PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Thoughts on Working America and Jenn Jannon?
by Philip Shropshire Sunday, Apr. 27, 2008 at 10:56 AM
pshropshire@yahoo.com (email address validated)

I'm curious about this community's experiences with Working America.

I'm currently involved in some litigation with Working America. Since this is the hub of progressive Pittsburgh I was wondering what experiences people here have had with Working America and their manager Jennifer Jannon. Or any of its field managers such as Chris West or David Ninehouser. All experiences, quotas, job expectations and overall impressions of the organization good bad or indifferent would be appreciated.

Sincerely,

Philip Shropshire
http://www.threeriversonline.com

PS: I'm also curious about the other year round canvass as well: The Clean Water Action Project.

mirroruniverse.blogspot.com/2008/04/questions-about-working-america-at-indy.html

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I Worked at WA
by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr. 29, 2008 at 12:06 PM

I started working there in Summer 2006.

I thought that Working America, like most anything else, had both positive and negative aspects. What was positive was that they were establishing badly-needed community connections for the labor movement. The pay was good and the work was interesting. I made many friends through the
experience.

But I also think there were big problems with the way Working America operated. At best, some of the things
that were done made little sense in either business or
political terms; at worst, rights of both the
canvassed and the canvassers were seriously violated.

The most obvious problem is that rules were arbitrarily applied. We were supposed to keep things "positive and progressive"; but Jannon would swear in front of large crowds, sexual harassment was alleged against one of the Field Managers, and anti-gay slurs were used around me (by an FM who thought I would be "cool" with it).

This arbitrariness was particularly troubling when it came to things like, say, checking up on addresses of
members. Jannon would claim that there were "red flags" concerning the veracity of some canvassers' information based merely on whether or not she liked them. This is evidenced by the fact that the very canvassers who *really did* blatantly make shit up somehow managed to never raise any suspicions.

You are expected to lie to people. We were instructed to tell them that it was "just for verification purposes", which is not even remotely true. This is just one example of FMs violating rules and encouraging others to do the same; this also extended to, say, do-not-knocks, which would consistently be ignored.

We had a union, OPEIU Local 2; but it functioned more or less as a company union. We would complain about things mentioned above to our union rep, as well as things like not taking adequate precautions for the weather or having lunch breaks cut short. He would repeatedly say he'd do
something about it, then not get back to us. We considered affiliating instead with another union, but nothing ever came of it.

Interesting story that may or may not be true, though:

Very few people who were at Working America at the
same time I was are there now. *Supposedly*, there's
a concerted effort not to re-hire them, precisely
because we were going to affiliate with another union.

Note also that while Working America is a union shop, Clean
Water Action is not. But both are projects of Grassroots
Campaigns, Inc., making this setup what in labor law
is called a "double-breasted" operation, and probably
illegal.

It was rumored that Jenn Jannon had a reputation as a
slave driver with other managers, leading them to
nickname her "Hitler". She hurled such abuse at the
previous office manager (the one before Erin -- can't
remember her name) that she would get physically ill
from stress, and eventually quit.

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I also Worked at WA
by anonymous Saturday, Jun. 07, 2008 at 9:59 AM

I was employed with Working America from October of 2005 until November of 2006. During that time, one of the field managers expressed a romantic interest in me. I liked him a lot but he had a girlfriend at the time, so the situation was awkward and uncomfortable for me and I started avoiding him. I never told the canvass director what he had said to me or how he was acting towards me because I really did like this guy and I didn't want to get him into any trouble. One of the other canvassers, who had noticed that this man was clearly interested in me, also noticed that there was tension between the two of us and she started spreading gossip and rumors. Around that time, the canvass director had offered me a field manager position. I told her that I would think it over and a few weeks later, I accepted the position. Then, the canvass director heard the gossip. She called me into her office and told me that I was no longer allowed to be a field manager. I asked why and she answered that she had heard rumors about myself and one of the field managers and that she didn't want the two of us working together. I asked her what she had heard and she would not tell me because she said that the person who told her these rumors had told her in confidence. She later informed me that I was no longer eligible for cross train opportunities because if I went on a cross train, I would have to go with a field manager and I may have to go with this particular field manager and she didn't want the two of us alone together. At a later date, she asked me straight out what went on between the two of us. I told her we had a misunderstanding, that he had said something that upset me, that he apologized to me and that I would not discuss it further because it happened in a car, outside of work. The office temporarily shut down after the election of 2006 and we were all laid off and told that the office would re-open it August of 2007. I decided not to go back, because I presumed that the canvass director would continue to deny me management opportunities although I had done nothing wrong. In the spring of 2007, I interviewed for a position with the Steel Workers' Union. The man who interviewed me told me that he thought I was a good match for the job and that he was definitely interested in me. Since Working America is located in the steel workers' building, this man asked me if it was all right for him to ask the canvass director for a reference for me. I said yes, thinking she doesn't have any reason to give me a negative reference as I did nothing wrong. The man from the Steelworkers' spoke to the canvass director and that evening emailed me saying that he was no longer interested in hiring me. Clearly, the canvass director said something derogatory about me, although, of course, I can't prove it. I then repeatedly called the fore mentioned field manager, thinking he's an ethical guy and he will let me use him as reference since he knows I DID NOTHING WRONG but he would not return my calls. These are people working in the labor movement, attempting to prevent a former worker,who is a single parent, from making a living! A former worker who was dedicated and hard working and did nothing wrong!

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Working America
by anonymous Saturday, Jun. 07, 2008 at 10:52 AM

I was employed with Working America Pittsburgh from October of 2005 until November 0f 2006.

During that time, one of the field managers expressed a romantic interest in me. I liked this guy a lot but he had a girlfriend at the time so the situation was awkward and uncomfortable for me and I began to avoid him.

I never told the canvass director, Jenn Jannon, what he was saying to me or how he was acting towards me because I did like him and didn't want to get him into any trouble.

One of the other canvassers, who had noticed that this man obviously was interested in me, also noticed that there was tension between the two of us and she started spreading gossip and rumors.

Around that time, Jenn had offered me a field manager position. I told her I needed a few weeks to think about it and eventually, I did accept the position.

Then, Jenn heard the rumors. She called me into her office and proceeded to humiliate me. She told me I was no longer needed as a field manager because she had heard some gossip about myself and one of the field managers and she didn't want the two of us working together. I asked her what was said but she refused to tell me, saying that the person that told her these rumors, told her in confidence.

Later, I was informed that I was no longer eligible for cross train opportunities because if I went on a cross train, I may have to go with this particular field manager and she did not want the two of us alone together.

I was denied management and cross train opportunities, although I did nothing wrong, based solely on gossip and innuendo.

At one point, Jenn came straight out and asked me what went on between myself and this field manager. I told her that we had a misunderstanding, that he had said something which had upset me, that he had apologized and that I would not discuss it further because the misunderstanding occurred in a car, outside of work.

The office temporarily shut down after the 2006 election and was to re-open in August of 2007. I chose not to go back since I presumed that Jenn would continue to unfairly deny me management opportunities.

In the spring of 2007, I interviewed for a position with the Steelworkers' Union. The man who interviewed me, said he thought I was a good match for the job and that he was interested in me. Since Working America is located in the Steelworkers' building, this man asked if it would be all right if he asked Jenn Jannon for a reference for me. I said yes because I hadn't done anything wrong and also it is illegal for an employer to make derogatory comments about a former employee when asked for a reference.

The man from the Steelworkers' spoke with Jenn and that evening, emailed me saying he was no longer interested in hiring me. Clearly, Jenn said something negative concerning myself to this man, which, as I mentioned earlier is illegal. I am contemplating getting a lawyer.

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The truth
by anonymous Saturday, Jun. 07, 2008 at 1:35 PM

I was employed with Working America from October of 2005 until November of 2006.

During that time, one of the field managers had expressed a romantic interest in me. I liked him a lot but he had a girlfriend at the time so the situation was awkward and uncomfortable for me and I began avoiding him. I did not tell the Canvass Director, Jenn Jannon, how he was acting towards me or what he had said to me because I did like the guy and didn't want to get him in any kind of trouble.

One of the other canvassers, who had noticed that this man was obviously interested in me and confronted me about that, also noticed that there was tension between the two of us. She then proceeded to spread rumors and gossip.

Around that time, Jenn had offered me a position as a field manager. I told her I needed a few weeks to think about it and eventually I accepted the position.

Then Jenn heard the rumors. I was called into her office and she completely humiliated me. She told me I was no longer needed as a field manager because she had heard some gossip about me and one of the field managers. I asked her what she had heard and she said that she couldn't tell me because the person that had told her these rumors had told her in confidence.

Later, I was informed that I was no longer eligible for cross train opportunities because I may have to go on a cross train with this field manager and she didn't want us to be alone together. I was humiliated once again.

Although I hadn't done anything wrong, I was denied management and cross train opportunities based solely on gossip and innuendo.

At a later date, Jenn asked me straight out what occurred between myself and this field manager. I told her that he and I had a misunderstanding, that he made comments that were upsetting to me, that he had apologized and that I wouldn't discuss the situation further since it happened in a car, outside of work.

The office temporarily shut down after the election in 2006 and was to re-open in August of 2007. I decided not to go back since I presumed that Jenn would continue to unfairly deny me management opportunities.

In the spring of 2007, I interviewed for a position with the Steelworkers' Union. The man who interviewed me said that I was a good match for the job and that he was interested in me. He asked if he could speak with Jenn concerning me. I said yes because, since I hadn't done anything wrong and was a dedicated, hard working individual, she would haven't any reason to not give me a glowing reference. Also, it's illegal for an employee to make negative comments about a former employee when asked for a reference.

The man from the Steelworkers spoke to Jen and then emailed me saying he was no longer interested in hiring me. Clearly, Jenn had said something derogatory about me which, as I stated earlier is illegal.

I'm thinking about getting an attorney and going to the press with my story.

Jenn Jannon works for the AFL-CIO and is attempting to prevent a single mother from making a living!

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