WHEREAS:

There is an increasing usage of union busting tactics among not-for-profit employers, such as contracting out of unionized jobs by hiring staff on individual "fee-for-service" contracts; and

WHEREAS:

These employees are paid a small share of the fees paid by the government funding source or the clients for the services that the not-for-profit agency provides, i.e., mental health residencies, mental health counseling, immigrant legal services, English as a Second Language courses, employment placement services, cleaning or home health aide services; and

WHEREAS:

These fee-for-service or per diem employees are used to replace full-time unionized workers with benefits; and

WHEREAS:

These per diem or fee-for-service employees do not receive health, pension, life insurance or other benefits; and

WHEREAS:

These per diem or fee-for-service employees are not protected by the collective bargaining agreement and therefore are denied due process, seniority rights or job security; and

WHEREAS:

Non-profit and other employers are using targeted layoffs to bypass seniority rights and reduce the level of benefits and wages that have been achieved through years of collective bargaining negotiations; and

WHEREAS:

Some of the methods used by non-profits as a prelude to targeted layoffs are to bypass unions in creating "new" titles without negotiation with the union, and extracting two-tiers of benefits in the same titles, same work site or workers under the same contract; and

WHEREAS:

This system of two tiers of benefits has served as a motivation for employers to target the members who are receiving the higher tier for lay offs and who are usually the most senior workers. The results are a bargaining unit with only one tier. This one tier is the lower tier of workers with lower benefits and the workers with the least amount of seniority; and

WHEREAS:

The consequence is the lowering of benefits for all workers in a particular sector, i.e., the human services sector, instead of the role that unionized labor has played to raise the standard for other workers in a sector and throughout the country; and

WHEREAS:

Non-profit employers are also setting up for-profit entities and shifting bargaining unit work to these entities as a union busting tactic; and

WHEREAS:

AFSCME currently represents a number of workers in the not-for-profit and for-profit agencies that provide human services and agencies that are funded partially or wholly by public funds; and

WHEREAS:

The government entities, i.e., city, state or federal government, are awarding more and more contracts to these not-for-profit and for-profit entities to provide a growing range of human services and there is in effective or no oversight and monitoring of how public funds are utilized or what the tax payers are receiving in services from these non-profit or for profit employers who are receiving public funds; and

WHEREAS:

Reports have been made by state and city comptrollers and independent bodies disclosing the fact that too many not for profit and for-profit entities have used a disproportionate amount of the public funds received for six-figure salaries of the CEOs of their agencies. These CEO salaries have often been greater than the commissioners of the government agency awarding the grant or the mayors of the cities; and

WHEREAS:

These not-for-profit and for-profit agencies have often refused to pass on the COLAs to low-wage workers in the human services and many of these workers are not receiving a living wage; and

WHEREAS:

AFSCME currently is organizing an increasing number of workers in these not-for-profit and for-profit agencies.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

That AFSCME address the issues facing AFSCME members whose employers are non-profit or for-profit entities; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME hold a training in the next two years to discuss the union busting tactics used by these employers and to develop concrete methods to fight back during negotiations, administer contracts, organize and determine needed legislation and other political actions; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:

That the results of this training be distributed to all those affiliates that organize or represent workers in the not-for-profit or for-profit sectors of human services.

SUBMITTED BY:

Brenda Stokely, President and Delegate
AFSCME Council 1707
New York