Refugee Resettlement and Paid Parental Leave?

A panel of former employees shared their experiences working at Hello Neighbor, one of four main refugee resettlement nonprofits in Pittsburgh. They shared the story of their experience attempting to advocate for changes to the policies of the organization, such as better work-life balance and more decision-making power for employees. When they were unable to make progress by more informal methods, they began organizing toward unionization hoping that they could negotiate on more even footing. All of the panelists agreed that they had expected, based on the progressive and people-centered work that the organization was attempting, that they would meet little resistance. They were sorely mistaken.  

Panelists outlined their attempt at unionization.  Participants included both potential union members, as well as a supervisor (ie. “management”) who were all able to speak from their perspectives about tactics that management used to union bust, as well as strategies organizers used. When organizers realized that the CEO was attempting to union bust instead of deciding to recognize the union, they tried to reach out to the board.  However, in short order, they came to understand that the class distinctions between the board members and the employees, and their relationships with the CEO, would make it difficult.

They also spoke about the consequences for those they served when some of them were (illegally) fired in an attempt to prevent a union.  Refugees who had arrived in the previous 90 days who had only one or two phone numbers for Americans were, with no warning, suddenly unable to reach employees who were abruptly “laid off”.  In addition, lamented a panelist, the blatant violations of labor rights at Hello Neighbor stood in sharp contrast to the organization’s duty to teach refugees their rights in our society.

The workers at Hello Neighbor were not able to form a union, primarily due to fear tactics, firings, and not counting provisional ballots. However, Hello Neighbor is currently hiring and the panelists hope that their experience is not the end. 

One of the panelists, now Allegheny County Councilmember Kathleen Madonna-Emmerling, also shared about a seemingly disconnected policy effort to require that employers across the county provide paid parental leave. As of this writing, the policy would require all employers to provide paid parental leave of eighteen weeks for the birthing and nonbirthing parents.

The councilmember shared the urgent public health based argument for the policy, which is rooted in the high and inequitable Black maternal mortality rate in the county. She also explained that there are insurance products for this that would generally be less expensive for employers than workers compensation insurance is currently - around 1% of total payroll costs.

In addition to the connection through Councilmember Madonna-Emmerling, these issues were also connected by the Executive Director of Hello Neighbor herself. Sloan Davidson wrote an editorial back in May of 2026 that was published by The Trib attacking the County’s paid parental leave policy proposal. A dramatic reading of the article during the meeting rang hollow given all of the background on Hello Neighbor’s employment practices attendees had just heard. The article is full of self-congratulatory sentiments about what it really takes to build the kind of supportive workplace culture that Hello Neighbor offers to new parents. During union busting, staff were told by management sentiments such as, “Unions are a great idea, but not for us,” a similar thought that echoes through the op-ed with “county-wide paid parental leave” to replace “unions”.

While this case serves as a surprising and dramatic example of the disconnect between the lofty public relations assertions of nonprofit executives and the experiences of workers and clients, this is a larger, systemic challenge – on both fronts.

Through the engaged discussion in the meeting, people noted that it is actually a problem that refugee resettlement is not handled directly by our government, that they contract it out to lower their costs, and nonprofits are only given around $1,200 per person to cover the initial 90-day resettlement period, which is certainly not going to cover the costs of furnishing a home, security deposit, rent for 3 months, utilities, and food (previously refugees did receive SNAP shortly after arrival, but are no longer eligible). Nonprofits are then competing against each other for outside donations to cover the costs that should be paid by our government. Similarly, by having nonprofit workers, the government avoids having to pay union wages and the nonprofits get away with paying poverty wages by exploiting the care and concern that workers feel toward their clients.

Similarly, paid parental leave at the County level is a needed improvement, but it really should be a Federal benefit like many other countries offer. Then employers wouldn’t need to seek out a private insurance plan to cover the unexpected nature of the expense. 

A final speaker really brought it full circle talking about how often nonprofits create these pathways for employees and volunteers that promise the opportunity to help, to make change, but they always fall short. She highlighted the disconnect between the problems as they are presented to us and the actual root of the issues. We are encouraged to work for, volunteer for, or donate to nonprofits to support refugees, not fight for our government to stop waging the wars that create the refugees in the first place. 

She was speaking from experience with organizing through nonprofits, but that a similar disconnect exists. She connected it saying that nonprofits are commonly looking for funder outcomes like turnout to events or signatures on a petition, but that the campaigns are always around just one piece of the puzzle, not solving the puzzle. They are not building the leadership or strategic capacity among those they mobilize, they are keeping people too busy to think about the root of the issues.

*If anyone who currently works at Hello Neighbor (or any other workplace, actually) reads this and is interested in support with establishing a union partner, just email the Neighborhood Assemblies and we can put you in touch with support.