Nonprofit workers in San Francisco closed out 2021 with a bang, with big things happening at the Felton Institute and Tenderloin Housing Authority.

Workers at Tenderloin Housing Clinic are locked in a fight with management over proposed takeaways and union-busting proposals. While our members risk their health and safety on the frontline of the pandemic to provide essential services to low-income tenants, management has been trying to restrict union activity at the worksite by removing union representation from the first step of the discipline process, add time limits to policy shop steward activity, and add new offenses that can skip the progressive discipline process and result in instant termination. Their only financial proposal has been to increase workers’ healthcare costs.

As a result of management’s shameful behavior, THC workers and community allies held an informational picket outside their worksite last month to call on management to stop union-busting and get back to the table to bargain an agreement that benefits workers and clients alike.

Meanwhile, members at the Felton Institute held wage reopener negotiations recently, and members were able to secure wages increases of up to 10% retroactive to July 1, 2021. These pay increases are essential to helping Felton attract and retain talented staff who do critical work in their communities. This includes providing childcare for infants and toddlers with chronic health conditions that require on-site nurse monitoring, as well as services which ensure that expectant and parenting families up to age 19 have access to all available health, education, and social services for which they are eligible.

“I am so proud of the work our nonprofit members are doing to secure funding for their work, fair wages for themselves, and quality services that their clients across San Francisco depend on. Like all of us, these workers are too often asked to do too much with too little support. That is why it is critical for our union to continue organizing nonprofit workers across Northern California and fighting for contracts and policies that raise standards for workers and our communities. Achieving pay parity between nonprofit workers and their counterparts in the public sector is also a crucial step in making sure cities and counties are exploiting workers by using nonprofit staff as cheaper labor or privatizing work at the expense of residents and the workers who serve them,” said Theresa Rutherford, SEIU 1021 Vice President of San Francisco.