32BJ staff looks to unionize with CWA, asks for neutrality

Staff with the powerful service workers union 32BJ SEIU are looking to unionize themselves and have officially requested that leadership remain neutral during the course of organizing. 

The staff union went public at the end of August with their efforts to organize employees up and down the East Coast with the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, which is part of the Communications Workers of America. That union also represents or has helped organize staffers at other unions – including 1199SEIU, a politically powerful union in New York representing health care workers. The first – contentious – contract negotiations between 1199 and its newly unionized staff started last month.

The staff of 32BJ are not quite at that point yet, but they took a step forward Monday evening. Organizers and allies delivered a petition of support to 32BJ President Manny Pastreich and other top union officers signed by more than 800 people, expressing the hope that the union’s management will not interfere with the staff’s right to organize. “As labor movement activists, organizers, and leaders, we deeply believe that all workers – including union staff – deserve dignity, respect, and a democratic voice on the job,” the petition reads.

Representatives of 32BJ did not respond to multiple requests for comment. 

Along with the petition, organizers with the staff union presented 32BJ leadership with a series of demands. First, they asked that union leadership send a letter of neutrality to all employees, committing to noninterference, “as 32BJ frequently requests of employers when organizing workers.” Organizers also asked that leadership make sure that union materials are not removed from public areas where they are legally allowed to be displayed. Finally, they asked that leadership refrain from circulating or coordinating anti-union petitions. 

Organizers told City & State that after the staff union went public with its intent to organize, an anti-union petition began to circulate among staff, although they don’t know whether it originated from management or other staff members. They also said that they’re aware of management in some cases meeting one-on-one with staff to discourage union activity. Jazmin Torres, who works in 32BJ’s Philadelphia contracts and grievance center, said that since she is so publicly supportive of the union, her personal experience has been that 32BJ leadership has largely been quiet, “almost ignoring it, as if it doesn’t exist.” But she has heard from other staff who have had different experiences. “I do know personally of at least one person who did have management approach them and kind of say to them, you know, ‘We don't really need this,’ which is ironic,” Torres said. She wasn’t present for the conversation, but she said its content was relayed to her and she is aware that the same employee was asked to sign an anti-union petition.

The in-house staff union posted a snippet of the anti-union petition on social media. “We do not want or need any outside representation,” it reads, claiming that the staff elects union leadership and are already represented by 32BJ union officers. Although some staff members who used to be 32BJ members in the service industry still pay dues to the union, the union’s staffers are not part of the 32BJ union, which means that they are not formally represented by 32BJ union officers. They are also not afforded union protections, like just cause termination provisions and uniform grievance procedures, which the staff union is fighting for.

Torres described herself as a proud “unionist” who believes wholeheartedly in the labor movement and what it stands for. Torres has been with 32BJ for almost nine years and previously worked for a different union in which staff had representation. “I, unfortunately, assumed incorrectly that working for a union, I would be a union member,” Torres said. “And imagine my surprise when I found out that we were not. That in itself was jarring.” She learned about the efforts to form a 32BJ staff union after organizers went public in August and enthusiastically got involved. 

Jeremy Espinal, who until recently worked as an organizer on the 32BJ’s fast food organizing campaign, has been involved in the union drive effort among staff since 2023.“I don't understand any organizer who wouldn't be a part of this,” he said. Espinal previously worked at Chipotle when 32BJ was organizing workers before the union recruited him to become a staff organizer. Espinal said it’s a “dark secret” that organizers accepted by the apprenticeship programs from workplaces 32BJ help to unionize will lose their representation.

Espinal said job security was one of the main reasons he decided to get involved with the staff union effort. Like Torres, he has been publicly supportive of the union and has not seen “negativity” from management firsthand, but he said he has heard about potential anti-union messaging that some of his coworkers have been subject to. Espinal said he’s “surprised” that leadership hasn’t fostered a more positive environment for in-house staff organizers – or at the very least, proactively agreed to be neutral.

The staff union has already received support from a handful of state and city elected officials who signed on to the petition, including New York City Council Member Shahana Hanif. “Every worker deserves a union and I am proud to support the 32BJ Staff Union in their efforts to achieve recognition and secure a fair contract,” she told City & State. Assembly Member Harvey Epstein, who is currently running for City Council, also signed the petition. Labor unions like 32BJ hold significant sway in local politics – just take a look at how quickly candidates flock to picket lines – but Epstein said he hopes that his support of staff’s right to organize won’t impact his own working relationship with union leadership. “They know that we believe in organizing and organizing power,” he told City & State. “And I know that union and every other union believes in collective action, and if that staff needs to engage in that, I would think that they would support that.”

According to staff union organizers, this is also not the first time that 32BJ staff have attempted a union drive, but this is the first time that the drive has gone public. Although many of the employees involved in the current union drive were not part of past efforts, rumors about the hurdles that previous organizers faced have caused trepidation among staff. “There's always been this steady state of looking over your shoulder at 32BJ when it comes to organizing or any kind of or any kind of collective action,” Espinal said. But he said that he’s feeling good about the current drive. “It's been great, it's been exponential, especially in the last couple months since we went public.”

Torres said she’s also feeling excited about taking this next step in asking for neutrality. “I kind of want them to see that, one, we are not backing down,” she said. “And two, we are gaining momentum and supporters… I'm hopeful that they will receive it as a true sign of our determination.”