Staff at the Gen-Z led organizing nonprofit Youth Action Fund have organized a union with the Communications Workers of America, staff first announced in an open letter Friday. The announcement, posted to Instagram, coincided with May Day, a day that’s celebrated in dozens of countries globally as International Workers’ Day.
“Since 2023, Florida Youth Action Fund has emerged as a critical player in the Florida youth organizing landscape,” the open letter reads. “With the dedication and drive of our staff, FYAF has mobilized thousands of students across the country and trained hundreds to become skilled youth advocates.”
Giancarlo Rodriguez works as a Central Florida campaign advisor for Youth Action Fund, coaching high school and college students who are “interested in making change in their community,” he told the Orlando Weekly. Based in Orlando, Rodriguez said they’re hoping to set an example for other young workers who similarly want to advocate for themselves and their coworkers.
“We’re all like 20-somethings who had never done something like this before,” Rodriguez told the Weekly after working hours Monday, adding that union staff had been helpful in guiding them through the process. “We even encourage people to organize in their communities, to, you know, form their own unions. And so we’re like, OK, if we hold these values, you know, we should be marrying it out within the organization.”
Staff at the nonprofit, including organizers like Rodriguez mobilizing young people on the ground for issue-based campaigns, have asked Youth Action Fund management to voluntarily recognize their union — a move that would allow them to officially unionize without having to go through an election process through the National Labor Relations Board.
To formally unionize in the private sector, getting voluntary recognition by showing majority support for the union, or going through an election process, are your two options for forming a certified union.
Cameron Driggers, executive director and founder of Youth Action Fund, told Orlando Weekly in a statement Tuesday morning that YAF leadership was “excited” to confirm their voluntary recognition of the staff union.
“By taking this important step, YAF has recommitted to our values of economic justice for young workers,” he said. “Once again, YAF is modeling a blueprint for authentic youth and working-class power across Florida. In addition to being Florida’s largest completely youth-comprised organization, we are now also one of the few social justice organizations statewide with a unionized workforce.” Driggers, 21, is currently pursuing a master’s degree at UCF, studying nonprofit management.
“In addition to being Florida’s largest completely youth-comprised organization, we are now also one of the few social justice organizations statewide with a unionized workforce.”
Cameron Driggers, founder and executive director of Youth Action Fund
According to NLRB records, Youth Action Fund staff filed a petition for a union election to join the CWA Local 3108 on May 1, likely as preparation in case their employer declined to voluntarily recognize. The petition states that five employees at YAF would be eligible to form a union, including campaign advisors, a legislative organizer and the communications manager.
The CWA Local 3108, a union based out of Orlando, is part of a national union that represents 700,000 workers in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Locally, the union also represents staff of the nonprofit Central Florida Jobs With Justice, the Orlando Sentinel, and local AT&T workers.
“We’re excited to, you know, to hopefully get workers’ protections. And to let young people know too — and people all across Florida, regardless of age — that you can form a union, and it’s possible,” Rodriguez said.
He said that he and his co-workers first began organizing a few months ago, inspired by their work, and the messaging they’ve promoted about the power of the labor movement on-the-ground. The staff’s open letter posted to social media Friday, as partial explanation for the union drive, mentioned that staff had also “been concerned” with recent changes at YAF.
Rodriguez, when asked about this, said he didn’t feel comfortable sharing too much publicly, but said that the recent termination of co-workers’ jobs sparked fear among remaining staffers. “We wanted to make sure that it didn’t happen to anybody else,” he said. A grievance procedure and job security protections are common provisions added to union contracts to help better protect workers from being fired without cause.
Founded just a few years ago, YAF in recent months has taken greater strides to organize in coalition with local labor unions as a way to help build power among young people. The group, for instance, recently uplifted demands of the University of Central Florida faculty union, which recently negotiated a 3 percent raise for full-time professors (up from the university’s original offer of no raise at all).
Driggers told Orlando Weekly in an interview last month, ahead of student “strike” action at UCF in support of faculty, that students have historically been at the forefront of the social justice movement. “And labor, similarly, has more power than really any institution in challenging the corporate interests that really dominate our country.”
Youth Action Fund was founded by organizers like Driggers who “came of age in the face of Florida’s fascist takeover,” according to its website. And in addition to labor issues, Youth Action Fund also organizes around issues such as immigrant rights, climate justice issues, and LGBTQ+ rights, galvanized by historic student walkouts in 2022 over Florida’s so-called Don’t Say Gay bill, restricting employers’ and teachers’ speech in classrooms.
“I think that there is kind of this sense in like, nonprofits, where it’s like, oh, you know, you should kind of deal with what you have for the cause,” Rodriguez acknowledged. “But we’re hoping that with Youth Action Fund, that we won’t have to go through that, that Youth Action Fund will align with its values.”
Just about 6 percent of Florida workers had union representation as of last year, according to federal U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, and unions tend to be even less common in the nonprofit sector. Unlike private employers, nonprofits are mission-based, focused less on generating profit, and more so on providing some kind of public service.
Still, Rodriguez argued that “no matter what kind of worker you are, no matter what industry, you know, you deserve worker protections.” He admitted the economy’s been tough, not only for community members they organize with, but for him and his co-workers as well.
“We want to have better wages, better working conditions, job security — all these really critical things that unions can bring,” he said.
Orlando’s daily dose of what matters. Subscribe to The Daily Weekly.
Related Stories
UCF students ‘strike’ in support of faculty, against campus ICE agreement
Student activists organize ‘Red Card’ immigrant rights campaign for Orange County schools
Orlando students barred from GOP Rep. Susan Plasencia’s office
Subscribe to Orlando Weekly newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Bluesky | Or sign up for our RSS Feed
