Repro Workers Deserve Better—A Call-In to Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA)
Starting this week, Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) commenced mass layoffs, removing between 10% and 20% of all staff. Reportedly, 14% of all staff have been laid off, and just as many have their roles “in transition,” facing an uncertain future. These come nearly a year to the day after Dobbs, and PPFA shamelessly justifies these layoffs as a necessary shift of resources back to state affiliates. From PPFA’s official workplace values, they:
Tend to the team:
1. We help each other grow
2. We consider how decisions will affect people
3. We invest in our teams and ourselves
Let’s examine how PPFA is purportedly "tending to their team" in light of their own workplace values:
- Though less than 50% of all PPFA workers are union eligible, more than half of initial layoffs were union members
- 18 of the 30 union workers laid off in the DC union were people of color
- Among those laid off, several were on parental or medical leave
- Of the staff laid off, many positions directly supporting affiliates were eliminated, while union-busting management positions were preserved.
- Team members who remain employed have been callously abandoned by their leadership, left in the dark about further layoffs, the future of their teams, & the role they play.
- Despite PPFA’s reasoning for restructuring, affiliates have had little-to-no power in this shift. Over the last decade, PPFA has sourced national office workers from affiliates, only to lay off many of these recruits to ‘support’ affiliates.
- PPFA staff are expected to continue business as usual: devoid of any guidance, support, or explanation.
As the largest—and most visible—repro organization and workers’ union in the country, PPFA’ s actions will undoubtedly have lasting effects on both PFFA workers AND repro workers organizing across the country. We won’t watch in silence as our fellow workers’ needs are swept under the rug. PPFA’s reprehensible actions are unacceptable: We—as an abortion fund, as workers, & as members of the repro community at large—demand accountability to your unions, workers, affiliates, and the communities they serve. Abortion Fund of Ohio—and the undersigned—unequivocally stand with 500 SEIU PPFA, DC, and 1199 SEIU PPFA, NYC.
For all impacted workers, at PPFA & beyond:
Repro Jobs has opened applications for the Repro Worker Aid Fund: reprojobs.org/aid. Folks in repro who are un- or under-employed can apply for $500, $750, or $1,000 based on need.
Both of PPFA’s unions are organized through Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which represents more than 2 million united workers in healthcare & public fields. Workers are protected in forming a union at their workplace by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), and cannot legally be subject to retaliation for collectivizing worker power. Nonetheless, union busting & retaliation for union demands are rampant across the non-profit sector, and all workers should take care when organizing. Find more information on starting a union at your workplace at the Department of Labor’s Worker Organizing Resource and Knowledge Center.
Signed in solidarity,
Abortion Fund of Ohio
