensation time (often called comp time) for staff that worked additional hours or shifts. Comp time isn’t the only option; Biden’s presidential campaign pays overtime.
Recognizing employees’ time as valuable in a collective bargaining agreement forces management to view it as a limited resource that needs to be used wisely. If an organization pays overtime, there may be budgetary constraints to the amount of overtime it offers each month. A manager would have to decide if it is financially worthwhile to keep the staff late to complete a project or wait to finish during business hours the next day.
With comp time, if a manager isn’t careful, staff could acquire significant amounts of extra time off –– which might be fine for an organization that has periods of heavy activity followed by slow times. But management for an organization that is busy year-round may need to be more cautious.
Another issue is having the basic ground rules, in writing, for how staff and management navigate their working relationships. This can cover the hours when employees are expected to be in the office; if and how employees can request to work from home; and more complicated issues, such as the disciplinary process. These issues are key to ensuring fairness for all staff and running an office efficiently.
Outlining the disciplinary process is just as beneficial to management as it is to staff. Staff deserve fair and equal treatment in the office with clear rules. Managers also deserve clear rules of what is and isn’t an offense and how the process works.
Progressive organizations’ staff and management can benefit from collective bargaining. If you and your colleagues are considering organizing your office, you can reach out to the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union (NPEU), SEIU Local 500, 1199SEIU, or check out the AFL-CIO’s Form a Union page.
