Workers at Mosaic Family Services found time in the thick of the bargaining phase of unionization to help spur action with Texas AFL-CIO to release necessary funding from Health & Human Services. As the Trump Administration’s funding cuts bear down on refugee services, the need for labor unions in the space becomes increasingly apparent.
The far-right crusade against any remotely progressive policies in the Trump era, including refugee services, has led to stoppages in funding for some nonprofits from the United States Department of Health & Human Services. However, the union representing workers at Mosaic Family Services was able to meet with the local AFL-CIO chapter and help push for members of state congress to sign a letter calling for HHS to release the necessary awards to nonprofits in Texas.
HHS responded to the letter last Friday, releasing awards and thereby granting Mosaic funding through September of this year, averting furloughs that could’ve led to mass layoffs.
Following an executive order from Trump pausing the US government’s refugee program, a federal judge ruled in a lawsuit that the administration must restore federal funding for the associated grants. Catholic Charities Fort Worth filed a separate lawsuit to release funds from HHS earlier this month after laying off or furloughing over 750 workers due to funding delays. However, despite the ruling ordering the funds’ release, advocates remained unsure if this would be observed by the federal government until Rep. Greg Casar led a subsequent charge with other members of congress to call for HHS to comply.
At Mosaic Family Services, survivors of human rights abuses across various regions from now-converging diasporas in the State of Texas find assistance through legal services, language tutoring, shelter and lodging, and other forms of relief. Workers with Mosaic began meaningfully pursuing unionization following layoffs in September 2023. Then, after October 7, they attempted to release a statement in support of Palestinians facing genocide in Gaza.
“During the first round of layoffs [in September of 2023], people were already starting to gather, ‘okay, some of the things they’re doing are not very ethical,in regards to the treatment of employees’” Andrea, a bargaining committee member from Home Study and Post Release Services says. “Then the Palestine petition happened, and that’s when they started going into all of our meetings and separating us, trying to intimidate us. That’s when we started talking about getting legal support. We talked to a lawyer from No Tech for Apartheid, who told us, ‘Yeah, y’all needed a union yesterday.’”
Management subsequently attempted to suppress public expression of pro-Palestine sentiment in workers, reportedly fearing negative response from donors.
“As an organization serving refugees, we felt it was critical to take a stand against genocide and human rights abuses and to acknowledge the root cause of how refugees are created in the first place,” Sasha, a bargaining committee member and an immigration attorney with Mosaic says. “One of the reasons they cited [for refusal to make a statement] was, ‘We don’t really know what our funders are going to think.’”
Workers have faced what they allege to be union-busting tactics from upper-management since before the union’s first filing in April of 2024 and subsequent recognition in February 2025. The union reports that workers were separated during ‘informational sessions’ as management attempted to dissuade them from pursuing unionization. Ironically, members of the bargaining committee explained that these sessions might have caused a wariness from workers and convinced some that were initially complacent or intimidated by management to support the union, including those in the refugee team. Sumaya, a bargaining committee member from the department, spoke more on these sessions.
“When our HR person came to our meeting, she was telling us how once a union is set, and whenever they make a decision, that’s going to be it for everybody. And you have to pay for that. And that basically, once they decide something, there’s nothing for an individual person to say,“ Sumayyah says.”We are all former refugees that have been through a lot. We’ve been used to feeling like we are not able to speak for [our] rights. Many of us have always been oppressed. They get scared.”
Workers at Mosaic Family Services are currently in the decisional bargaining stage of unionization. All the while though, the union has balanced priorities of advocacy for its workers with negotiations with upper management. Following decisional bargaining, Mosaic Union will advance to work with management on the final draft of the collective bargaining agreement.
“And that can take a while. It doesn’t have to take over a year or years, but it can be if management is holding up the process or not bargaining in good faith. But we’re hoping that we can get a contract drawn up in a good amount of time,“ Katie, a bargaining committee member from marketing and development says.
In just their first year unionized, members of the bargaining committee contributed to a larger effort to bring financial stability to its workers for the next six months. Likewise, labor unions as a mechanism, utilized from a critical sector of the working class, can invoke a radical change in people’s lives. From the limbo of a furlough – the act of essentially benching an employee with no pay – to exercising their resources to adequately support themselves, Mosaic’s workers have exhibited the immense potential that unions have. Especially in a distinctly flagrant chapter of the United States’ history.
While the workers at Mosaic each play essential roles in providing necessary services to refugees – many of which are unaccompanied minors or survivors of domestic violence or human trafficking – only through unionization have they been able to fully emphasize the values at play in such work. Either through their sentiments in support of the people of Palestine, or their advocacy for their furloughed workers to allow them to return to their jobs.
While Mosaic has secured funding until Q4 2025, the union is still accepting donations to ensure workers maintain stability as Trump’s recent defiance of court rulings blocking recent executive orders. To support previously furloughed Mosaic workers to help alleviate financial setbacks, follow this link to their GoFundMe page.
