Ozone House United is claiming a seat a the table

Ozone House United at the Detroit Newspaper Guild office after filing intent to unionize on July 11.

LINDSAY CALKA

Publisher

On July 11, Ozone Workers United went public with the Newspaper Guild of Detroit as TNG-CWA Local 34022, requesting voluntary recognition from Ozone House management. On July 18 they filed a petition for a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election, despite not having received a response from Ozone House at the time. 

Ozone House is the youth homeless shelter in Washtenaw County; the agency provides emergency shelter, housing and support for living independently to runaway, homeless and high-risk youth ages 10-20 and their families. They also operate a 24/7 youth crisis line that services the entire state. 

In their mission statement, Ozone Workers United declared, "Establishing a union allows us to maintain our dignity and worth as workers, better serve our clients, and ensure that Ozone House operates in a way that reflects our values and the values of our community… we envision a better version of our agency, one that is run democratically from the bottom up rather than from the top down.”

The statement goes on to express that although Ozone House “is already an excellent workplace,” the union desires these conditions to be protected by a contract, especially as the Trump administration destabilizes nonprofit funding and the state increases violence against trans people and people of color. 

Xander Jackson is a Youth Specialist at Miller House (the Ozone House residential program), and works directly with the young people living there. He is also a facilitator for PrideZone, an LGBTQ+ support group. 

Jackson joined Ozone House United because he feels underrepresented by the Ozone board and administrative staff. “I want to have an opinion on the things that affect my job and I want a better work environment.” The day before our interview, Jackson had worked a 16 hour shift. “I believe that will make a better environment for the community I work for. All jobs and professions — whether steel workers or social workers — need better work environments.”

He continued, “I like my job; the kids need people at Ozone who like their jobs and want to be there for them.”

He understands the union drive to be a response to management “not listening to the employees as a collective and making company-wide decisions that mostly just affect us.” 

Jackson shared a recent example of this: Ozone announced it would be changing all of the wording for their mission and vision statements to make it more broad and less diverse sounding so they could continue to get federal funding. “If you take out the language that we serve a specific sub-population, how will that sub-population know that we still serve them? That simple change cuts off resources to the community.”

Jackson felt he has not had the opportunity to share these thoughts with the board.

“Recently, at our monthly all-staff meeting, the board planned a fishbowl discussion where staff could ask questions. But the board selected the questions the board was going to answer … it ended up just being a superficial meet and greet. The important things to us were disregarded. We just want to be listened to, and be heard.”

The union found out less than one week in advance that all members had to re-sign union membership cards in order to move forward with the NLRB filing and election. One of the initial union organizers was a Housing Supervisor, a position that Ozone House management legally challenged to be excluded from the union using the National Labor Relations Act. 

Stevie Blanchard, the Administrative Officer from the Newspaper Guild, advised OHU to withdraw their proposal on August 1; they fully refiled with new cards by August 11. This was to ensure there were no potential challenges or contestations down the line. 

Ozone services are carried out by volunteers, interns, staff, supervisors and administrators. Moving forward, Ozone House United will only include full-time and part-time employees with no hiring, firing or discipline duties: youth specialists (staff who work in the residential programs), case workers, and the crisis line team. 

PrideZone staff and other outreach workers are being contested by Ozone House as well. Jackson thinks this is intentional to worsen their numbers. “As any company doesn't — I don’t think they want us to organize,” he said. However, there is opportunity during bargaining to re-include certain positions in their union. 

“We are a queer, youth shelter and always have been,” Jackson concluded. “Unionizing offers us a tool to build a workplace that is transparent, accountable, and antiracist so that we can better serve our community.”

Ozone House has seven days to respond with a position statement, which either will lead to a hearing or election. The Newspaper Guild hopes for an election in mid-September.  

Follow @local34022 on X to read updates on the union’s progress.