Doug Lasdon

UJC job postings should come with a Surgeon General's Warning The Urban Justice Center is currently being investigated for labor rights violations and for good reason. The Executive Director is hands-off to a fault so Project Directors and middle management act with impunity. Ask around for information about salary if you must accept a job at UJC because there are instances of pay disparities that run along racial lines. UJC hired a consulting firm to conduct an anti-oppression training and consultation and the report they gave UJC shocked many staff members into becoming active in the union. The report included many suggestions for how to make UJC a better place to work from an anti-oppression framework. Not sure if any suggestions were implemented, but it is no secret that UJC still has a high turnover rate, especially when it comes to staff of color. They even lost a Project Manager who is a woman of color. It is not uncommon for staff to be verbally abused at UJC. While I was there, a middle manager screamed that he wanted a subordinate to die. She did not return to work out of fear for her safety and when the union confronted management about this, the Executive Director, in an open letter, acknowledged what the middle manager did but stated that if she was actually afraid, she would have called the police. She is gone. The middle manager still works at UJC. When the Executive Director learned that UJC was being investigated for labor violations, he screamed at a staff member involved in the claim that she was sick and should seek mental help. This is not in dispute because he screamed it so loudly that many people in the office heard him. When staff leave UJC on bad terms, UJC has made them sign non-disclosure agreements, will go to court to deny them unemployment benefits, and have even denied giving recommendations to former staff members for no reason. Lots of the agency-wide issues stem from the fact that UJC has no one trained in HR managing HR. The logistics of simply employing people is overwhelming them. Things like changing insurance, fixing holes in the walls, or cleaning up mold growing in conference rooms are not done in a timely manner to the detriment of staff and clients. Lastly, if you ever want to work at UJC, you should NEVER become a client there. A woman who applied for a position at one project had been a client at another project. Her former attorney disclosed that she had been a client to other staff members who had not been employed while this woman was a client of UJC. It made me think twice about referring anyone to UJC. Bottom line, only work at UJC if you absolutely have to.