Why We Unionized

The main thing LA canvassers want and expect to get out of unionizing is stability and consistency. For example, in the past there has never been a problem with contribution “swapping.” This takes place when one canvasser who has already made quota for the week takes a contribution from their total, usually on a Friday, and gives it to a fellow canvasser who came in below quota that week to apply to their total, thus bumping them up to quota, and making everyone happy. In the past (three years, at least) directors have either openly supported contribution swapping when necessary, or if they felt any disapproval, kept it to themselves. Needless to say, it’s not something we did often- maybe a few times a year per canvasser at most, and no canvasser should rely on it. But if someone on staff had proven over several months, or several years that they could do they job, but still had that occasional rotten week, there was no reason not to help them out.

As soon as Tipton arrived in the office, contribution swapping became a fireable offense. This was not an isolated incident of a work practice going from a-ok to fireable practically overnight. Unfortunately, the three pages of workplace policies that we are handed on our first day on staff simply are not comprehensive enough for a job as complicated as ours, and too many important details are left entirely to the discretion of whomever the office director happens to be.

While the exact details of our contract have yet to be finalized, we have outlined most of what we plan to negotiate, much of which will be minimum labor standard related, and therefore non-negotiable for FFPIR. For instance-

I.        It is obviously not legal to pay employees less than minimum wage, and yet for years FFPIR has been paying field managers an extra ten dollars a day in the summer, and an extra five dollars a day in the winter, for an average of three extra hours of work per day.  Canvassers who work a full week, but miss quota still receive less than minimum wage as well. How does FFPIR get around this most basic of labor laws? They classify our job as “outside sales.” I'll bet you didn't know that a job could simultaneously be "activist" and "outside sales!" To learn more about this labor law loophole, contact your state's labor office, whose definition of outside sales might or might not include non-profit fundraising. (U.S Department of Labor doesn't.) Call us crazy, but as employees, we feel we are entitled to minimum wage. This does not mean canvassers who consistently miss quota will not eventually get fired. Missing quota still affects employment status.

II.       It is illegal to force employees to use their own money to put gas into company cars for work purposes. How hard would it be for FFPIR to provide drivers with a gas card for each car? Less paperwork for everyone, as well. For personal car use, canvassers should have gas reimbursed at the IRS work expense rate, which is almost twice what the Fund reimburses.

III.      Labor laws require that if you work an employee four hours, you must provide them with a ten minute break on the clock. Another two hours, and you must provide them with another ten minutes.  Thus, FFPIR  directors who tell you that you are to do nothing but canvass between 4pm and 9pm are in violation of state and federal labor laws. In some offices, directors have been known to give canvassers with a two hour office-to-turf commute no time for lunch at all, instead sending them straight to turf at 4pm. Given the 1pm office meeting time, and the two hour commute at the end of the night, plus cash-out time, this is a 10 hour plus work day with no breaks. This is not legal, and canvassers must never be sent involuntarily to turf with less than half an hour for lunch, regardless of commute and preparation time.

Also, much of what we plan to negotiate is non-monetary, and would not cost FFPIR anything. Examples include-

I.        Cars should not exceed legal occupancy.

II.       Experienced core staff canvassers should not be required to participate in role-plays at any time, especially during what is supposed to be their lunch.

III.      As canvassers are paid only to canvass, no canvasser should be required to engage in any non-canvassing related work in the office, during the drive to turf, during lunch, after canvassing, or outside of work hours (i.e. mornings and weekends). Office directors must express any supplemental campaign work (including but not limited to postcarding, press conferences, petition signing, letter writing) as strictly voluntary, and not make canvassers feel as though their job depends on such activities.

Shortly after the LA offices unionized, but before either office had a contract, FFPIR changed a long-standing policy regarding sick days. As anyone who worked here six months prior to September 2005 knows, sick days were previously “self-funded.” This means that if a canvasser was sick on one day in a five day week, but canvassed the other four days, bonus pay from any contributions that they raised over quota those four days was deducted from their sick pay. Say, for example, a canvasser was sick on Monday, but raised $400 the other four days, putting them $40 over a $90 per day quota. 35% of that $40 ($13) would be deducted from their sick pay for Monday. If the canvasser raised $180 over quota, they would lose the sick day entirely. In other words, good canvassers never got sick pay.

Beginning in Fall 2005, this policy was corrected in most offices, if not every office around the country- every office that is, except the LA door office. While we will not speculate on reasons behind this sudden policy change that oddly coincided with LA canvassers standing up for their rights as workers, FFPIR management know full well that they have to negotiate with the union before changing any LA door office work policies, but apparently, they believe this law only applies to changes made to improve working conditions. They seem to think that unilateral policy changes made to facilitate firing unwanted staff members (see Retaliation) are perfectly legitimate.

Furthermore, a direct quote from the Summer 2005 policies states that “The National Canvass Administrative Assistant should be notified when you are going to take a paid sick day.” No wonder canvassers are so rarely paid for their sick day in the paycheck for the week they were sick! How are they supposed to notify a National Administrator, in advance, that they are “going to” be sick?

At any rate, this is the kind of policy that, given the tiny fraction of canvassers who actually qualify for sick pay, would cost minimal dollars to correct, but would let canvassers know that FFPIR cares about something besides numbers. Knowing this, canvassers will be much more comfortable with the job, and much more capable of doing the work to the best of their abilities. Workers always perform better when they don’t feel like they have to protect themselves from their employer. This is a proven fact.

I.        A sick day, under all circumstances, should consist of base pay for the day missed, regardless of performance the other days worked that week.

II.       Sick days should be available for use on any week day (not Saturday or Sunday) regardless of the total number of days worked that week.

Sound like a no-brainer? Try working on a Saturday, getting sick Monday, and working Tuesday through Friday, then watch what happens when you try to use a sick day for that Monday. Additionally…

III.      Sick days (and vacation days) should not be taken away until they are used, or until employment ends.

Right now, you can work here full time for a whole year (or longer), and accrue five sick days and five vacation days. If at any time you switch to part-time, you will lose all of these days. This should be fixed.

Meanwhile, given the fraction of a percent of canvassers who last more than a year, allowing unused sick and vacation days to “rollover” into the next year would, on paper, cost FFPIR almost nothing, but “off paper” could actually save them money in the long run, because canvassers won’t feel like they have to rush to use all of their sick days and vacation days before their employment anniversary arrives, and they lose them all. So the contract will probably include this, as well as all of the above.

While this website can’t present details of the entire contract in progress, the above includes the most important and general details, and should give anyone an idea of what the LA canvassers want, and why they unionized. In short, what the LA canvassers plan to ask for will either cost FFPIR very little, cost them nothing, or is a legal obligation in the first place. Hopefully none of this surprises anyone, since, as stated, this was not done as much for the benefit of the canvassers unionizing so much as for the organization on the whole, to bring them up to code, to help them treat their workers better, and to experience the benefits of doing so.