Dec 11 COTS Employees' Organizing Committee Letter to COTS Board

TO: COTS Board of Directors
FROM: COTS Employees’ Organizing Committee
SUBJ: Our Future
DATE: December 11, 2006

As the people who spend the better part of our work lives in direct contact with our clients providing services, we believe we have a pretty good idea about what is working well within our organization and what could be improved. As the front line workers who implement COTS’ mission every day, we ought not to have to justify our commitment to the organization for which we work or for the clients for whom we provide services. We all made a conscious decision to choose this work – not because it’s easy (it’s incredibly difficult, stressful and emotionally draining), not because it’s lucrative (it’s a struggle for many of us to pay our own bills), and not even because it’s fulfilling (it’s our belief that the world be a better place without the acute need for the services we provide). We chose this work and this organization to work for because we do really believe in the “value and dignity of every human life.”

We believe that families who find themselves homeless should be kept safe and together. We believe that clients deserve not only a safe place to sleep and to navigate social services but also deserve the best services our organization can provide. It is precisely these beliefs which led us to our decision to form our Union. As we have been telling various members of the board since August, our organization is in crises because of deep internal issues which affect our morale and our ability to do our work. We sought ways in which to have real voice in our organization. We want COTS to be a healthier, safer place for both clients and employees. That’s why we formed a Union. It was not in the expectation of getting rich. It was not because we’re self-centered.

We formed a union because we want a voice, a real and protected voice, so that we can address six serious issues that we face in the workplace that are serving as obstacles to us doing our work. Of these six issues around which workers formed the Union, five deal directly with improving working conditions to allow us to provide better services. The sixth (livable wages) has long been a goal of COTS but we have been excluded from having a real voice in the dialogue about how we get there together. We have put forth a vision of COTS that strengthens COTS' mission: We organized because we want the respect and dignity that come from consistent treatment and fair treatment of all employees.
We want:
Job Security through a Just Cause Provision in Our Contract
An Equal Voice in Decision Making about Policies, Procedures, and Working Conditions that affect us on the Job
Accountability through Our Ability to Evaluate Management Annually and to Meet Regularly with the Board of Directors
A Safe and Healthy Workplace where Improvements and Remedies Happen in a Timely and Effective Manner
Adequate Staff to Ensure We are Providing Quality Services to our Clients
Livable Wages for ALL Employees (not just permanent staff)

As you can see, most of our issues are concerns which can be addressed in a Union Contract without reallocating large amounts of agency’s resources into staff salaries and benefits. We believe in COTS and its mission and want only to have a real voice in the organization in which we work. We are organizing a Union for our clients – not just for ourselves. Our clients deserve the type of workplaces that we are fighting for at COTS. As the COTS Board of Directors you are charged with overseeing this agency and doing what is best to help the organization achieve its mission. We are at a loss to understand how issuing inflammatory statements to the press and engaging in a public fight with the vast majority of your hard working and committed employees furthers COTS’ mission. We are at a loss to understand how refusing to deal with our Union, in good faith, helps COTS. We have been told by Rita Markley that donations are down since we started to organize our union. However, if we go back to the beginning of this process to October there could have been a very different message sent to the public that read something like, 'COTS Supports Workers' Rights'. There are many reasons why donations could be down this year ranging from the fact that we just had an important election that many people spent much money on; a recent headline about COTS receiving a $400,000 donation; and the fact that the Board drove the unionization into the public spotlight when it rejected our union rather than voluntarily recognizing it. We know that various people have said publicly and privately that they do not want contributions going to legal fees and other expenses to fight Unionization.

It’s worth noting, by the way, that if the board forces the Union to petition to the National Labor Relations Board, as they appear to be doing, for an election and if the Board continues to question and chose to litigate the composition of the bargaining unit, COTS would, no doubt, incur hefty legal fees. However, the board has a choice whether they channel resources toward fighting our union--they do not have to do it. Again, the Board of Directors had an opportunity back in October to quietly and respectfully recognize the Union and avoid any public dispute. Such an action would no doubt have eliminated any possibility that the workers’ unionization efforts could be linked to a loss in contributions. We also understand that COTS’ management is concerned about the fiscal impact of the Union on the agency. We know that the Board is concerned about the potential costs of collective bargaining and administration of a contract. We also know that there are a number of employers who choose NOT to employ expensive lawyers for negotiations and thus do not spend a large amount of money on negotiations. This fact in itself shows that Boards are faced with choices to spend money that could go toward strengthening our work, on legal fees. The Flynn Theater in Burlington and Hunger Mountain Co-op in Montpelier routinely handle Union related issues without paid attorneys. Other Employers agree with the Union to an expedited bargaining process that reduces the amount of resources spent on bargaining. It is possible to negotiate a contract in a matter of weeks rather than months if both sides commit to a fair and quick process.

We believe that all of us – the Board of Directors and the staff – believe enough in COTS that we can work together to ensure that our limited resources are spent wisely and fairly and in ways that most benefit our clients. We also believe that a quick and fair resolution to our current dispute could actually strengthen COTS’ good name in our community by showing that this is an organization with leadership that goes above and beyond others to seriously respect workers' rights. We pledge that if the Board could see its way to do the right thing and recognize the Union based on the vast majority support the workers have now shown on two separate occasions for the Union, we will do whatever is in our power to make sure that our clients benefit from our new voice in the organization. Finally, we would like to ask once more that the Board reconsider its opposition to our proposed bargaining unit. There are three job positions which have been the subject of disagreement: substitutes, assistant managers/coordinators and the administrative assistant. Substitute employees are an integral and critical part of our workforce. Substitutes, aren't just called in to work shifts when needed--they are scheduled into the weekly work at COTS. When taken as a whole, substitutes worked an average of 150 hours a week so far this year. Our agency couldn’t function without our substitute employees and they deserve a voice within our organization and thus should be included in the bargaining unit. Assistant managers/coordinators also are correctly placed within the bargaining unit. There are six levels of hierarchy in a COTS organizational chart and we have included the two bottom tiers of the organization. Assistant managers/coordinators are on the 5th tier below the Board of Directors, the Executive Director, the Program Director and the Program Managers. If we take into account their position within this six tiered hierarchy we can see clearly that they have no real supervisory authority nor significant power. It may be the case that the Bush Administration disagrees but why would the COTS Board appeal to the administration that is vehemently opposed to workers' rights and is consistently exacerbating the gap between rich and poor? Finally, the administrative assistant is not a confidential employee as defined by law. This position is routinely excluded from management level discussions regarding labor relations issues and it would be easy, if the COTS ED and Board so chooses, to vote to protect this position in the Union rather than reject it.

For the good of the agency and the clients we serve, we need to resolve this matter immediately and put this matter behind us so that we can concentrate solely on our organization’s mission. We look forward to standing beside our Board as soon as possible in a public press conference to make the following joint announcement: "The COTS Board of Directors Stands Up for Workers' Rights, Recognizes Staff Union, and Vows to Work with COTS Staff Union to Strengthen COTS Fight to End Homelessness."