{"id":66369,"date":"2026-09-24T13:55:45","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T17:55:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/?post_type=victories&p=66369"},"modified":"2026-09-24T13:55:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T17:55:46","slug":"advocates-for-homeless-youth-vote-to-unionize-in-washington","status":"publish","type":"victories","link":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/actions\/victories\/advocates-for-homeless-youth-vote-to-unionize-in-washington\/","title":{"rendered":"Advocates for Homeless Youth Vote to Unionize in Washington"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Getting organized:<\/em><\/strong> Pictured from left: Zivit Shechter Nissim, The Mockingbird Society CEO; Robert Goldsmith, UFCW 3000 organizer; Jenny Carlson, UFCW 3000 organizing director; Eddie Lin, Seattle City Council member; Yvonne-Monique Aviva, The Mockingbird Society executive director; and Dustin Lambro, UFCW 3000 political director.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The 12 workers at Mockingbird Society, based in Seattle, organized with UFCW Local 3000<\/a> last month, seeking a formal process for negotiating workplace needs. The youth advocates and support staffers are also eager to enshrine their current benefits in a binding contract, which they plan to negotiate before the end of the year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Early in the organizing process, a slim majority of workers supported unionizing, but progress stalled. The effort regained momentum once workers realized that management could make significant changes without their signoff. At that point, more than 80 percent of workers agreed that forming a union was the best way to protect their rights and give them a say in the workplace.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Organizers held small meetings with workers and conducted one-on-one outreach to make sure they understood what unionizing entailed, including information about dues, their specific rights as union members, and how to negotiate a contract. When an employee faced a layoff before the vote, organizers demonstrated the union\u2019s value by connecting that worker with unemployment resources. When it was time to vote, the organizing committee sought the help Seattle City Council Member Eddie Lin to act as a neutral third party.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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\u201cWorkers at Mockingbird decided to form a union because they realized that management could dictate and change anything they wanted about their working conditions if they had no union,\u201d said Robert Goldsmith, an organizer at UFCW 3000. \u201cAs soon as they formed their union, we were able to enforce our members\u2019 rights even without a contract.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Getting organized: Pictured from left: Zivit Shechter Nissim, The Mockingbird Society CEO; Robert Goldsmith, UFCW 3000 organizer; Jenny Carlson, UFCW 3000 organizing director; Eddie Lin, Seattle City Council member; Yvonne-Monique Aviva, The Mockingbird Society executive director; and Dustin Lambro, UFCW 3000 political director. The 12 workers at Mockingbird Society, based in Seattle, organized with UFCW […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":436,"featured_media":66370,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[592],"class_list":["post-66369","victories","type-victories","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-care-industries","tag-ufcw-local-3000"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAdvocates for Homeless Youth Vote to Unionize in Washington - The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Advocates for Homeless Youth Vote to Unionize in Washington\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/actions\/victories\/advocates-for-homeless-youth-vote-to-unionize-in-washington\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Advocates for Homeless Youth Vote to Unionize in Washington - 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