Workers at Streetlight / Porchlight Youth Shelters are asking for support from Fellow Workers in the IWW in an escalation campaign against Janus Youth Programs. The workers have been in wage re-negotiations with Janus since January but the negotiations have been shaky since the beginning.
Janus has repeatedly insisted that they don’t have to bargain and have refused to put forward any counter-proposals that would allow for the modest demands that the Union is seeking. Janus has denied the overwhelming majority of Information Requests throughout the course of negotiations as well, further hampering the negotiations. Attempts to reach out to the National Labor Relations Board have been fruitless as well despite evidence of “bad faith bargaining” on behalf of Janus.
The Union has dropped several of the original demands including a Spanish speaking pay differential in order to focus on a Cost Of Living Adjustment (if Janus provides it for other non-union Janus employees) and a raise for the On-Call (Sub) positions when they reach Bargaining Unit status. Janus’ last communication to the Union was that they were done with negotiations and that workers should wait until next year when the full contract expires to re-negotiate.
The first step in escalation was to have Portland IWW members and other local allies put pressure on Janus through a phone and email blast. The next step is to ask FW’s from across the world to do the same.
Below is a rough draft script for when making phone calls or sending emails. Phone calls are most effective but emails help as well. We are trying to hit them Monday (August 3rd) through Wednesday (August 5). Please take some time and make a couple calls during those days to help out workers at Streetlight / Porchlight Youth Shelters. If you have any questions or would like to get more involved please contact Chris at chrisagenda@gmail.com.