More Than 100 Housing Works Staff Walk Out Amid Unionizing Woes

DOWNTOWN, BROOKLYN — More than 100 of Housing Works' employees walked out of work Tuesday to protest what they described as years of overwork and underpayment at the hands of a CEO they argue has actively tried to stop them from unionizing.

The employees with Housing Works — an organization that provides aide to homeless New Yorkers and those diagnosed with HIV/AIDS — organized the strike in Brooklyn to draw attention to practices they say break federal labor laws and do not allign with the nonprofit's goals.

"Housing Works mission should not come at the expense of my wellbeing and the wellbeing of my coworkers," said one Brooklyn worker, Rebecca Mitnik. "They pride themselves on how progressive and great their employee policies are, but the workers are ultimately the judge of that."

Workers from 35 Housing Works locations, including its thrift stores and bookshops from across Queens, Manhattan and Brooklyn, united to decry their average pay of about $16 per hour during 16-hour days and six-day weeks.

The excessive work and low pay has meant that many employees burn out quickly and leave the organization, they said, adding that Housing Works has a 30 percent employee turnover rate and has started putting unpaid volunteers or newer workers into senior positions.

"I try to connect and build relationships with each of my clients, but carrying a high case load makes it difficult for me to provide the quality of care they deserve," said Mitnik, a care manager. "It's a mental health issue, a work-life balance issue and it cannot be fixed with self care."

One Housing Works bookstore lost 11 employees just since July, workers said.

"Enough is enough," Brooklyn care manager Ilana Engelberg said. "We cannot tolerate being overworked and underpaid...we refuse to make due with less."

Workers added that their paid time off and health benefits systems are equally frustrating.

Employees are told that they need to use earned paid time off hours on national holidays, when offices are closed, and are only offered "skimpy" health care coverage. One transgender employee, Siobhan Fuller, said she has been forced to pay so much out of pocket that she couldn't afford to replace her glasses she lost in March.

The group also accused CEO Charles King of actively trying to hinder unionizing efforts by refusing to sign a neutrality agreement and quizzing workers about who intended to strike, employees and RWDSU union organizers said.

"Claiming you will be neutral but deciding on your own what neutral means and especially without a signed agreement is nonsense," RWDSU president Stuart Applebaum said. "Housing Works management is behaving just like any other anti-union employer in corporate America."

After the rally, a smaller group of Housing Works staffers tried to hand-deliver a National Labor Relations Board complaint to King, who was working from their Willoughby Street headquarters just steps from the protest.

King came down from his office, but told workers he would only talk with them in a conference room. When the employees refused to leave the lobby, saying they only wanted to hand him the complaint, he walked back upstairs empty-handed.

The complaint claims that King violated federal labor laws by asking employees whether they would strike on Tuesday, giving no "assurances to these employees that [he] would not retaliate against them as a result of their response."

The employees that walked out Tuesday returned to work later that day, mainly because they didn't want to leave their patients hanging, a union representative said. They plan to strike again if King still doesn't sign the agreement.

The organization's resistance to the union, which was first reported on in the New York Times, is unusual for the nonprofit, which touts itself as a social justice organization fighting for the city's most vulnerable, employees said.

"We all have incredible respect for Housing Works' mission, but when it comes to dealing with its own employees Housing Works has strayed far, far from its values," Applebaum said.

Information shared with Patch shows that King has told employees he pledges to be neutral as they organize, but had problems with some of the provisions in the agreement presented.

“We respect the right of our employees to engage in any lawful labor action, and we have committed to remaining neutral in this process," he said in another statement Tuesday. "We have always been supportive of our employees' efforts to advocate for themselves, our programs, and our constituency."

King added that the organization invested in employee benefits and started offering more time off in July.

The organization plans to share data on wages, caseloads and how they are calculated with staff and invited employees to discuss these grievances at an annual "town meeting" within the company.

King contended to the New York Times, though, that the union likely won't change much, given that Housing Works pays higher and has lower caseloads than many other similar nonprofits.