Brielle Domings | contributing writer
bdomings@smcvt.edu
The workers for the Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS) in Burlington began talks of joining a union in the fall of 2006, says Emily Casey, union supporter and case manager at the COTS Day station. The COTS board of directors recently hired a lawyer to help them understand the union organizing process, says Sally Ballin, development director of COTS.
Why a lawyer?
COTS is Burlington’s non-profit organization for the homeless and has been serving the community for 24 years, according to its Web site. The organization has four different shelters: the Firehouse and 278 Main Street Family Shelters, the Day station, and the Way station.
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The family shelter on 278 Main Street is where M.O.V.E. program Family Friends serves.
(Brielle Domings, photo) |
COTS decided to hire a lawyer because there are strict federal guidelines that COTS has to follow throughout the process, Ballin wrote in an e-mail interview. The lawyer is advising the board on these guidelines, she wrote.
“The lawyer is not trying to do union-busting,” she wrote.
Knowing the guidelines also allows the COTS board an opportunity to explain its position and illustrate why a union wouldn’t help the organization, she wrote.
Additionally, the Vermont State House recently passed a bill that changed the unionizing process. The new process would be quicker, and “in my opinion, a lot less democratic,” Ballin wrote.
The current law requires employees to demonstrate a majority in favor of a union and then petition to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for election. The employer then informs the workers of thoughts about the impact of a union on their organization. Then, there is a secret ballot vote, she explained.
The new process eliminates the information-sharing phase and the secret ballot vote, she wrote.
“That would be like electing a president without a campaign,” Ballin wrote. “How would people know what the candidates think? In my opinion, a union and an organization's managers should have to 'campaign' for people's vote, and employees should be guaranteed a fair and secret election process.”
The vote for a union is expected to happen on April 4, according to March 3, article in the Burlington Free Press.
The workers’ plight
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“COTS is one of the strongest community partners we’ve had,” Jason Moore, assistant director of M.O.V.E. says
(Brielle Domings, photo)
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COTS workers started thinking about joining a union because they didn’t feel their voice was represented, Casey says.
As workers have the most contact with the clients, direct service staff felt they should have a say in meetings with the board, Casey says.
The union contract would protect the workers’ rights, give them more say, and force the board members to listen to them, she explains.
“We wanted to make COTS a stronger, more viable organization,” Casey says.
Ballin wrote that she disagrees.
“From my perspective of eight years at COTS, I believe that a union will impede rather than strengthen communication,” Ballin wrote.
Other unionized, non-profit organizations, staff and management are forced to speak through a third party, she wrote. Currently, COTS workers and board members communicate well, she writes. The board involved the staff in writing the COTS employee manual, she wrote.
“In my opinion, less bureaucracy is better for communication,” she adds.
The workers chose the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) because it allows the workers to run the union and it has a strong local presence in Burlington, Casey says. Other UE organizations include City Market, Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO), the University of Vermont, and Head Start, she says.
The staff then took a vote and the majority was in favor of the union, Casey says. When they approached the executive director, she dismissed the vote as invalid, Casey says. The director with whom they discussed this was not Ballin, Casey says.
Vermont CARES was also part of the UE but found the contract too strict and they de-certified the union after two years, Ballin wrote. The other current UE-supported local organizations also have mixed feelings about the union, she wrote.
“The areas where the staff wants changes are in areas of communications and organizational involvement,” Ballin wrote. “These are not the traditional union issues of wages and benefits. Wages and benefits are pretty good at COTS.”
Yet, “it is statistically proven that workers that have a union get paid $4 an hour more,” Casey says.
The average wage at COTS is $11 an hour and Casey believes it is a decent wage, she says.
However, a large majority of the COTS workers are substitutes who only get paid $9.50 an hour, Casey says. These substitutes work from 20 to 40 hours a week, yet their pay is significantly lower, she argues.
“They [the board] claim to pay $11 when the majority of their workers make only $9.50,” she says.
COTS also struggles to retain their employees and one of the reasons is probably because of inconsistent policy, Casey says. For example, three substitute workers were laid off because of a violation which occurred a long time ago, she says. Also, workers propose ideas and are in the process of starting it when the board will deny the continuation of the project, which can be frustrating, she says.
While she has been there for a year and a half, most of the workers don’t last more than six months, she says.
“For individuals in the shelters, the most important thing is consistency,” Casey says.
St. Michael’s next MOVE in relationship with COTS
The St. Michael’s Mobilization Of Volunteer Efforts (M.O.V.E.) program has had a long, solid relationship with COTS, says Jason Moore, assistant director of M.O.V.E.
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Assistant Director of M.O.V.E. Jason Moore doesn’t think M.O.V.E.’s relationship with COTS will change due to unionizing.
(Brielle Domings, photo) |
“COTS is one of the strongest community partners we’ve had,” Moore says.
M.O.V.E. has two programs with COTS, which are serving dinner at St. John’s Hall and a program called Family Friends, he says. St. John’s Hall provides both transitional and extended-stay housing for the homeless, he says. Students go down once a month to buy and cook dinner for the residents, he adds.
Family Friends is a new program that sophomore Nicole Marshall started this year, Moore says. A group of students go down to the Main Street family shelter to help with childcare during the house meeting and to give the parents a break while they cook dinner, Marshall says.
Both Marshall and senior Kate Schnurr have participated in the St. John’s Hall dinner service.
St. John’s Hall is one of the COTS programs that has a high employee turn-over rate that Casey spoke about, Marshall says. One of the reasons for this could be due to stressful conditions and not having a livable wage, she adds.
The impact the union could have on the M.O.V.E. programs is worrisome, Schnurr adds. But the union shouldn’t impact those programs greatly, Moore says.
“I expect we’ll have a continued relationship with COTS that will be strong in the future,” he says.
M.O.V.E. also participates on the COTS walk, which is a fundraiser for COTS programs, Marshall says.
The 18th annual walk will take place on May 6 in Battery Park in Burlington, according to the COTS Web site
