Does DPI Group Inc. Respect Workers with Disabilities?
DPI Group Inc., DePaul Industries, and their affiliates say their mission is to create job opportunities for people with disabilities and other barriers to employment. But how much does the DPI Group respect its employees with disabilities?
Northwest Success, Inc., part of the DPI Group, is a non-profit organization that primarily employs people with disabilities to provide janitorial services to public agencies. They operate as an Oregon Forward Contractor (OFC), under the state-wide program formerly known as Qualified Rehabilitation Facilities, or QRFs. OFC employees can have a wide range of disabilities, including those that are sometimes invisible, such as PTSD or partial deafness. Many workers at Northwest Success and other OFCs do their jobs independently and handle all their own personal affairs.
In a November 2021 letter to the City of Portland, Northwest Success suggested that its employees with disabilities may not have the capacity to choose to form a union. The company’s attorney wrote: “Given the rehabilitative nature of Oregon Forward contractors, and the types of disabilities those contractors’ employees might have, there are potential capacity issues related to labor organizing campaigns and voting.”
Northwest Success’ dismissal of its workers’ abilities and rights puts it in opposition to some of the leading disability advocates in Oregon and the United States. A non-profit organization that claims to lift up people with disabilities, when confronted with a decision by their employees that they did not support, publicly questioned their “capacity” to make decisions for themselves. People do not lose their human rights, freedom of association or right to form a union because they have disabilities, nor do they deserve condescension from their employer.
Disability Rights Oregon (DRO), the state’s leading advocacy organization for people with disabilities, agrees. “For any Oregon Forward contractor to suggest that people with disabilities cannot make decisions about their own terms of employment, or exercise their rights as workers, is extremely troubling,” said Meghan Moyer, DRO’s Public Policy Director, when asked about this topic.
Northwest Success seems to selectively recognize employee “capacity” when convenient to the company. Because Oregon Forward Contractors employ people with disabilities, they are required to offer vocational services, when needed, that enable employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities.
Of 18 Northwest Success employees in August 2021, a majority reported to SEIU Local 49 that they received no accommodations or job-related supports from Northwest Success while doing their jobs as janitors.
In fact, by DPI Groups’ own calculations, fewer than two percent of all DPI Group employees last year received job supports to facilitate employment for people with developmental disabilities. DPI Group’s FY 2022 impact statement reveals that of 1,846 total people employed, only 35 individuals with developmental disabilities were provided job-related supports.
DPI Groups FY 2022 impact statement reveals that out of their 1,846 employees, only 35 “individuals with developmental disabilities” were “provided with job-related support.”
What’s more, Northwest Success reneged on a signed promise to respect their rights. In August 2021, Northwest Success committed in writing to respect its workers’ choices and not challenge them if they formed union. After a majority (71%) of Northwest Success workers had signed union authorization cards and asked Northwest Success to keep its word and recognize their union, the company refused to honor their commitment.
Northwest Success Inc. is closely integrated with DPI Group Inc, and its affiliated non-profit and for-profit organizations, which share the same CEO (Travis Pearson), CFO (Thomas Horey), and Chief Legal Officer (Katy Daughn). What does Northwest Success’ take on their employees’ “capacity” say about DPI Group’s commitment to empowering people with disabilities to lead their lives with maximum independence and dignity?
We are hundreds of janitors, security workers, and community members, united in the belief that all workers—regardless of disability, race, gender, immigration status, age—deserve respect at work. As DPI workers, we are organizing a union with SEIU 49, Oregon’s union of property service workers, to ensure that we have dignity in our jobs at DPI. As community members, fellow janitors and security officers, and supporters, we will stand side by side DPI workers in their fight.
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