URGE: Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity and Workers United for Reproductive and Gender Equity (WURGE) Ratify Historic First Collective Bargaining Agreement

For Immediate Release

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Washington DC - Today, URGE: Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity and WURGE: Workers of URGE have finalized a first collective bargaining agreement. The staff union won voluntary recognition in December 2020 through the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union, IFPTE Local 70, and this first contract represents years of dedicated work and collective solidarity. The three-year agreement builds on the successes of an interim agreement reached in 2022 to increase staff wages.

In a unanimous vote, union members ratified the new agreement, which secures improvements and equity in pay, better benefits, and job security. Highlights of the agreement’s victories include:

Starting salary for entry-level staff set at $60,000
Improved health benefits with an annual $4,000 per employee Health Fund Benefit and health and dependent flexible savings accounts
16-weeks 100% paid parental leave
Financial support for traveling with children
Increased PTO with two codified annual collective weeks of rest, International Workers’ Day as a recognized holiday, and more generous sick leave rollover cap
Guaranteed COLA and annual STEP increases
Partial coverage of dependent health insurance premiums

Please see the following statements from URGE and Union leaders.

Kimberly Inez McGuire, Executive Director of URGE: “I am immensely proud of the vision we have co-created for URGE’s work culture laid out in this CBA. I applaud and congratulate the rigor, expertise, and care for our people exhibited by WURGE, NPEU, and the URGE Human Resources team throughout this process. Through communication, collaboration, and principled struggle, we have continued to grow, learn, and get better. As an organization that predominantly employs young BIPOC folks, we are implementing a pay and benefits program that sets a new standard for properly rewarding the labor of reproductive justice organizing and advocacy. Pro-union is pro-reproductive justice!”

WURGE Bargaining Committee Representative Andy Lawhead: “WURGE has spent the past few years working tirelessly for this contract, focusing on pay equity, robust benefits, and job security. None of this work would have been possible without the commitment from WURGE and management alike to this process. We look forward to continuing this partnership throughout this contract and into the next.”

NPEU President Amy Chin-Lai: “Congratulations to the unionized staff at URGE: Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity. NPEU is proud to stand alongside you as you celebrate this important milestone. As you continue in your fight for Reproductive Justice for young BIPOC folks in the South and Midwest, I hope this contract provides you with the support and rest you need for your important work.”

URGE Board Chair Niara Stitt, J.D.: “As URGE’s Board chair and a member and leader in my own staff Union, I am proud of URGE’s values-driven bargaining process and final CBA. I hope workers everywhere can organize for robust pay, generous benefits, and working conditions that support young people’s growth, rest, and thriving.”

About URGE: Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity

URGE: Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity is a national nonprofit organization that works to build young people’s power around reproductive issues by centering the leadership of young people of color who are women, queer, trans, nonbinary and people of low income across the South, Midwest, and California. To learn more, please visit: urge.org

About the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union:

The Nonprofit Professional Employees Union (NPEU), a local of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, represents employees at over fifty nonprofit organizations, including Food and Water Watch, the Center for American Progress, and Action Squared. With over a thousand members, NPEU gives nonprofit workers a voice to strengthen their workplaces and continue to do work that makes a difference in people’s lives.

NPEUJuly 8, 2024