“I think it’s one of those things where both sides can walk out with an agreement we feel good about,” Auletta said.
ProPublica reported on the early efforts by Edgewood workers to unionize as part of its series of stories on systems of care for troubled youth in July 2015.
At the time, counselors at Edgewood had just voted to unionize and were beginning to work toward contract negotiations. As in many other group homes, the workers had complained for years that the pay at Edgewood had been too low to attract and retain quality staff. Staff turnover contributed, they said, to a volatile work environment, where inexperienced workers were asked to supervise children who are often deeply disturbed and occasionally violent. Several current and former Edgewood workers told ProPublica they had been hurt on the job by children and hadn’t received adequate time off or compensation afterward.
In April 2016, ProPublica told the story of another facility in Davis, California, where inexperienced and underpaid workers had been so overwhelmed the group home had completely unraveled. The home, FamiliesFirst, was one of the state’s largest Level 14 homes before it spiraled out of control. Over a period of months, children hitchhiked to different parts of the state; violent episodes spiked; children were sexually assaulted; and police were called routinely. Eventually, the county was forced to shut down the home.
Edgewood workers were inspired to unionize due in part to the tumult that unfolded in Davis. The home’s management was not initially warm to the idea. Throughout 2014 and 2015, each side waged a campaign against the other. Pro-union workers, for instance, alleged that the home’s management held private meetings with some staff and offered them modest benefits to dissuade them from formally organizing.