After months of organizing, the employees of the Jewish Family Services (JFS) in Saint Louis voted to unionize in July 2024. After the vote the employees requested that the employer participate in methods designed to collaboratively work towards a contract between the union and the employer. The Union reports that JFS has rebuffed these efforts. Negotiations did not begin until November 2024 and, despite 6 bargaining sessions of several hours each, there is little or no movement towards agreement on a contract.
Throughout this process the employees have felt the need to file numerous Unfair Labor Practice complaints with the NLRB including: threatening the loss of benefits if the employees unionized; telling workers not to talk to each other about the union or their jobs.; and suggesting employees were being deceitful for exercising their legal rights. The NLRB has found JFS management in violation of the employees’ rights.
The following are some statements JUJ has received from the employees:
Instead of seeking progress, JFS has chosen to work with the law firm Ogletree Deakins, notorious for its aggressive anti-union tactics. This firm’s strategies are not designed to reach a fair contract but to divide workers, delay negotiations, and ultimately decertify the union. Their attorney’s stalling tactics have slowed negotiations to a crawl—six sessions over two months, with no substantive bargaining even beginning. Workers and their union representatives have come prepared to negotiate in good faith, but they are repeatedly met with delays and roadblocks. These actions are incompatible with the principles of good-faith bargaining and directly undermine JFS’s mission as a nonprofit committed to serving the community.
We’ve spent years showing up every day for this community, providing care and services to those in need. To have fought so hard to unionize, only to be met with hostility and bad-faith tactics—it’s heartbreaking.
We deserve better. Our clients deserve better. We know what it takes to do this work, and we’re committed to making it sustainable—for ourselves and the people we serve.
The action of JFCS raises serious questions about JFCS’ priorities. How much of the money we as a community are donating for the purposes of providing food and other services to those in need is being spent on expensive legal services to fight the very workers who serve the community every day? Federal mediation services are free—so why choose costly legal representation? Is this truly the best use of resources for a nonprofit that prides itself on upholding Jewish values?
Where is the JFCS board in all of this? Their leadership is essential to ensuring the organization aligns its actions with its mission and values. Their silence is troubling and undermines the community’s trust in JFCS.
Leaders in the Jewish community, individuals committed to social justice are urged to consider how we, as a community, can support these workers. This is not just a labor issue—it is a moral issue that calls for action and accountability. Please reach out to those in the community who can make a difference.
