OnPoint NYC Workers Unionize with UNITE HERE

The workers of OnPoint NYC this week announced their intent to organize a union and be represented by the New England Joint Board of UNITE HERE. OnPoint NYC is a recent merger of New York Harm Reduction Educators and Washington Heights Corner Project, two longstanding harm reduction organizations in East Harlem and Washington Heights. Employees work to improve the health, safety, and well-being of marginalized people who use drugs or engage in sex work. They are demanding recognition from their employer.

In a statement posted to Twitter, the new union said "OnPoint NYC's workforce partners with the most marginalized populations often most harmed by the various exploitative systems in our society. This makes it all the more crucial that the workforce has a union to ensure an increased level of job security and establish a mechanism for due process and protection for workers. Through unionizing the workforce, workers want more than job security. We want better healthcare that is available and economically attainable for all employees of OnPoint NYC, regardless of their position or income. We also want to be able to retire with dignity.

"But the reasons to organize a union go far beyond the above demands. Today decisions at OnPoint NYC are made by a select few individuals and imposed on the rest of us. We are unionizing to democratize the workplace and make decisions collectively in the best interest for workers and participants. Through this unionization we plan to build solidarity among workers and participants to make OnPoint NYC the best organization it can possibly be, while improving these life-saving services in New York City." Read the full statement and follow the union on its new Twitter feed.