Workers with disabilities have had fewer opportunities and benefits working for Northwest Success, Inc.
Emmanuel Beng, a former janitor at ODOT, says he felt forced to leave when Northwest Success took over the cleaning contract and offered janitors no health insurance for the first 90 days.
Emmanuel Beng really liked working as a janitor at the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT).
“I came to the United States in 1993 as a refugee from South Sudan, where I was a plumber,” said Beng. “I was shot in the leg when I was a soldier during the Sudanese Civil War and now I can’t always stand for long periods of time. I have been working as a janitor since 1997 for the company now called Relay Resources. The pay, benefits, and job stability have helped my wife and me to raise our six children here in Portland.”
Relay Resources is a nonprofit organization that employs people with disabilities. The janitors who work there are members of SEIU Local 49, and have a union contract that guarantees predictable wage increases, a pension, fully employer-paid health insurance, and affordable options for adding children to the coverage.
Beng liked the people at ODOT and his commute was not bad, as he lived nearby. All was fine until a different janitorial company, Northwest Success, Inc., took over the janitorial contract.
“The new company said I could apply with them and keep cleaning ODOT,” Beng said. “They told me the pay would be the same or better, but they said I would have to work three months before getting medical insurance. I have one daily medication and one weekly medication, and I need to be able to see my doctor. I couldn’t risk going three months with no insurance. So instead, I had to move to a new building to stay with Relay Resources, to make sure I could keep my medical and retirement benefits. I have to drive a lot further, and I miss the staff at ODOT who I worked with for so long.”
Unfortunately, Beng’s experience is not an isolated case. Although Northwest Success’ mission is to “provide employment for people with disabilities or other barriers to employment,” it has actually reduced some employment opportunities and benefits for individuals with disabilities.
From the time Northwest Success launched in 2020, it has employed individuals with disabilities for significantly fewer hours than the employer it replaced, and its has provided inferior health benefits and retirement savings contributions, contributing to an exodus of formerly employed janitors.
The problem began in March 2020, when Northwest Success took over the janitorial contract at the City of Sherwood, its first client. Northwest Success’ first annual report to the Oregon Forward Program indicated that only 30.93% of its janitorial service hours were worked by people with disabilities.
That percentage by itself is a problem, because state law says that Oregon Forward Contractors must employ people with disabilities for a minimum of 60% of total “direct labor hours”—services provided by front-line workers rather than managers or support staff. Employing mostly people with disabilities is the baseline for participation in the Oregon Forward program, which allows service contractors to win no-bid contracts from government agencies, and protects them from many of the cost pressures that influence other employers in similar industries. From its inception, Northwest Success failed to comply with this basic requirement in state law.
Worse, Northwest Success measurably reduced opportunities for workers with disabilities at City of Sherwood facilities. In the same period that Northwest Success, Inc. took over the contract, its 30.93% direct labor ratio was far below the 70.9% of the previous Oregon Forward Contractor, Relay Resources.
Even though it had failed to meet the baseline 60% direct labor ratio, Northwest Success invested in its own expansion. In 2021 and 2022, Northwest Success took over two janitorial contracts at the City of Portland and one at the Oregon Department of Transportation—in each case, for services formerly provided by Relay Resources. Again, during this period, Northwest Success’ direct labor ratio (as a company) was 34.9% hours worked by people with disabilities, far below Relay Resources’ ratio of 63.3%.
In addition to creating fewer opportunities for workers with disabilities, Northwest Success has at times provided its janitorial employees with inferior health insurance and retirement savings contributions than Relay Resources. Relay employees have a union contract that guarantees a retirement pension, fully employer-paid insurance, and the option to cover kids for only $40 per month, among other benefits. (Northwest Success has resisted its employees’ attempts to form a union, and questioned their “capacity” to do so by blaming their disabilities.)
In each of these contract transitions, most or all janitors who were formerly employed by Relay Resources were displaced when Northwest Success took over the contract. Although state law required Northwest Success to offer them employment, multiple affected janitors reported to SEIU Local 49 they could not afford to accept a position with Northwest Success, because Northwest Success had told them they would lose medical benefits for the first 90 days of employment. For workers with disabilities who often need ongoing medical treatment and access to affordable medication, enduring three months without medical insurance is a serious hardship.
Northwest Success’ parent organization, DPI Group, Inc., has said its approach is “51% money and 49% mission.” The money side of the equation may explain Northwest Success’ push to expand before meeting even basic state requirements under the Oregon Forward Program.
SEIU wonders if maybe a better approach would be to focus 100% on creating opportunities, providing better benefits, and respecting workers with disabilities’ right to form a union if they so choose.
