Bargaining for the Better: How Our Union Negotiated Our First Agreement

Name: Caitlin Panarella / NWLC United

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Twitter: @nwlcunited

Email address to contact you: capanarella@gmail.com / nwlcunited@gmail.com 

One of your favorite nonprofits that everyone should give to: DC Abortion Fund

ReproJobs: You are the unionized workers of the National Women's Law Center and negotiated your first collective bargaining agreement in October 2022! Congratulations! Can you tell us a little bit about why you decided to form a union and what your hopes were that the union could help you with?

NWLC United: Thank you! We’re seeing a huge wave of unionization across the country, and NWLC United is proud to be a part of that. More and more workers are realizing what they deserve and demanding more from their workplace. By unionizing, we hoped to build solidarity and community among workers who might not feel like they have power or control in their jobs. When we unionized, we hoped to improve working conditions for all employees, present and future, at NWLC.

ReproJobs: Your contract agreement has some exciting workplace policies, including a $58,000 salary floor, guaranteed annual salary increases, 20 paid sick days and 16 paid bereavement days, 8 paid professional development days, 360° performance reviews, increased office closures, annual family and medical leave, and more! Wow! Can you tell us why those were your priorities for NWLC workers?

NWLC United: Thank you! We’re incredibly proud of our CBA (collective bargaining agreement); it took so many people’s hard work and vision to make it happen. When deciding on our priorities for contract negotiations, we were responding not only to policies and gaps in our workplace that we knew could be improved, but also to several crises in this country impacting our unit members: a cost of living crisis, rampant inflation, the COVID-19 pandemic and its far-reaching effects, and more. 

The heart of most of our negotiating was worker health, rest, and well-being. Because of corporate greed driving up the cost of living and prices, our members, particularly our lowest paid staff, needed a significant salary increase. We held listening sessions with our lowest paid staff to hear what a pay raise would mean to them, how it would give them stability, and what dreams that pay would allow them to access. We also wanted to guarantee that salaries would not stagnate and that as the cost of living went up each year, so would pay. 

The impacts of the pandemic also showed us that there was a need for increased leave, especially sick leave. We wanted to be sure that everyone could access sick leave for themselves and their loved ones, and take enough leave to actually recover before returning to work. Part of our push for increased sick leave was the concern that many workers feel the need to “save” their sick days in case of an emergency, rather than using it when they need it.

ReproJobs: How did the contract negotiation effort bring your unit together in the process?

NWLC United: Throughout our contract negotiation process, we had so much support from our unit, as well as from non-union employees. We formed working groups as we approached economic bargaining (which concerned salary, leave, benefits, and work hours and location) in order to brainstorm ideas, research helpful data, and share stories that could be used in bargaining.

For our membership meetings, we created a “pizza tracker” to update our members on how far along the CBA was and explain the different stages of negotiation. We encouraged members to ask questions about bargaining and raise any concerns, and often would leave part of the meeting open for discussion. As the negotiation progressed, we got to celebrate with the unit as well! Remembering to leave space for joy was key to fostering solidarity with each other.

ReproJobs: What was the biggest challenge for your union as you negotiated your contract? 

NWLC United: This was our first time bargaining a contract, so it was a learning process for all of us. One of the biggest challenges was learning how to bargain and adjust our priorities in real time. As we bargained, we communicated with each other and took questions back to our unit. We checked in with our unit as priorities narrowed, and decisions between priorities became more difficult. There were times when we felt like we had hit a wall in our negotiations with the management team, so our NPEU (Nonprofit Professionals Employees Union) representative stepped in to help.

Burnout was another tough challenge for our bargaining committee. Bargaining took many hours of work and long negotiating sessions, and we had to balance our job responsibilities with bargaining. This work also takes an emotional toll; sharing the stories of your coworkers and the struggles they’ve endured under existing policies was definitely a challenge. To deal with this, we supported each other and debriefed when conversations became hard.

ReproJobs: What felt supportive in the process of negotiating your union contract?

NWLC United: Our members and NPEU were incredibly supportive during negotiations. So many of the ideas for new policies came out of conversations with our members and their sharing of their experiences. They cheered us on and volunteered their stories and personal experiences to bolster our arguments during bargaining. Offering this kind of vulnerability by sharing their stories was huge, and resulted in better benefits for everyone. We asked our NPEU representative, Chris Langford, so many questions and couldn’t have done this without him. Tapping into a larger support network through NPEU and learning about strategies, policy proposals, and stories from other nonprofit unions was invaluable.

ReproJobs: For other repro workers out there who are thinking about unionizing their workplace, what’s the best advice you’d give them?

NWLC United: Our union began with conversations between workers about their pay, working conditions, and changes they wanted to see. Organize with your coworkers by creating forums to talk outside of workplace ones, and build spaces where you can share problems, concerns, and dreams. If you are leading a union, always always go back to the members for their ideas and guidance.

The amazing part about unionizing is realizing that you have structures that will help you. Tap into networks of support like NPEU (if you work for a nonprofit) or other unions from similar workplaces.

During bargaining, don’t bargain against yourselves. If management says no to an idea, that doesn’t necessarily mean the proposal is off the table. Declining a proposal is not a counter-proposal, which is needed for effective bargaining. Also, if management uses numbers or figures during bargaining, you can follow up with a Request For Information (RFI) to confirm those calculations. You can also ask for RFIs for any other numbers or data you need about union members (for example, how much sick leave unit members have used in the last six months).

ReproJobs: We’re seeing a huge resurgence of unions across the nation and within the progressive organizing space. Why do you think repro workers need to be part of this union wave?

NWLC United: An intractable part of reproductive freedom is the right to control your future–and labor rights are a part of that work. Furthermore, repro workers give so much of themselves to their work. Because of them, patients are able to access health care. In this political climate, they risk so much to protect the rights of everyone. They have the right to a workplace that respects their human dignity as workers. One of the most toxic aspects of a nonprofit workplace or mission-driven work is the way it can burn workers out and still demand more of them in the name of the movement. While of course, the fight for reproductive rights will be a hard one, we need to demand that our workplaces live by the values they fight for, protect their workers’ health and well-being, and help them to thrive.

ReproJobs: In your tweet announcement about the collective bargaining agreement, you wrote “Now, we dare you to do better than us! We dare workers in our industry to detach from the myths of the nonprofit industrial complex & white supremacy culture, & work together to build collective power and roads out of late-stage capitalism. Unionize your workplace—like, yesterday.” Tell us more about why you made this dare to our movement.

NWLC United: In response to our contract wins, we’ve mostly seen reactions of amazement or disbelief, from folks thinking that these wins are radical and unrealistic for other workers. We don’t want our wins to be something that’s a dream or unattainable for other nonprofit workers. We want to create a new floor for what workers should be able to expect of their workplace: a culture of respect, autonomy, and justice. By daring others to do better than us, we hope to dispel the idea that our wins are radical. 

We also want to point out that none of us are bargaining or fighting for labor rights in silos. Any win for one union is a win for all workers since we are working collectively to build power. A big part of bargaining was promoting the good policies of partner organizations to argue for better policies for our unit. Now, other workers can use our policies to bargain as well.

Additionally, a big part of our union work was deconstructing the hierarchy and power dynamics that the nonprofit industrial complex often replicates, and navigating how to build something better. By building worker solidarity, sharing our resources, and creating community, we can create better workplaces for everyone.

ReproJobs: If other unions and repro workers had questions about your process, how can they connect with you?

NWLC United: Reach out to us at nwlcunited@gmail.com! We’d love to support folks looking to unionize and share any resources or knowledge we can. As we look ahead to the next contract and beyond, we also hope to learn from other unions and repro workers and build solidarity.