Inside the Long, Uphill Battle to Unionize Workers at One Large Bay Area Nonprofit

Some Felton workers say they’ve been threatened and retaliated against for their union activity.

“I knew that a boss never likes the idea of a union, but the extent that upper management has gone to suppress the union campaign has really shocked me,” said Ayla Lorraine, a clinical case manager at Felton who works with older adults. “I’ve talked to so, so many different colleagues. Easily a broad majority of people I’ve talked to are in support of a union, and also terrified to be public about it.”

SEIU Local 1021 has filed 10 unfair labor practice charges against Felton with the National Labor Relations Board, including claims that its management surveilled staff by taking their pictures or recording videos of them, and fired an employee for supporting the union. (The union has since dropped one of the 10 charges.)

In a neutrality agreement with Felton that went into effect in 2019, the nonprofit agreed to remain neutral on the organizing campaign and not to retaliate against workers involved in union activity.

Felton also pledged to provide contact information to allow the union to speak to workers about joining, an agreement the SEIU said Felton has violated.

“Felton has also been waging one of the most intense and comprehensive anti-worker campaign we’ve seen from an employer in San Francisco in decades,” Mariya Semeit, a Felton head teacher and member of the SEIU 1021 bargaining team, said in an email statement. “Their goal is to intimidate workers who are not yet members of the union and to distract and delay efforts by SEIU 1021 to provide representation and assistance to current members who are seeking to improve their workplace.”

Felton flatly denies those claims.

When asked during a San Francisco Board of Supervisors committee hearing last October to respond to the charges, Sarah Richardson Baker, Felton’s director of communications, refuted the allegations and said that Felton has followed all “contractual obligations.” She noted that over the last five years, Felton increased the wages of all of its employees by over 25%. She declined, however, to answer questions from supervisors.

“I just find that totally unacceptable,” Supervisor Myrna Melgar responded. “The goal, as I told you when I met with you, was to get to a place where we can have labor peace. And it doesn’t seem to me that by not engaging, we can get to a place of understanding.”

In an interview with KQED, Felton CEO and President Al Gilbert said he had been advised that saying anything during the hearing could be perceived as anti-union.

Gilbert also said that some Felton employees have raised concerns with management about those campaigning for the union visiting employees’ homes after hours.

“It can feel frightening if someone comes to your house and says your name and knocks on your door and it’s nighttime,” he said. “You don’t feel safe. You don’t know why they’re there, you don’t know if you’re in trouble with the law. Many staff have said they’re concerned about that, and they actually asked for our support.”

Gilbert acknowledged that Felton, like many other nonprofits dependent on public funding, has faced challenges paying employees enough to afford to live in the Bay Area.

That claim is backed by a report last year from the San Francisco City Controller’s Office, which found that nonprofits face “extreme inflationary and market pressures, which often exceed contract budget increases” and that “low wage levels led to difficulty hiring and high turnover, impacting client services and service provider stability.”

Nonetheless, Gilbert contended that Felton’s workforce has remained “relatively stable” considering the many pandemic-related disruptions it’s faced in recent years.

The union’s complaints against Felton have been a distraction from the necessary and difficult work the nonprofit should be focusing on, Gilbert added, noting that he worries the recent strife is also undermining worker camaraderie and morale.

“The work is really complicated and we know we’re all in it for the right reasons. And now we’re spending time talking about something that, to us, should be a nonissue,” Gilbert said. “If the employees want to join the union, please do. Call a vote, do something.”

Ahide Palomera, administrative manager in Felton’s early psychosis program, pointed to the rift that the union organizing campaign has fomented among workers.

“It’s upsetting because it’s now snowballed into something it shouldn’t have been,” Palomera said. “I feel like it’s a lot of bullying and a lot of pressuring folks.”

Palomera is not new to union involvement at Felton: She joined SEIU Local 1021 in 2011. During that time, Palomera said, she generally felt misled and unsupported, and remembers finding the union hard to get ahold of when she or her co-workers sought help.

“I got really upset. I was like, ‘Why are you guys not helping these employees?'” Palomera said. “I was like, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’ I’m paying [dues for] something that is not benefiting me. No one was hearing me.”