Members deserve authentic and meaningful relationships with staff. It’s what makes Fountain House and the Clubhouse model so special. We believe that Fountain House has an obligation to uphold this standard, in part, by offering sustainable and rewarding careers to all of its employees. Relationships take time to form. They require patience, energy, and genuine care. The membership understands this and are often the first to offer support when a worker is having a hard time. In unionizing, we have asked the administration and board to listen to our needs as well, to work with us in good faith, and to resolve them together.

Members deserve to work with experienced, passionate and diverse staff. However, over the past decade at Fountain House before we unionized, a once-strong benefits package had eroded and salaries had remained stagnant while the costs of having a family and simply residing in New York grow steadily. This led to a crisis felt by all. Experienced staff question whether they can afford to stay at this job, and Fountain House’s ability to attract passionate and diverse candidates suffers.  At the moment just before we agreed on our first contract, 25% of direct service positions at Fountain House were vacant. Many of our staff face the same cultural and material structures of oppression as do our members and a commitment to a diverse and vibrant Clubhouse is also a commitment to the diversity of staff voices and a recognition of how a worker’s labor conditions affect their quality of life, their family’s and their community’s.

Our push to unionize did not alter our dedication to supporting Fountain House members, and delivering the highest-quality programming and services to our community. Instead, the process of coming together in this way only strengthened our relationship with each other and our membership. The organizing process itself felt like an ultimate expression of the clubhouse spirit at a time when Fountain House was changing in so many ways. Members and staff wore their union shirts on the same days, planned actions and interventions together, had nuanced conversations, and supported each other to make their voices heard, even when it was difficult. We’ve won our first contract and so many improvements to our working conditions, but our work building a strong union has only just begun. We continue to strengthen our bonds and our understanding of our community and our practice. Through this, we’re attempting to cultivate and nurture real democracy, consensus and a seat at the table for all. We believe this is the true meaning of community, and the Clubhouse model.