Workers at the nonprofit Friends of the Children Portland voted 40-3 to join AFT-Oregon in mail ballots counted June 1. The newly unionized unit includes 53 workers ranging from youth mentors to accountants.
Friends of the Children employs paid staff to provide longterm mentoring to at-risk children, from the time they enter kindergarten until they graduate from high school. It started in Portland and now has 33 locations around the United States. The Portland office is the only one to unionize thus far. According to a statement from AFT-Oregon, the Portland workers want a union in order to improve wages and job security and reduce turnover, among other things.
