April 14, 2025 • 47 mins
Mia talks with Jess and Jesus from Friends PDX Union Network about their work mentoring underprivileged youth at Friends of the Children and their unionization efforts.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Al Zon Media.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Hey everybody, Robert here, I wanted to let you know
that two of our hosts at Zitron of Better Offline
and Molly Conger of Weird Little Guys, are in the
running to win the Webbys right now or to win
Webbys in their respective categories. If you just google their
names at Zitron, Webby we bb Y or Molly Conger Webby,
you can find them and vote for them. There will
(00:25):
be links in the show notes as well, Sophia, you'll
put them in, so please do vote for them.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Welcome, Dick it Out and here a podcast. I asked
the question what happens when the people who are trying
to help put things back together are also being exploited
in the process. I am your host, Mio Wong, and
today we are going to be talking about a union
that is attempting to do exactly that. And with me
to discuss this are Jess and Hazeus, who are mentors
for Friends of the Children PDX and members of the
(00:54):
Friends PDX union network. Yeah, Jess, Zeus, welcome to the show.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Thank you so much for having us.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Yeah, I'm really happy to talk to you both because
I think this is a very very unique and interesting union,
especially you know, talk about especially right now. But to
get people sort of rolling, can you explain what Friends
of the Children is and what it is that you
two do.
Speaker 5 (01:18):
Yeah, So Friends of the Children is. It's a national organization.
It's a nonprofit, but they're there are individual chapters throughout
different cities. We work out of Portland, which is the
founding chapter and also the largest one. Some of the language,
I'll say that it's like used from the website and
(01:38):
from like the mission statement that really encompasses what our
role is and also how it is told to like
our community partnerships and the families and youth that we
work with. Is that we are committing to youth when
they are typically around kindergarten age level and they're being
paired with a mentor and they will have a mentor
(02:00):
or until they graduate the program, so that usually ends
up being a total of twelve and a half years.
And that like within that, we were doing a lot
of like individualized care and support. We work with them
in the schools, we work with them outside the schools.
We help them get into extracurriculars, We help them with
like social emotional regulation, developing relationships with other youth in
(02:23):
the program, and really just like being a consistently reliable
human being. And one of the big pillars of our
organization is the commitment to long term which sometimes can
be an issue when you are facing a lot of
high turnover as an organization. We both have eight kids
on our roster, as do most mentors, and within that
(02:47):
we have youth. I personally have youth that have been
assigned to me that have just started in the program,
meaning that they were like maybe first grade when I
was assigned to them. And then I also have youth
that are middle school level that have had several different
mentors in the past, some that have stayed there for
(03:08):
maybe a few years, and like sometimes there's ones that
have been there for months.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
Yeah, if I can add to that. The kids we
work with, they're enrolled into the program because they have
some risk factors in their lives that would lead them
to needing a little bit of extra support and help.
So we work with a lot of kids that come
(03:34):
from immigrant families, from families that have you know, single
parent households, foster care families, and kids kids that like
unfortunately are likely to face some challenges that our society
and the way it's built up will deal to them,
(03:57):
and our goal is to help them through those challenges,
just be there for them so that they have a
chance of you know, graduating high school or entering adulthood
without having you know, having had kids or facing like
the justice system. It's kids that we love dearly that
(04:22):
we work with in a similar way as like you know,
a program like Big Brothers Big Sisters. But we are
paid mentors, which is the big difference, right, We're not
volunteer based. We are employees basically social workers for all
of the families that we work with. It's honestly, like
(04:44):
it's a great job, and I think right now, especially
like super necessary because things are falling apart.
Speaker 5 (04:52):
Yeah yeah, and yeah, just adding like one that made
me think of how with in the work, Like I
think social work is a very apt choice of words
because we are paired with the youth and it doesn't
like stop there, like we work like we work with
the families. We also work with like the siblings too,
(05:12):
because sometimes you'll have a youth that maybe is the
only child in that family that for whatever reason got
a mentor, and then you support also, I mean it's
a choice, but I would say that most mentors definitely
opt into being there for siblings and family members in
the household and making sure that they're also showing up
(05:33):
for the caregivers to help them create a loving home.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Yeah, And I mean, you know, I think that you
can you can look at this and see how it's
supposed to work structurally, And you know, you were talking
about like, I mean, this is supposed to be a
like over a decade long commitment to these kids, right
that ideally you're working with the same person and you
know you're forming really deep emotional attachments because you can't
(06:00):
not do that if we're doing this kind of work.
But then also, you know, in order for that to work,
I think it's you know, you can see this the outside, like,
in order for this to work, this has to be
a job that you could stayably do for a decade, right.
Speaker 5 (06:19):
Yeah, Yeah, which I will say we do and I
want to do. I want to give so many props
to one of our mentors who has stayed for twelve
years and has graduated their youth. But of of all
of our co workers, I believe it's only one that
has currently been able to do that and has stayed
(06:39):
there as long as I have.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Yeah. Yeah, And the truth of the fact, like, yeah,
a for any job, twelve and a half years is
a really long time, right, I mean six years is
a really long time. And with this job, we're like
we're an emotional sponge for a lot of things. Right,
So our kids go through everything that you could imagine,
(07:06):
and and within that, like everything good and everything bad
that you could imagine. And our job a lot of
times is like we can't solve the things that are
affecting these kids, but we can take in some of
those negative feelings and that grief, that anger, We can
(07:28):
take it in and almost like dissolve it a little bit, right,
But within that, like it can affect us so so much.
And that's where Yeah, the sustainability part of like twelve
and a half years in this job, like that is
a lot and and you we need a lot for
(07:49):
that to like at all be be possible.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Yeah, I mean, like that there's this way in which
you're effectively what this job is is like you're the
person who is trying to like mitigate the impact of
like all like literally all of the structural systems of
violence that exist in this entire country and how like
how they're just sort of targeted down on these kids
(08:14):
and your job is to like try to like protect
them as much as possible. And that's unbelievable amount of
like physical and emotional labor. And then also like, I
don't know, it seems pretty bad that there's only been
one coworker who's been able to graduate their kids, like.
Speaker 5 (08:35):
Just to clarify for history that's been in like our time.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Yeah, I don't know if like over.
Speaker 5 (08:40):
The thirty years, I hope that other people have, but yeah,
in recent years it's only been the one. And also like, yeah,
this is a job where you are not necessarily able
to like undo the systems at play, but trying to
support them. And like we as mentors are inevitably also
(09:01):
facing those systems against ourselves. And like, one of the
reasons that I think people gravitate towards this job is
their empathy because they have those shared experiences. One of
the things that is kind of heavy in the culture
of friends is being asked your why when you start,
(09:22):
like why did you choose friends? And for a lot
of people, it is because of wanting to be the
person that they needed when they were going through those
periods of time. So there's bound to be like a
lot of like reactivation of feelings inside yourself that I
think we all, like I want to say, like every
mentor I've worked with an incredible job of like handling
(09:44):
that and like taking good care of themselves. But it
is definitely something that like takes a lot of regulation,
and I think empathy is one of the greatest skills
in this job. But it also yeah, it also then
leads to us need greater needs of self care and
things like that.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Yeah, And like I'm I guess like people this in
perspective for like people listening to this as like, Okay,
your job is to be the person like in the
friend group who like manages like when someone's like having
an emotional crisis, like you have to like help them
deal with it. And that is your job for like
eight kids like the worst shit in the world, like
(10:26):
Jesus Christ's Oh good Lord.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
It's honestly, like like hearing this, it's always really helpful
to hear someone's outside perspective of our job, right because
we get so so into it, so into the muck
of like what this job can be and I think
like overall, like like social work, it's not just like
our our job, but like I'm sure other social workers
(10:50):
and people in care industries like we have that like
continuous like vicarious trauma that makes us forget like how
how our job is sometimes and then it's helpful to
hear other people mention it because it's like, yeah, wow,
our job is kind of crazy, and and the work
we do is like really important and really important for society.
(11:13):
And also yeah, like it's hard. It's hard work.
Speaker 5 (11:19):
It's it's hard, and it doesn't like really have an endpoint.
Like we have the hours we work with kids, and
then we have the hours we think about them and
the things going on in their lives. And sometimes it's
like sweet things. Like a lot of times it's sweet things.
We're I'll see something and be like, oh my gosh,
you know who love that? And like things like that
are like oh, great idea, or oh, let's go see
(11:40):
this movie. And a lot of times it's like worrying
though too, and knowing that there is there is only
so many things we can control and some things we
just have to be the person that's there as they
have to go through something which Yeah, it's it's hard
because we all so obviously, like developed such loving relationship
(12:03):
with these kids.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
It's hard to see kids that you care about so
much that sometimes the most you can do is just
be there. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
It definitely is a job that, like to some degree,
is sort of always with you.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
We have a joke about this with this job, where
it's likely if do what you love and you'll never
be free for a single second of your entire life
because you're just always awes.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
Yeah, that's so true. Yeah, as you say this, I
worked till like nine point thirty last night because I
was like, you know what, I'm enjoying this so much
checking out with my guys, So I'm just going to
keep working. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Yeah. So, speaking speaking of keeping working, we need to
go to ads and then we will come back and
talk about the ways in which this job that requires
an incredible amount of structural support to keep people there
for like over a decade, is failing to do that.
(13:07):
And we are back. So Okay, now now that we've
sort of talked about what this is, let's talk about
the actual union. It was just the thing.
Speaker 6 (13:19):
Yeah, yeah, so can can you talk about sort of
how how did organizing for this union start and what
were the sort of issues that could have brought everyone
to be like, Okay, we need.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
To do this, yeah for sure. So we first brought
about our petition to unionize in March of twenty twenty three,
so that was two years ago, a long time ago, right,
But the work for unionization, obviously, the organizing behind it
(13:51):
had started like much before that. When I first joined Friends,
it was in September of twenty too, and I knew
that the work had already been like happening the summer before.
What was the catalyst was post covid.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
A.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Obviously a lot of people left, given what COVID did
to a lot of industries and especially care work. But
then likewise, a lot of people were fired and where
many would say like fired without like a full on,
like deep process that included a program manager who you
(14:32):
know was was really listening to friends and advocating for
the mentor role and they were let go, which spurred
a lot of people to want to start organizing. Some
of the issues that we face, like the pay obviously,
like within social work in general and nonprofit work, like
it's never going to match up and never gonna really
(14:53):
be as good as like the cost of living, especially
here in Portland, but the pay compared to like all
of the emotion, the work and all the work that
we do was just not there and not sustainable. It's
why people were not able to stick around because frankly,
we were looking at the same issues that our families
were facing of, like you know, food of insecurity and
(15:16):
needing to like get food stamps, or like needing like
rental and like housing assistance because our pay was just
not up to par. Those are a few of the issues, Jess,
I don't know if you have other thoughts.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Yeah, I think you touched on a lot of them.
Speaker 5 (15:34):
I think it's hard to stay in this job if
you are looking to have a family. There's been issues, yeah,
with pay, with insurance, with other sorts of things that
have led to mentors leaving rather than like staying there
even if they like really wanted to stay there, just
wouldn't necessarily allow for them to have maybe like the
life they wanted and also just honoring. I think with
(15:58):
like bereavement leave and critical issue leave has been areas
that haven't really been addressed. We have had very tragic
things happen in the in our working community with the
families that have drastically affected. Yeah, the well being of
mentors and staff members alike.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Yeah, and I mean, you know, this is a job
that structurally is designed to be a kind of like
like again, if the goal is to have one person
from like kindergarten to on healthy like a graduating high school, right,
like that is something that requires like nineteen fifties nineteen
(16:40):
sixties style forwardism, Like you have one job for decades,
and the only way you can to that is if
people are incredibly well supported. And it's like the fact
that it's like, Okay, you're trying to do this, but
you're not paying people enough money to fucking afford food,
Like what the hell, like Jesus Christ.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
Yeah, just like yeah, oh my god, yeah, or even
I mean it's still something that we're fighting. But like
our our workplace like doesn't provide health insurance for dependence,
which I think, oh my god, she's really ironic, giving
how much we care for kids. And then some of
our mentors and other coworkers that have kids, like have
(17:23):
to spend so much money on health insurance for their
own personal.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Kids friends of some of the kids apparently how this works,
I can't say.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and honestly like big big picture thinking,
Like the reason why we like started this whole unionizing
project was because we care so much about our kids, right, Like,
I when I first started working at Friends Like, I
(17:55):
think was the first mask mentor to be hired in
a fairly long time, after a lot of firings of
other mass mentors and two of the youth that actually
it's more than two of the youth, but the first
two youth that I was matched up with, they hadn't
had a mentor for over two years, jeez, which is
(18:15):
a really long time. Like when you you know, are
five six years old, and you're used to one person
consistently picking you up every single week and hanging out
with you and spending time with you for several hours
for six or seven years, and then just like next day,
(18:39):
next week, maybe even that same day, you find out like, oh,
you no longer have a mentor, and you're not going
to have a mentor for two more years because people
keep leaving. People aren't wanting to apply for this job
because the pay isn't high enough. Right That then like
creates like a lot of issues with the kids that
we're dealing with. It's not like we are these like
(19:02):
saviors or like anything like along those lines, right, But
when someone has consistent support and then that support is
lost for a long time, especially when you're a young
kid where it's been the majority of your life you've
been having that consistant support, that then creates like a
lot of trust issues and like overall like attachment issues
(19:24):
that I you could face. And for me, that was
the main thing, like working with these kids and having
to like regain that trust was something that's like still
to this day is like really emotionally like daunting. And I, like,
I will keep saying this. I love my kids so much,
(19:44):
like I like can't stop thinking about them, And I
want to be with my kids until they graduate, which
would mean me staying at this job for another eight years,
which it's a long time, right, but I want to
do that. So I want to you know, get paid,
have time off when one of my sadly this is
(20:06):
something that did occur where you've passed away that I
worked with and like didn't have time off to like
really grieve that hard stuff. And I just want to
be able to stay there until they're done with the program.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Yeah, and it's like there's just just like a litany
of horrors where it's like one, it's like you know
what when there is like it's not you know, like
turnover in a normal job sucks, but this is like
when there's turnover because people can't afford to live their lives.
It's like you're just like ripping a hole in these kids,
like the fabric of their social lives. And then also
(20:44):
it's like, yeah, one of these kids that is literally
your job to care for dies. You just have to
fucking go to work the next day. Like it is
so hideous, and it's just like yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Like it makes sense that, like yeah, if people are organizing,
because it's like, you know, like this organization is just
(21:08):
systemically failing both the people that are trying to help
and the people whose job it is to like help them.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
And yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 5 (21:19):
I think one of the things that is like hardest
to see while like working there is the ways in
which this like job that you do, like that like
I care so much about and love doing, but like
seeing this like institution in a way be like part
be part of the problem because if we aren't like
(21:39):
having it so that employees feel supported in the way
that they need to.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Like, life happens.
Speaker 5 (21:46):
Sometimes people leave and like move and get a different
job for various reasons. But a lot of the times
it's it's because it's not sustainable and it's really hard
to leave, and like it's heartbreaking thing because I, like,
I want to graduate many of my youth and it
(22:07):
is something that I think about of like how feasible
is that, Like I want to do it, and like also, okay,
then that means I got to be frugal and all
these other ways are et cetera. And yeah, and working
with youth that have already kind of experienced loss and
wanting to continue to show up for them.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
The job itself feels so.
Speaker 5 (22:23):
Sacred and like I feel so lucky to be in
these kids' lives. And I think just a lot of
the turnover has been out of like lack of sustainability
for yourself, like for your well being.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Yeah, yeah, And I mean the turnover numbers were pretty well.
I think one time we calculated it and mentors where
it was like a forty something like turnover mentors. Yeah,
And a lot of that happened because in this two
year time period where we've been fighting for constrect they
(23:01):
also froze wage increases. So I've had the same the
same wage for the past two years, two and a
half years that I've been working here, you know, and
in that same time period, inflation has been prettique crazy
and rent for me. Yeah, yeah, which which you know gladly.
(23:27):
Now we're we have this fight and we're at the
two year mark and not at the zero year mark
and not looking forward to two more years of doing this.
But yeah, it's it's been hard to sustain this when
everything is increasing in price and our wages are completely stagnant. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Yeah, So let's take one more ad break and then
we will come back to talk about, Yeah, how how
unionization efforts are going. And yeah, we are back. Yes,
let's let's talk about how this campaign is going. So
(24:09):
you said you've been in barketing for two years.
Speaker 5 (24:13):
So we had our petition for recognition on March twenty third,
twenty twenty three, so that was over two years ago.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
And then our chez Yeah yeah.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
Our employer didn't formally recognize us, but through the process
of like voting, we got over ninety three percent of.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
Wow, Yeah, that's an incredible. That's incredible.
Speaker 5 (24:40):
It's super great, and it's also like, wow, we all
really need it. Yeah, And like there were some other barriers,
including like not being formulaly recognized. Like we also had
management contest a few positions that I believe most, if
not all, we were able to successfully happy part of
(25:01):
our unit. And then we didn't have our first bargaining
session until September of twenty twenty three, so like almost
six months.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
I think if I did the math right.
Speaker 5 (25:11):
After we formally presented our letter for recognition, yeah, yeah,
and like throughout that process, so now it has been
like Haesus is quite good at keeping track of it.
But I think as of today we're about at five
hundred and eighty days of bargaining.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
God.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (25:31):
Yeah, it's been a long one and it hasn't been
It's been like also a choppy journey where there has
been delays in scheduling, delays in just getting different articles
back in time. One of the biggest ones obviously was compensation.
And I think I can't quite remember the period of time,
(25:53):
but we presented it over a year ago. I think
maybe I could be wrong, and it took like it
took several several several months for us to get anything
back from management, which yeah, was.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
A big bummer, amongst other things.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
It sucks. It sucks, like.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
And obviously that's the one that we have yet to finalize,
like a yeah, as we're talking right.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Now, Yeah, it is.
Speaker 5 (26:24):
Insurance and compensation are still our last two articles left.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
Yeah, and some of the like the difficult things. I
mean when you are working on a project, I mean,
I wouldn't be surprised given like really when these conversations started,
if we're looking at like over nine hundred or one
thousand days of like really talking about this, but then
(26:50):
when you're dealing with bargaining for five hundred and eighty days, like,
it's exhausting. It is so exhausting. We have regular meetings
that we attend to that our bargaining meetings were specifically
scheduled outside of work hours, so that like the people
on our bargaining team and other union members would have
(27:10):
to put in that extra time outside of our forty
hour week. Yeah, and within that, like the hardest part
is when you directly confront right your managers and your
bosses about like the rights and the things that you need.
(27:31):
So much of it like boils down to respect, right
and your respect as like a worker and the value
that you have as a worker in your organization, and
when there is the pushback on that, it honestly is
like for me at times was debilitating. Right when you're
doing this work and your workplace is stretching things out
(27:55):
for so long, yeah, and you're pouring your heart out
your kids, like really trying to do the best that
response from our you know, our supervisors and managers, like
it really was hard. What was hard for me was
hard for other union organizers in our workplace, and was
(28:15):
hard for all of our workers where we started thinking
like dang, like what is the value that we have
like in this workplace? What is the value that we
intrinsically have in the work that we're doing with our kids?
It's a lot, And it's a lot when you're facing
all these systems that our kids are facing and like
taking those things in and then are trying to change
those systems. Finally able to try to change those systems,
(28:36):
and we learned that like, oh wait, like the place
that we're working is actually part of these systems too,
and it's doing the same things that we're like fighting
to have our kids, like have better lives, Like we're
facing it right now from inside the house.
Speaker 5 (28:52):
Yeah, yeah, I wanted to add into yeah very much,
realizing that like our management is also in a way
operating you know, maybe like a corporation, which isn't the
hope you would have for a nonprofit. And one of
the steps we had to take as a union was
filing a UOP so unfair labor practice, which cited like
(29:15):
I had mentioned before, like delays and scheduling and also
regressive bargaining, which just means that like the way in
which they're presenting things would have lessened our like quality
of conditions. So definitely not what you want to be getting,
not what you want to be handed across from the
bargaining table.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
Yeah yeah, yeah yeah. Within this process, they were currently
sourly workers, but they tried to change just to hourly workers.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Oh my god.
Speaker 5 (29:47):
Yeah, which again like we're always working, you know, we're
always working, so unless you want to pay me for
twenty four.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
Hours, you know you're talking about like, yeah, that they're
behaving like a corporations, Like oh yeah, this is exactly
what like by employer did to me, which is like
like one of like one of the largest media companies
in the world, and they dragged out negotiations for two
years and like, you know, you're talking about this sort
like just like oh, they're like the filling of disrespect
where they're just not getting stuff back to you. And
(30:16):
it's like I remember, you know, like we'd be sitting
there for a bargaining meeting and they wouldn't and they
would be an hour late, and they'd be an hour
late because they hadn't like bothered to beforehand spend time
drafting out what their responses were going to be, so
they were frantically trying to get it done before we
were there, and we're all just sitting there for literally
an hour waiting for them to show up. But it's like, Okay,
there are people in this unit whose job it is
(30:36):
to stand next to car bombs, like and you can't
show up on time to your to this to this
meeting that you have know was going to happen for weeks.
Like it's just I say this. Every single level of
these episodes was like this is an incredibly common Unielistic
tactic is draw out the first contract because that's that's
like the second point where unions fail after like the
(30:56):
after after you get like recognition votes is like here, yeah,
for sure, you know, Like I mean I think there's
something that we expect corporations to do this, but it's like, Okay,
this is an NGO that's like the point of which
you're supposed to be like helping underprivileged, underprivileged youth, and
then they're like we're going to turn around and we're
going to screw over different underprivileged youth.
Speaker 4 (31:18):
Like yeah, it sucks, yeah, And I think that's like
for me, one of the things that just like mess
with my mind the most is that, like we're not
selling a product, right, We're not trying to like get
revenue or anything along those lines. Right. So, like our
job is a job that we actually like fully love
(31:40):
and like want to stick around, like not not just
for our own like financial you know, peace and our
own like financial security. Like we want to stick around
this job because we care about the job. And you
know that's not to like like other you know, businesses
and other workplaces that unionize, a lot of times people
want to do that because they want financial security, right,
(32:04):
And I think for a lot of NGOs, nonprofits and
care work, like we unionize because we want to stick
around both because of financial security, right, but also because
we just like care so much about the work that
we're doing and to be faced with actions by our
(32:26):
workplace that you know, try to dissuade us from that,
try to like you know, in a sense, like it
felt like stopping us from wanting to stick around like
that again really hard, really hard, And I think like
a really like psychologically hard part that comes with unionizing
in the care work field in the like nonprofit space.
Speaker 5 (32:50):
Yeah, like, this isn't a job that people are going
to take for the money, but we do need to
be receiving like equitable pay and benefits so that we
stay at this job like this by all means, and
like still like this is the same way I feel
about it to this day. I remember like reading the
(33:12):
little like job description for this role and was like, Oh,
this is dude, this is like my dream job. This
is like one hundred percent what I want to spend
my energy towards. Yeah, and yeah, I think that's a
huge part of why we were able to get like
that ninety three percent and to have also like routine
(33:34):
support for different actions and stuff is just because we
have people that care so much about wanting to stick around.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
Yeah, and that's the thing that ngngos, you know, and
you see this in abortion work, you see this in like,
you see this in nursing, you see this in all
of these different fields. Is like, that's the thing that
these NGOs used to exploit people, is you know, like
is the basic human see and love and care that
we have for the people who were caring for and
(34:04):
there and these people are like, aha, look at this. Aha,
these people they care about the thing that they're doing.
We could underpay them and overwork them. It's like, why
is there system work like this?
Speaker 7 (34:17):
Like it's just.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
What a terrible way to decide an economic system.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
Yeah, just good lord.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
Oh, let's talk a little bit about, like, you know,
what kinds of organizing things you all have been able
to do, and the kinds of things you've been able
to accomplish by you know, working together even in these
really kind of like I don't know, structurally difficult conditions.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Yeah, we've had.
Speaker 5 (34:42):
We've had a multitude of different actions over the past
you know, over the past one hundred and eighty days.
I think one of our one of our biggest ones
by far, which was I think also was just one
of our most beautiful in a way was no member
of Last year, we did an info picket and it
was one of those things too where it was very
(35:06):
well planned out, but also even with the best of planning,
midway through we had a shift location based off of
just changing information we were getting, and we had one
of our little bits. It's because our union is called fun.
A lot of our posters were SpongeBob themed, so instead
(35:26):
of imagination, you know, it's compensation.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
And the rules.
Speaker 5 (35:33):
Yeah, and I think it's indicative of like also how
much people that work with us are playful and sweet
and why we're are good at our jobs of working
with kids. And yeah, we had very high turnout. I
think we had forty something people within our own organization
(35:53):
that showed up for that. We've done smaller actions too,
by just asking for community support, like we've had caregivers
write letters of support to different people in management.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
We've also done a few pack the.
Speaker 5 (36:06):
Rooms for bargaining sessions, like especially when there have been
times that have felt like there's been some semblance of stalling.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
Yeah, those are just some of them chime in with others.
Speaker 4 (36:16):
Yeah, within that and I think, like an interesting thing
about nonprofits. Our revenue comes from donors, right, so we
have to play this like fun game of like, Okay,
how do we communicate with our donors, right, so that
we make sure that they know that, like you know,
this is part of like what they're donating to. But
then within that also like you knows, ask for money
(36:39):
as well, right, because we do want you know, better
pay and better benefits. Right. So we've contacted donors and
will still plan to do that with both that ask
of like support the union and support our organization, right,
because the thing that we care about the most is
the work that we do with our kids, and for
that to happen, we wow our organization to like stay
(37:01):
afloat truly, right, Yeah, some of the wins that we've gotten.
I mentioned earlier that they were trying to have us
be hourly workers, and that was a big campaign that
we like were fighting back on for a long time.
It's also like what precipitated the ULP filing. I made
(37:25):
too many buttons.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
That said you.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
Could never have peuty buttons.
Speaker 4 (37:31):
Truly that said I worked forty plus hours a week
because one of the people on the bargaining team for
management at the bargaining table asked if we even worked
forty hours a week while we were talking about this,
And that's like one of those instances that I mean
like yeah, wow, that's like a little disrespectful and like
really bites. So we all were wearing these pins regularly.
(37:56):
We you know, we signed a strike pledge where we
had like eighty something percent of the unit say that
like if we came to voting for a strike, people
would strike. And the big win was like, Okay, great,
we get to stay a salaried workers because they walk
back on that on that threat. We our time off.
(38:17):
We have a time off contract or agreement now that
like some of my co workers that have been around
a long time, once the contract gets ratified, they'll have
like two more weeks of time off.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
Hell yeah, hell yeah.
Speaker 4 (38:31):
Because they haven't. They've been around for seven years and
they're still at the same amount of time off basically
that I'm at and that I've been at since the beginning. Yeah,
And when it comes to wages, like, well, we're still
figuring that out, but some of the gains that we
are potentially looking at is like incredible. Like I looked
(38:53):
at the numbers yesterday of like what hopefully given like
where we're at right now in in the agreements, like
what I would hopefully get and I straight up like
teared up looking at the number because it felt like
such a big change in my financial status. Right and yesterday,
(39:14):
like as I said, I worked on nine thirty pm
with my kids, probably because I had this like massive
like weight of you know, this financial doom that I'm
looking at somewhat lifted at the hope of the winds
that we might get from this contract. So it's been
incredibly hard, incredibly long, way too long, and all of
(39:35):
it is so is going to be so worth it, right.
I hope that's something that the listeners really get that,
like this is hard work, but in the end, like
is the change that we were hoping for, you know.
Speaker 5 (39:50):
Yeah, And recently, one of the things that we did
do just like a run through of just to kind
of boost morales andceparketing has gone on for so long,
was compile all the wins that we have so far
just through Tha's so still tentative, but yeah, it did
map out a lot of huge things. One of the
things we do a lot in this job is drive
(40:10):
and we don't have many things in policy about cleanings
or repairs. When something happens in your car with a youth,
like say they throw up, it happens with kids like
that isn't necessarily something that would have been like covered.
We would have had to just pay for that cleaning ourselves.
And like mileage is a huge thing where one of
(40:32):
our potential like big wins is that we'll get like
full mileage covered rather than having to like deduct time
from like this illusion of having an office where we
would have to minus some mileage in whatever way made
sense with where our buildings were located. Despite even if
our kids were like totally somewhere else where we were
(40:54):
picking them up, it definitely wasn't like the most sensible
way for us to be like be fully reimburse for
what we were doing.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
And those are all.
Speaker 5 (41:04):
Huge wins that we do have, Like obviously compensation insurance
are two of the biggest that we're still working on.
I think recently, like almost within this week, we've started
to tip in a way that feels like we may
be close to having a contract soon, which I do
want to say, like you know, as inspiration to everybody
(41:27):
out there that works for a nonprofit like unionize, and
you know what, you might it might farewell for you.
I have hope for everybody, and like right now I
think a lot of are, like a lot of my
coworkers are starting to have hope again because I do think,
like you said, it is totally a manipulation tool to
have it drawn out so long. And yeah, it is
(41:47):
exhausting to be basically stalled in your wage for two
and a half years. But we are like gaining some
traction again, which I do think is something that we're
still being you know, cautious with just because right now
it does feel like management is working with us a
little bit more.
Speaker 1 (42:06):
But I also think that there.
Speaker 5 (42:07):
Are reasonings around that, Like we're about to have in
a few weeks our biggest fundraiser for our work, because
like Casue said, we are majority donor based, and I
do think there's an appeal to management to have a
contract by then. Ye, it adds to the whole we're
doing good work and we treat our employees as well.
(42:28):
I hope that that is something then that is fulfilled
by them in an honest way, not just a superficial way,
because we are still pushing for a little bit more
right now, and have bargaining coming up next week. So yeah,
I'm really hoping that what they're showing us isn't just performative,
that we really might be able to get to a
point where there is something that is truly good for us,
(42:53):
because we're all ready we're all ready for a contract.
Speaker 3 (42:59):
Yeah, as you know, as someone who got our contract,
like it doesn't. It doesn't magically solve everything, but like,
my god.
Speaker 7 (43:06):
It should make your life better, like it is, it
is absolutely worth it. Yeah, Okay, So how can people
support y'all both sort of locally here and then just
like broader because most of the people are not.
Speaker 5 (43:19):
Here Honestly, most of our like people in like management positions.
Information is public if you want to email them in support,
go for it. Also, just like encouraging either your workplace
if you work in kind of a social work setting,
or like you know, if you know people that are
because this whole field of work takes such a toll
(43:40):
on people and it is the most necessary work, and
I think it's really easy to fall into the mindset
of I'm doing this for the greater good, not you know,
not for money, not for these things but like you
also deserve to feel okay and taken care of and
like have the things you need to be.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
Yeah, hey, says anything else do you want to add?
Speaker 4 (44:04):
Yeah, I mean I would add that, Like we have
an Instagram right as friends PDX Union Network. It's a mouthful,
but will link then inscription, Yeah great, And then within that,
like if you're in Portland, like make sure to like
(44:24):
follow us and like pay attention to what we're posting
because we you know, hopefully we do not have to
get to a point in striking, especially the place that
we're at right now with our contract, but in truth,
like we're looking at five hundred and eighty days and
that is quite a long time.
Speaker 3 (44:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (44:40):
And then also like if if listeners do have the
ability to donate, if they could donate some funds for
Friends of the Children Portland and somehow in their notes
be like I support the union, Like I think that
could also be a really interesting way to show the
support that like are supporters have, like for both the
(45:02):
work that we're doing on the youth level, but then
also like in the union side of things too, there's
been a lot of like communication of like, oh, this
is really going to impact like the development side of
our organization and like all of the things that like
our fundraising team is going to have to do to
(45:24):
like meet these which again I think, yeah, that would
be more true if like our executive director wasn't making
like what like five times as much money as I
am Zeus Christ. Yeah, but yeah, showing that support, like
it doesn't have to be a lot, but showIn our
(45:44):
bosses just how much like the populace like is supporting
our unionization efforts like that power do you really don't too?
And and then also like it impacts our kids, like
our kids, like that's the truth of it all, Like
I want my kids to have the best life that
they could possibly have, and sadly we live in a
(46:04):
world where money really dictates that.
Speaker 3 (46:09):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, so those are will we will
we will, we will have links in the description to
all of that, And yeah, thank you too both so
much for coming on the show and hope I hope
you win, and yeah, I hope you get to go
back to caring for these kids and not and also
while not having to worry about like being able to
(46:29):
live your lives.
Speaker 4 (46:30):
Thanking me it's so much.
Speaker 5 (46:32):
Yeah, yeah, thank you so much for having us. Yeah,
of course, honestly, it's been great talking about the work
because it is it is really important work, and I'm
happy we get to do it.
Speaker 3 (46:44):
Yeah, it's it's wonderful and yeah, and so this is yeah,
this is bin. It could happen here, and yeah, i'd
also go unionize your workplace. You can do it. I
guarantee it.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
It could happen.
Speaker 8 (47:00):
Here is a production of cool Zone Media. For more
podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website Coolzonemedia dot com,
or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever.
Speaker 1 (47:10):
You listen to podcasts.
Speaker 8 (47:12):
You can now find sources for it could Happen here
listed directly in episode descriptions. Thanks for listening.
Al Zon Media.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Hey everybody, Robert here, I wanted to let you know
that two of our hosts at Zitron of Better Offline
and Molly Conger of Weird Little Guys, are in the
running to win the Webbys right now or to win
Webbys in their respective categories. If you just google their
names at Zitron, Webby we bb Y or Molly Conger Webby,
you can find them and vote for them. There will
(00:25):
be links in the show notes as well, Sophia, you'll
put them in, so please do vote for them.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Welcome, Dick it Out and here a podcast. I asked
the question what happens when the people who are trying
to help put things back together are also being exploited
in the process. I am your host, Mio Wong, and
today we are going to be talking about a union
that is attempting to do exactly that. And with me
to discuss this are Jess and Hazeus, who are mentors
for Friends of the Children PDX and members of the
(00:54):
Friends PDX union network. Yeah, Jess, Zeus, welcome to the show.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Thank you so much for having us.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Yeah, I'm really happy to talk to you both because
I think this is a very very unique and interesting union,
especially you know, talk about especially right now. But to
get people sort of rolling, can you explain what Friends
of the Children is and what it is that you
two do.
Speaker 5 (01:18):
Yeah, So Friends of the Children is. It's a national organization.
It's a nonprofit, but they're there are individual chapters throughout
different cities. We work out of Portland, which is the
founding chapter and also the largest one. Some of the language,
I'll say that it's like used from the website and
(01:38):
from like the mission statement that really encompasses what our
role is and also how it is told to like
our community partnerships and the families and youth that we
work with. Is that we are committing to youth when
they are typically around kindergarten age level and they're being
paired with a mentor and they will have a mentor
(02:00):
or until they graduate the program, so that usually ends
up being a total of twelve and a half years.
And that like within that, we were doing a lot
of like individualized care and support. We work with them
in the schools, we work with them outside the schools.
We help them get into extracurriculars, We help them with
like social emotional regulation, developing relationships with other youth in
(02:23):
the program, and really just like being a consistently reliable
human being. And one of the big pillars of our
organization is the commitment to long term which sometimes can
be an issue when you are facing a lot of
high turnover as an organization. We both have eight kids
on our roster, as do most mentors, and within that
(02:47):
we have youth. I personally have youth that have been
assigned to me that have just started in the program,
meaning that they were like maybe first grade when I
was assigned to them. And then I also have youth
that are middle school level that have had several different
mentors in the past, some that have stayed there for
(03:08):
maybe a few years, and like sometimes there's ones that
have been there for months.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
Yeah, if I can add to that. The kids we
work with, they're enrolled into the program because they have
some risk factors in their lives that would lead them
to needing a little bit of extra support and help.
So we work with a lot of kids that come
(03:34):
from immigrant families, from families that have you know, single
parent households, foster care families, and kids kids that like
unfortunately are likely to face some challenges that our society
and the way it's built up will deal to them,
(03:57):
and our goal is to help them through those challenges,
just be there for them so that they have a
chance of you know, graduating high school or entering adulthood
without having you know, having had kids or facing like
the justice system. It's kids that we love dearly that
(04:22):
we work with in a similar way as like you know,
a program like Big Brothers Big Sisters. But we are
paid mentors, which is the big difference, right, We're not
volunteer based. We are employees basically social workers for all
of the families that we work with. It's honestly, like
(04:44):
it's a great job, and I think right now, especially
like super necessary because things are falling apart.
Speaker 5 (04:52):
Yeah yeah, and yeah, just adding like one that made
me think of how with in the work, Like I
think social work is a very apt choice of words
because we are paired with the youth and it doesn't
like stop there, like we work like we work with
the families. We also work with like the siblings too,
(05:12):
because sometimes you'll have a youth that maybe is the
only child in that family that for whatever reason got
a mentor, and then you support also, I mean it's
a choice, but I would say that most mentors definitely
opt into being there for siblings and family members in
the household and making sure that they're also showing up
(05:33):
for the caregivers to help them create a loving home.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Yeah, And I mean, you know, I think that you
can you can look at this and see how it's
supposed to work structurally, And you know, you were talking
about like, I mean, this is supposed to be a
like over a decade long commitment to these kids, right
that ideally you're working with the same person and you
know you're forming really deep emotional attachments because you can't
(06:00):
not do that if we're doing this kind of work.
But then also, you know, in order for that to work,
I think it's you know, you can see this the outside, like,
in order for this to work, this has to be
a job that you could stayably do for a decade, right.
Speaker 5 (06:19):
Yeah, Yeah, which I will say we do and I
want to do. I want to give so many props
to one of our mentors who has stayed for twelve
years and has graduated their youth. But of of all
of our co workers, I believe it's only one that
has currently been able to do that and has stayed
(06:39):
there as long as I have.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Yeah. Yeah, And the truth of the fact, like, yeah,
a for any job, twelve and a half years is
a really long time, right, I mean six years is
a really long time. And with this job, we're like
we're an emotional sponge for a lot of things. Right,
So our kids go through everything that you could imagine,
(07:06):
and and within that, like everything good and everything bad
that you could imagine. And our job a lot of
times is like we can't solve the things that are
affecting these kids, but we can take in some of
those negative feelings and that grief, that anger, We can
(07:28):
take it in and almost like dissolve it a little bit, right,
But within that, like it can affect us so so much.
And that's where Yeah, the sustainability part of like twelve
and a half years in this job, like that is
a lot and and you we need a lot for
(07:49):
that to like at all be be possible.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Yeah, I mean, like that there's this way in which
you're effectively what this job is is like you're the
person who is trying to like mitigate the impact of
like all like literally all of the structural systems of
violence that exist in this entire country and how like
how they're just sort of targeted down on these kids
(08:14):
and your job is to like try to like protect
them as much as possible. And that's unbelievable amount of
like physical and emotional labor. And then also like, I
don't know, it seems pretty bad that there's only been
one coworker who's been able to graduate their kids, like.
Speaker 5 (08:35):
Just to clarify for history that's been in like our time.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Yeah, I don't know if like over.
Speaker 5 (08:40):
The thirty years, I hope that other people have, but yeah,
in recent years it's only been the one. And also like, yeah,
this is a job where you are not necessarily able
to like undo the systems at play, but trying to
support them. And like we as mentors are inevitably also
(09:01):
facing those systems against ourselves. And like, one of the
reasons that I think people gravitate towards this job is
their empathy because they have those shared experiences. One of
the things that is kind of heavy in the culture
of friends is being asked your why when you start,
(09:22):
like why did you choose friends? And for a lot
of people, it is because of wanting to be the
person that they needed when they were going through those
periods of time. So there's bound to be like a
lot of like reactivation of feelings inside yourself that I
think we all, like I want to say, like every
mentor I've worked with an incredible job of like handling
(09:44):
that and like taking good care of themselves. But it
is definitely something that like takes a lot of regulation,
and I think empathy is one of the greatest skills
in this job. But it also yeah, it also then
leads to us need greater needs of self care and
things like that.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Yeah, And like I'm I guess like people this in
perspective for like people listening to this as like, Okay,
your job is to be the person like in the
friend group who like manages like when someone's like having
an emotional crisis, like you have to like help them
deal with it. And that is your job for like
eight kids like the worst shit in the world, like
(10:26):
Jesus Christ's Oh good Lord.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
It's honestly, like like hearing this, it's always really helpful
to hear someone's outside perspective of our job, right because
we get so so into it, so into the muck
of like what this job can be and I think
like overall, like like social work, it's not just like
our our job, but like I'm sure other social workers
(10:50):
and people in care industries like we have that like
continuous like vicarious trauma that makes us forget like how
how our job is sometimes and then it's helpful to
hear other people mention it because it's like, yeah, wow,
our job is kind of crazy, and and the work
we do is like really important and really important for society.
(11:13):
And also yeah, like it's hard. It's hard work.
Speaker 5 (11:19):
It's it's hard, and it doesn't like really have an endpoint.
Like we have the hours we work with kids, and
then we have the hours we think about them and
the things going on in their lives. And sometimes it's
like sweet things. Like a lot of times it's sweet things.
We're I'll see something and be like, oh my gosh,
you know who love that? And like things like that
are like oh, great idea, or oh, let's go see
(11:40):
this movie. And a lot of times it's like worrying
though too, and knowing that there is there is only
so many things we can control and some things we
just have to be the person that's there as they
have to go through something which Yeah, it's it's hard
because we all so obviously, like developed such loving relationship
(12:03):
with these kids.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
It's hard to see kids that you care about so
much that sometimes the most you can do is just
be there. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
It definitely is a job that, like to some degree,
is sort of always with you.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
We have a joke about this with this job, where
it's likely if do what you love and you'll never
be free for a single second of your entire life
because you're just always awes.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
Yeah, that's so true. Yeah, as you say this, I
worked till like nine point thirty last night because I
was like, you know what, I'm enjoying this so much
checking out with my guys, So I'm just going to
keep working. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Yeah. So, speaking speaking of keeping working, we need to
go to ads and then we will come back and
talk about the ways in which this job that requires
an incredible amount of structural support to keep people there
for like over a decade, is failing to do that.
(13:07):
And we are back. So Okay, now now that we've
sort of talked about what this is, let's talk about
the actual union. It was just the thing.
Speaker 6 (13:19):
Yeah, yeah, so can can you talk about sort of
how how did organizing for this union start and what
were the sort of issues that could have brought everyone
to be like, Okay, we need.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
To do this, yeah for sure. So we first brought
about our petition to unionize in March of twenty twenty three,
so that was two years ago, a long time ago, right,
But the work for unionization, obviously, the organizing behind it
(13:51):
had started like much before that. When I first joined Friends,
it was in September of twenty too, and I knew
that the work had already been like happening the summer before.
What was the catalyst was post covid.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
A.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Obviously a lot of people left, given what COVID did
to a lot of industries and especially care work. But
then likewise, a lot of people were fired and where
many would say like fired without like a full on,
like deep process that included a program manager who you
(14:32):
know was was really listening to friends and advocating for
the mentor role and they were let go, which spurred
a lot of people to want to start organizing. Some
of the issues that we face, like the pay obviously,
like within social work in general and nonprofit work, like
it's never going to match up and never gonna really
(14:53):
be as good as like the cost of living, especially
here in Portland, but the pay compared to like all
of the emotion, the work and all the work that
we do was just not there and not sustainable. It's
why people were not able to stick around because frankly,
we were looking at the same issues that our families
were facing of, like you know, food of insecurity and
(15:16):
needing to like get food stamps, or like needing like
rental and like housing assistance because our pay was just
not up to par. Those are a few of the issues, Jess,
I don't know if you have other thoughts.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Yeah, I think you touched on a lot of them.
Speaker 5 (15:34):
I think it's hard to stay in this job if
you are looking to have a family. There's been issues, yeah,
with pay, with insurance, with other sorts of things that
have led to mentors leaving rather than like staying there
even if they like really wanted to stay there, just
wouldn't necessarily allow for them to have maybe like the
life they wanted and also just honoring. I think with
(15:58):
like bereavement leave and critical issue leave has been areas
that haven't really been addressed. We have had very tragic
things happen in the in our working community with the
families that have drastically affected. Yeah, the well being of
mentors and staff members alike.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Yeah, and I mean, you know, this is a job
that structurally is designed to be a kind of like
like again, if the goal is to have one person
from like kindergarten to on healthy like a graduating high school, right,
like that is something that requires like nineteen fifties nineteen
(16:40):
sixties style forwardism, Like you have one job for decades,
and the only way you can to that is if
people are incredibly well supported. And it's like the fact
that it's like, Okay, you're trying to do this, but
you're not paying people enough money to fucking afford food,
Like what the hell, like Jesus Christ.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
Yeah, just like yeah, oh my god, yeah, or even
I mean it's still something that we're fighting. But like
our our workplace like doesn't provide health insurance for dependence,
which I think, oh my god, she's really ironic, giving
how much we care for kids. And then some of
our mentors and other coworkers that have kids, like have
(17:23):
to spend so much money on health insurance for their
own personal.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Kids friends of some of the kids apparently how this works,
I can't say.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and honestly like big big picture thinking,
Like the reason why we like started this whole unionizing
project was because we care so much about our kids, right, Like,
I when I first started working at Friends Like, I
(17:55):
think was the first mask mentor to be hired in
a fairly long time, after a lot of firings of
other mass mentors and two of the youth that actually
it's more than two of the youth, but the first
two youth that I was matched up with, they hadn't
had a mentor for over two years, jeez, which is
(18:15):
a really long time. Like when you you know, are
five six years old, and you're used to one person
consistently picking you up every single week and hanging out
with you and spending time with you for several hours
for six or seven years, and then just like next day,
(18:39):
next week, maybe even that same day, you find out like, oh,
you no longer have a mentor, and you're not going
to have a mentor for two more years because people
keep leaving. People aren't wanting to apply for this job
because the pay isn't high enough. Right That then like
creates like a lot of issues with the kids that
we're dealing with. It's not like we are these like
(19:02):
saviors or like anything like along those lines, right, But
when someone has consistent support and then that support is
lost for a long time, especially when you're a young
kid where it's been the majority of your life you've
been having that consistant support, that then creates like a
lot of trust issues and like overall like attachment issues
(19:24):
that I you could face. And for me, that was
the main thing, like working with these kids and having
to like regain that trust was something that's like still
to this day is like really emotionally like daunting. And I, like,
I will keep saying this. I love my kids so much,
(19:44):
like I like can't stop thinking about them, And I
want to be with my kids until they graduate, which
would mean me staying at this job for another eight years,
which it's a long time, right, but I want to
do that. So I want to you know, get paid,
have time off when one of my sadly this is
(20:06):
something that did occur where you've passed away that I
worked with and like didn't have time off to like
really grieve that hard stuff. And I just want to
be able to stay there until they're done with the program.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Yeah, and it's like there's just just like a litany
of horrors where it's like one, it's like you know
what when there is like it's not you know, like
turnover in a normal job sucks, but this is like
when there's turnover because people can't afford to live their lives.
It's like you're just like ripping a hole in these kids,
like the fabric of their social lives. And then also
(20:44):
it's like, yeah, one of these kids that is literally
your job to care for dies. You just have to
fucking go to work the next day. Like it is
so hideous, and it's just like yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Like it makes sense that, like yeah, if people are organizing,
because it's like, you know, like this organization is just
(21:08):
systemically failing both the people that are trying to help
and the people whose job it is to like help them.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
And yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 5 (21:19):
I think one of the things that is like hardest
to see while like working there is the ways in
which this like job that you do, like that like
I care so much about and love doing, but like
seeing this like institution in a way be like part
be part of the problem because if we aren't like
(21:39):
having it so that employees feel supported in the way
that they need to.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Like, life happens.
Speaker 5 (21:46):
Sometimes people leave and like move and get a different
job for various reasons. But a lot of the times
it's it's because it's not sustainable and it's really hard
to leave, and like it's heartbreaking thing because I, like,
I want to graduate many of my youth and it
(22:07):
is something that I think about of like how feasible
is that, Like I want to do it, and like also, okay,
then that means I got to be frugal and all
these other ways are et cetera. And yeah, and working
with youth that have already kind of experienced loss and
wanting to continue to show up for them.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
The job itself feels so.
Speaker 5 (22:23):
Sacred and like I feel so lucky to be in
these kids' lives. And I think just a lot of
the turnover has been out of like lack of sustainability
for yourself, like for your well being.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Yeah, yeah, And I mean the turnover numbers were pretty well.
I think one time we calculated it and mentors where
it was like a forty something like turnover mentors. Yeah,
And a lot of that happened because in this two
year time period where we've been fighting for constrect they
(23:01):
also froze wage increases. So I've had the same the
same wage for the past two years, two and a
half years that I've been working here, you know, and
in that same time period, inflation has been prettique crazy
and rent for me. Yeah, yeah, which which you know gladly.
(23:27):
Now we're we have this fight and we're at the
two year mark and not at the zero year mark
and not looking forward to two more years of doing this.
But yeah, it's it's been hard to sustain this when
everything is increasing in price and our wages are completely stagnant. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Yeah, So let's take one more ad break and then
we will come back to talk about, Yeah, how how
unionization efforts are going. And yeah, we are back. Yes,
let's let's talk about how this campaign is going. So
(24:09):
you said you've been in barketing for two years.
Speaker 5 (24:13):
So we had our petition for recognition on March twenty third,
twenty twenty three, so that was over two years ago.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
And then our chez Yeah yeah.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
Our employer didn't formally recognize us, but through the process
of like voting, we got over ninety three percent of.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
Wow, Yeah, that's an incredible. That's incredible.
Speaker 5 (24:40):
It's super great, and it's also like, wow, we all
really need it. Yeah, And like there were some other barriers,
including like not being formulaly recognized. Like we also had
management contest a few positions that I believe most, if
not all, we were able to successfully happy part of
(25:01):
our unit. And then we didn't have our first bargaining
session until September of twenty twenty three, so like almost
six months.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
I think if I did the math right.
Speaker 5 (25:11):
After we formally presented our letter for recognition, yeah, yeah,
and like throughout that process, so now it has been
like Haesus is quite good at keeping track of it.
But I think as of today we're about at five
hundred and eighty days of bargaining.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
God.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (25:31):
Yeah, it's been a long one and it hasn't been
It's been like also a choppy journey where there has
been delays in scheduling, delays in just getting different articles
back in time. One of the biggest ones obviously was compensation.
And I think I can't quite remember the period of time,
(25:53):
but we presented it over a year ago. I think
maybe I could be wrong, and it took like it
took several several several months for us to get anything
back from management, which yeah, was.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
A big bummer, amongst other things.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
It sucks. It sucks, like.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
And obviously that's the one that we have yet to finalize,
like a yeah, as we're talking right.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Now, Yeah, it is.
Speaker 5 (26:24):
Insurance and compensation are still our last two articles left.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
Yeah, and some of the like the difficult things. I
mean when you are working on a project, I mean,
I wouldn't be surprised given like really when these conversations started,
if we're looking at like over nine hundred or one
thousand days of like really talking about this, but then
(26:50):
when you're dealing with bargaining for five hundred and eighty days, like,
it's exhausting. It is so exhausting. We have regular meetings
that we attend to that our bargaining meetings were specifically
scheduled outside of work hours, so that like the people
on our bargaining team and other union members would have
(27:10):
to put in that extra time outside of our forty
hour week. Yeah, and within that, like the hardest part
is when you directly confront right your managers and your
bosses about like the rights and the things that you need.
(27:31):
So much of it like boils down to respect, right
and your respect as like a worker and the value
that you have as a worker in your organization, and
when there is the pushback on that, it honestly is
like for me at times was debilitating. Right when you're
doing this work and your workplace is stretching things out
(27:55):
for so long, yeah, and you're pouring your heart out
your kids, like really trying to do the best that
response from our you know, our supervisors and managers, like
it really was hard. What was hard for me was
hard for other union organizers in our workplace, and was
(28:15):
hard for all of our workers where we started thinking
like dang, like what is the value that we have
like in this workplace? What is the value that we
intrinsically have in the work that we're doing with our kids?
It's a lot, And it's a lot when you're facing
all these systems that our kids are facing and like
taking those things in and then are trying to change
those systems. Finally able to try to change those systems,
(28:36):
and we learned that like, oh wait, like the place
that we're working is actually part of these systems too,
and it's doing the same things that we're like fighting
to have our kids, like have better lives, Like we're
facing it right now from inside the house.
Speaker 5 (28:52):
Yeah, yeah, I wanted to add into yeah very much,
realizing that like our management is also in a way
operating you know, maybe like a corporation, which isn't the
hope you would have for a nonprofit. And one of
the steps we had to take as a union was
filing a UOP so unfair labor practice, which cited like
(29:15):
I had mentioned before, like delays and scheduling and also
regressive bargaining, which just means that like the way in
which they're presenting things would have lessened our like quality
of conditions. So definitely not what you want to be getting,
not what you want to be handed across from the
bargaining table.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
Yeah yeah, yeah yeah. Within this process, they were currently
sourly workers, but they tried to change just to hourly workers.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Oh my god.
Speaker 5 (29:47):
Yeah, which again like we're always working, you know, we're
always working, so unless you want to pay me for
twenty four.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
Hours, you know you're talking about like, yeah, that they're
behaving like a corporations, Like oh yeah, this is exactly
what like by employer did to me, which is like
like one of like one of the largest media companies
in the world, and they dragged out negotiations for two
years and like, you know, you're talking about this sort
like just like oh, they're like the filling of disrespect
where they're just not getting stuff back to you. And
(30:16):
it's like I remember, you know, like we'd be sitting
there for a bargaining meeting and they wouldn't and they
would be an hour late, and they'd be an hour
late because they hadn't like bothered to beforehand spend time
drafting out what their responses were going to be, so
they were frantically trying to get it done before we
were there, and we're all just sitting there for literally
an hour waiting for them to show up. But it's like, Okay,
there are people in this unit whose job it is
(30:36):
to stand next to car bombs, like and you can't
show up on time to your to this to this
meeting that you have know was going to happen for weeks.
Like it's just I say this. Every single level of
these episodes was like this is an incredibly common Unielistic
tactic is draw out the first contract because that's that's
like the second point where unions fail after like the
(30:56):
after after you get like recognition votes is like here, yeah,
for sure, you know, Like I mean I think there's
something that we expect corporations to do this, but it's like, Okay,
this is an NGO that's like the point of which
you're supposed to be like helping underprivileged, underprivileged youth, and
then they're like we're going to turn around and we're
going to screw over different underprivileged youth.
Speaker 4 (31:18):
Like yeah, it sucks, yeah, And I think that's like
for me, one of the things that just like mess
with my mind the most is that, like we're not
selling a product, right, We're not trying to like get
revenue or anything along those lines. Right. So, like our
job is a job that we actually like fully love
(31:40):
and like want to stick around, like not not just
for our own like financial you know, peace and our
own like financial security. Like we want to stick around
this job because we care about the job. And you
know that's not to like like other you know, businesses
and other workplaces that unionize, a lot of times people
want to do that because they want financial security, right,
(32:04):
And I think for a lot of NGOs, nonprofits and
care work, like we unionize because we want to stick
around both because of financial security, right, but also because
we just like care so much about the work that
we're doing and to be faced with actions by our
(32:26):
workplace that you know, try to dissuade us from that,
try to like you know, in a sense, like it
felt like stopping us from wanting to stick around like
that again really hard, really hard, And I think like
a really like psychologically hard part that comes with unionizing
in the care work field in the like nonprofit space.
Speaker 5 (32:50):
Yeah, like, this isn't a job that people are going
to take for the money, but we do need to
be receiving like equitable pay and benefits so that we
stay at this job like this by all means, and
like still like this is the same way I feel
about it to this day. I remember like reading the
(33:12):
little like job description for this role and was like, Oh,
this is dude, this is like my dream job. This
is like one hundred percent what I want to spend
my energy towards. Yeah, and yeah, I think that's a
huge part of why we were able to get like
that ninety three percent and to have also like routine
(33:34):
support for different actions and stuff is just because we
have people that care so much about wanting to stick around.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
Yeah, and that's the thing that ngngos, you know, and
you see this in abortion work, you see this in like,
you see this in nursing, you see this in all
of these different fields. Is like, that's the thing that
these NGOs used to exploit people, is you know, like
is the basic human see and love and care that
we have for the people who were caring for and
(34:04):
there and these people are like, aha, look at this. Aha,
these people they care about the thing that they're doing.
We could underpay them and overwork them. It's like, why
is there system work like this?
Speaker 7 (34:17):
Like it's just.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
What a terrible way to decide an economic system.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
Yeah, just good lord.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
Oh, let's talk a little bit about, like, you know,
what kinds of organizing things you all have been able
to do, and the kinds of things you've been able
to accomplish by you know, working together even in these
really kind of like I don't know, structurally difficult conditions.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Yeah, we've had.
Speaker 5 (34:42):
We've had a multitude of different actions over the past
you know, over the past one hundred and eighty days.
I think one of our one of our biggest ones
by far, which was I think also was just one
of our most beautiful in a way was no member
of Last year, we did an info picket and it
was one of those things too where it was very
(35:06):
well planned out, but also even with the best of planning,
midway through we had a shift location based off of
just changing information we were getting, and we had one
of our little bits. It's because our union is called fun.
A lot of our posters were SpongeBob themed, so instead
(35:26):
of imagination, you know, it's compensation.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
And the rules.
Speaker 5 (35:33):
Yeah, and I think it's indicative of like also how
much people that work with us are playful and sweet
and why we're are good at our jobs of working
with kids. And yeah, we had very high turnout. I
think we had forty something people within our own organization
(35:53):
that showed up for that. We've done smaller actions too,
by just asking for community support, like we've had caregivers
write letters of support to different people in management.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
We've also done a few pack the.
Speaker 5 (36:06):
Rooms for bargaining sessions, like especially when there have been
times that have felt like there's been some semblance of stalling.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
Yeah, those are just some of them chime in with others.
Speaker 4 (36:16):
Yeah, within that and I think, like an interesting thing
about nonprofits. Our revenue comes from donors, right, so we
have to play this like fun game of like, Okay,
how do we communicate with our donors, right, so that
we make sure that they know that, like you know,
this is part of like what they're donating to. But
then within that also like you knows, ask for money
(36:39):
as well, right, because we do want you know, better
pay and better benefits. Right. So we've contacted donors and
will still plan to do that with both that ask
of like support the union and support our organization, right,
because the thing that we care about the most is
the work that we do with our kids, and for
that to happen, we wow our organization to like stay
(37:01):
afloat truly, right, Yeah, some of the wins that we've gotten.
I mentioned earlier that they were trying to have us
be hourly workers, and that was a big campaign that
we like were fighting back on for a long time.
It's also like what precipitated the ULP filing. I made
(37:25):
too many buttons.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
That said you.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
Could never have peuty buttons.
Speaker 4 (37:31):
Truly that said I worked forty plus hours a week
because one of the people on the bargaining team for
management at the bargaining table asked if we even worked
forty hours a week while we were talking about this,
And that's like one of those instances that I mean
like yeah, wow, that's like a little disrespectful and like
really bites. So we all were wearing these pins regularly.
(37:56):
We you know, we signed a strike pledge where we
had like eighty something percent of the unit say that
like if we came to voting for a strike, people
would strike. And the big win was like, Okay, great,
we get to stay a salaried workers because they walk
back on that on that threat. We our time off.
(38:17):
We have a time off contract or agreement now that
like some of my co workers that have been around
a long time, once the contract gets ratified, they'll have
like two more weeks of time off.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
Hell yeah, hell yeah.
Speaker 4 (38:31):
Because they haven't. They've been around for seven years and
they're still at the same amount of time off basically
that I'm at and that I've been at since the beginning. Yeah,
And when it comes to wages, like, well, we're still
figuring that out, but some of the gains that we
are potentially looking at is like incredible. Like I looked
(38:53):
at the numbers yesterday of like what hopefully given like
where we're at right now in in the agreements, like
what I would hopefully get and I straight up like
teared up looking at the number because it felt like
such a big change in my financial status. Right and yesterday,
(39:14):
like as I said, I worked on nine thirty pm
with my kids, probably because I had this like massive
like weight of you know, this financial doom that I'm
looking at somewhat lifted at the hope of the winds
that we might get from this contract. So it's been
incredibly hard, incredibly long, way too long, and all of
(39:35):
it is so is going to be so worth it, right.
I hope that's something that the listeners really get that,
like this is hard work, but in the end, like
is the change that we were hoping for, you know.
Speaker 5 (39:50):
Yeah, And recently, one of the things that we did
do just like a run through of just to kind
of boost morales andceparketing has gone on for so long,
was compile all the wins that we have so far
just through Tha's so still tentative, but yeah, it did
map out a lot of huge things. One of the
things we do a lot in this job is drive
(40:10):
and we don't have many things in policy about cleanings
or repairs. When something happens in your car with a youth,
like say they throw up, it happens with kids like
that isn't necessarily something that would have been like covered.
We would have had to just pay for that cleaning ourselves.
And like mileage is a huge thing where one of
(40:32):
our potential like big wins is that we'll get like
full mileage covered rather than having to like deduct time
from like this illusion of having an office where we
would have to minus some mileage in whatever way made
sense with where our buildings were located. Despite even if
our kids were like totally somewhere else where we were
(40:54):
picking them up, it definitely wasn't like the most sensible
way for us to be like be fully reimburse for
what we were doing.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
And those are all.
Speaker 5 (41:04):
Huge wins that we do have, Like obviously compensation insurance
are two of the biggest that we're still working on.
I think recently, like almost within this week, we've started
to tip in a way that feels like we may
be close to having a contract soon, which I do
want to say, like you know, as inspiration to everybody
(41:27):
out there that works for a nonprofit like unionize, and
you know what, you might it might farewell for you.
I have hope for everybody, and like right now I
think a lot of are, like a lot of my
coworkers are starting to have hope again because I do think,
like you said, it is totally a manipulation tool to
have it drawn out so long. And yeah, it is
(41:47):
exhausting to be basically stalled in your wage for two
and a half years. But we are like gaining some
traction again, which I do think is something that we're
still being you know, cautious with just because right now
it does feel like management is working with us a
little bit more.
Speaker 1 (42:06):
But I also think that there.
Speaker 5 (42:07):
Are reasonings around that, Like we're about to have in
a few weeks our biggest fundraiser for our work, because
like Casue said, we are majority donor based, and I
do think there's an appeal to management to have a
contract by then. Ye, it adds to the whole we're
doing good work and we treat our employees as well.
(42:28):
I hope that that is something then that is fulfilled
by them in an honest way, not just a superficial way,
because we are still pushing for a little bit more
right now, and have bargaining coming up next week. So yeah,
I'm really hoping that what they're showing us isn't just performative,
that we really might be able to get to a
point where there is something that is truly good for us,
(42:53):
because we're all ready we're all ready for a contract.
Speaker 3 (42:59):
Yeah, as you know, as someone who got our contract,
like it doesn't. It doesn't magically solve everything, but like,
my god.
Speaker 7 (43:06):
It should make your life better, like it is, it
is absolutely worth it. Yeah, Okay, So how can people
support y'all both sort of locally here and then just
like broader because most of the people are not.
Speaker 5 (43:19):
Here Honestly, most of our like people in like management positions.
Information is public if you want to email them in support,
go for it. Also, just like encouraging either your workplace
if you work in kind of a social work setting,
or like you know, if you know people that are
because this whole field of work takes such a toll
(43:40):
on people and it is the most necessary work, and
I think it's really easy to fall into the mindset
of I'm doing this for the greater good, not you know,
not for money, not for these things but like you
also deserve to feel okay and taken care of and
like have the things you need to be.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
Yeah, hey, says anything else do you want to add?
Speaker 4 (44:04):
Yeah, I mean I would add that, Like we have
an Instagram right as friends PDX Union Network. It's a mouthful,
but will link then inscription, Yeah great, And then within that,
like if you're in Portland, like make sure to like
(44:24):
follow us and like pay attention to what we're posting
because we you know, hopefully we do not have to
get to a point in striking, especially the place that
we're at right now with our contract, but in truth,
like we're looking at five hundred and eighty days and
that is quite a long time.
Speaker 3 (44:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (44:40):
And then also like if if listeners do have the
ability to donate, if they could donate some funds for
Friends of the Children Portland and somehow in their notes
be like I support the union, Like I think that
could also be a really interesting way to show the
support that like are supporters have, like for both the
(45:02):
work that we're doing on the youth level, but then
also like in the union side of things too, there's
been a lot of like communication of like, oh, this
is really going to impact like the development side of
our organization and like all of the things that like
our fundraising team is going to have to do to
(45:24):
like meet these which again I think, yeah, that would
be more true if like our executive director wasn't making
like what like five times as much money as I
am Zeus Christ. Yeah, but yeah, showing that support, like
it doesn't have to be a lot, but showIn our
(45:44):
bosses just how much like the populace like is supporting
our unionization efforts like that power do you really don't too?
And and then also like it impacts our kids, like
our kids, like that's the truth of it all, Like
I want my kids to have the best life that
they could possibly have, and sadly we live in a
(46:04):
world where money really dictates that.
Speaker 3 (46:09):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, so those are will we will
we will, we will have links in the description to
all of that, And yeah, thank you too both so
much for coming on the show and hope I hope
you win, and yeah, I hope you get to go
back to caring for these kids and not and also
while not having to worry about like being able to
(46:29):
live your lives.
Speaker 4 (46:30):
Thanking me it's so much.
Speaker 5 (46:32):
Yeah, yeah, thank you so much for having us. Yeah,
of course, honestly, it's been great talking about the work
because it is it is really important work, and I'm
happy we get to do it.
Speaker 3 (46:44):
Yeah, it's it's wonderful and yeah, and so this is yeah,
this is bin. It could happen here, and yeah, i'd
also go unionize your workplace. You can do it. I
guarantee it.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
It could happen.
Speaker 8 (47:00):
Here is a production of cool Zone Media. For more
podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website Coolzonemedia dot com,
or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever.
Speaker 1 (47:10):
You listen to podcasts.
Speaker 8 (47:12):
You can now find sources for it could Happen here
listed directly in episode descriptions. Thanks for listening.
It Could Happen Here News
Hosts And Creators
Robert Evans
Garrison Davis
James Stout
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