Workers at Jewish Family Services win their union

Despite union busting from management, workers overwhelmingly vote to join CWA Local 6400

By TIM ROWDEN
Editor-in-Chief

Workers at Jewish Family Services (JFS) have voted overwhelmingly to join Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 6400 Missouri-Kansas, which includes the recently merged CWA 6355 and CWA 6400, as Jewish Family Services Workers United.

After months of organizing, and despite sustained union avoidance tactics resulting in numerous Unfair Labor Practice charges against JFS management, the professional and non-professional bargaining units voted nine-to-seven and six-to-four to join CWA.

“We won both,” said Natashia Pickens, executive vice president of Local 6400. “This was a hard-fought win. They (JFS) were pushing very hard to stop this, and it came down to the vote. We are very excited for the workers, and we are looking forward to building a collaborative process with Jewish Family Services.”

As a result of the vote, Pickens said, “workers will have a voice on the job, and a say in what happens to them in the workplace. And the company has to work with them on some of the issues they have there in the center.”

JFS provides services for children, families and older adults designed to help alleviate hunger and improve mental health. It operates the Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry and child abuse prevention programs.

Workers cited high turnover and a toxic work environment at the social services nonprofit among their reasons for organizing.

Pickens said workers also voted on whether the two bargaining units should be combined. The certified results of that vote were not yet available.

‘ANTI-UNION CAMPAIGN’
Kelly Baker, a school-based therapist with JFS and lead organizer, said JFS forced organizers to break their majority into two bargaining units in an attempt to erode support for the union.

The professional unit includes therapists, diagnosticians, case managers, older adult services and communications.

The non-professional unit includes employees in the food pantry and child abuse prevention, as well as administrative and data coordination.

There are 29 employees combined between the two units.

“Even with them splitting our majority up into two different units, and even though we had lost a couple supporters who left the agency in the past couple of months, we still got it,” Baker said. “We had a majority in both units.”

Baker said JFS engaged in union busting tactics throughout the campaign.

“It was a really tough anti-union campaign,”  she added, noting that in the week leading up to the election employees received daily emails from CEO Miriam Seidenfeld disparaging the union.

“I think it has been shocking,” Baker said. “I think in the community people are kind of bewildered that they have responded to us in such a way.”

SOLIDARITY
In a show of solidarity with the JFS employees, representatives of Missouri Jobs with Justice, Jews United for Justice (JUJ), CWA, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists St. Louis Chapter, IBEW, United Media Guild Local 36047, Teamsters Local 688, the Organization for Black Struggle, Democratic Socialists and others rallied Monday evening before the vote and Tuesday on the morning of the vote outside JFS offices to let workers know the community was with them.

“What we’ve heard about how management dealt with employees was not consistent with our understanding of Jewish  values,” said Rhona Lyons of Jews United for Justice (JUJ), which sent a letter to Seidenfeld and Board President Molly Salky early in the campaign urging them to remain neutral in the election.

Members of the JUJ steering committee met with Salky and Seidenfeld on April 4 to discuss the union organizing campaign. At that meeting, JUJ was assured JFS would be fair and conform to Jewish and JFS principles throughout the union organizing process, despite the fact that JFS was represented by Ogletree-Deakins, which has a reputation of being anti-union. 

That, organizers and JUJ representatives said, was not how it played out.

“We are not happy the way the agency has responded to the organizing effort,” said Roz Sherman Voellinger of JUJ. “We had asked for and expected a much different  approach.”