Now represented by counsel, the Elmwood Tenant Union goes to court
"We want livable conditions... We have a mouse infestation. We have no heat. The building is falling apart section by section... We want change and we're going to work together to get that."
“For the last several months, I've had the honor of fighting alongside these brave and passionate leaders of the pathbreaking Elmwood Tenant Union,” said Shana Crandell, an organizer with Reclaim RI. “They've been through a bitter fight already, standing up to a bully and building a union with their neighbors. We're also here to show slumlords and their enablers that we are organized and we will not back down until all Rhode Islanders are guaranteed safe and stable housing. To get there, we need to pass the Tenant Bill of Rights [2024-S 2417, 2024-H 7962] and we need to build fighting tenant unions that can take on slumlords and win. We've had the right to organize for 40 years. It's time tenant unions got recognition and a hearing process to take bad actor landlords to court.
“It shouldn't be this hard to get working heat. These tenants, who have broken windows and broken heat had to take a day off work to represent themselves against a landlord lawyer who's been doing this for decades. It's time that we pass the Right to Counsel so that everyone in eviction court and everyone who needs to file a civil matter has a lawyer by their side.”
Crandall was speaking at a press conference outside the Kent County Court House in Warwick, where three members of the Tenant’s Union, Melissa Potter, Stephanie Severino, and Kellee Silva, were taking landlord Jeffrey Butler to court over needed repairs and their right to negotiate fair leases.
After announcing the formation of their union on March 30, members filed temporary restraining orders against their landlord on April 5. Associate District Court Judge William Terzvant set a hearing date for April 16, ordering the landlord to inspect the apartments beforehand. During the inspection of Melissa Potter’s apartment, Jeffrey Butler became agitated and screamed at Potter that Shana Crandell, who was filming the inspection and mentioned the lack of heat, “should shut her mouth.”
Days later, during an inspection of Kellee Silva and Eugene Vasquez’s apartment, a fight allegedly broke out and police arrested Butler, Silva, Vasquez, and Silva’s father, Robert Silva on disorderly conduct charges. Everyone declined to press charges, but Cranston’s City Solicitor Christopher Millea, a former State Representative, seems to be leaving the option of bringing charges open. He was in court today “Monitoring things…
“There are outstanding criminal charges and outstanding violations alleged,” Millea told me, adding that he’s not entering the case on behalf of the City.
Ahead of today’s hearing, Attorney Owen Rice, from Rhode Island Legal Services, entered the case to represent the three union members. Seemingly caught off guard by the news, Judge Terzvant rescheduled the hearing for a week from today and ordered landlord Jeffrey Butler to complete the aborted inspection of Kellee Silva and Eugene Vasquez’s apartment within 24 hours.
Also of interest is a document to be submitted to the court, Photographic Evidence of Substandard Conditions, prepared with the help of Brown’s School of Public Health students Imran Dharamsi and Jeffrey White, with editing assistance from Alex Nigro and Geat Ramush.
See:
Cranston, R.I., landlord and newly unionized tenants arrested after an altercation during an apartment inspection [Boston Globe]
The Elmwood Tenant Union is demanding safe and affordable housing
Watch the video of the entire press conference here:
Patrick Crowley, Secretary-Treasurer at the Rhode Island AFL-CIO: The labor movement is here because we understand things very clearly - if you have a boss, you need a union. It doesn't matter if they're a good boss or a bad boss, you need a union. A landlord is just a boss by another name. So whether or not you have a slum lord boss or you have a good boss, you need a union if you have a landlord. That's why the labor movement is here. We want to make sure that working people, whether they're on the job or at their house, have the same rights to organize to protect themselves and their families. This is an important step forward for working-class Rhode Islanders. The tenants union and the labor unions of this state stand arm in arm to make sure that scumbag landlords like you are dealing with get what's coming to them. Keep fighting. We're with you 100%. Let's get this together. Solidarity forever.
Tenant Kelly Silva: Many people have probably heard my name and a few other people's names involved in the issues at hand. A lot of things are getting misconstrued and people think that we are fighting for lower rents or to not pay rent. That is not what we are here for. I think we can all agree on that. That's not what we're asking for. We want livable conditions. We want heat in our apartments. We want to not have cracks and holes in our apartment that mice are coming through. We have a mouse infestation. We have no heat. The building is falling apart - section by section. We have OSHA [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] violations. We want change and we're going to work together to get that.
Reclaim RI organizer Cheri Cruz: I want to thank all the tenant leaders and supporters for being here today because this is what collective action looks like and how we're going to win. It shouldn't be this hard to get basic minimum housing standards. Tenants shouldn't be faced with retaliation for asking for simple repairs. They shouldn't have arbitrary rent increases, eviction notices, and harassment. That's why we are here today standing with tenants all across Rhode Island and especially the Elmwood Tenants Union - to fight for those safe conditions.
State Representative David Morales: Today we are standing firm in solidarity with our renters. We're standing firm in solidarity with the Elmwood Tenants Union because month after month, tenant after tenant, we have had households forced to live in deplorable conditions - and to add insult to injury, they have been met with retaliation and threats. For that reason, we are here together as a community, and at the same time, we need to advocate and ensure that we solidify a tenant's right to organize and form a tenant union within our state laws.
To go further, we have to ensure that there is a formal process for tenant unions to file grievances and complaints against any property management company or slumlord that is in violation of housing codes or is using threatening behavior against their tenants, because more often than not, our renters, over 40% of the population in this state, feel vulnerable. We feel powerless.
But this is why we organize. This is why we are together as a union in solidarity and we are going to go on fighting because the fight started years ago and has come to this moment. We will continue to ensure that every tenant, regardless of zip code or socioeconomic background has safe living conditions. Thank you to Reclaim RI for helping organize our tenants, but most importantly, thank you to our [unionizing] tenants for empowering each other.
Shana Crandell: SEIU 1199 Northeast has been an incredible partner in this work from the beginning. Every step of the way they've been there to support.
Jesse Martin, Executive Vice-President, RI SEIU 1199: Power concedes nothing without a struggle. The only tactic landlords and slumlords use is fear. Just like an employer, when workers are trying to organize in the workplace, or if they talk to their coworkers about how much they're making or about their health insurance or retirement or safe staffing they scare people about whether or not they have a job tomorrow.
As a union that represents caregivers across the State of Rhode Island in group homes, nursing homes, hospitals, and home care serving the most vulnerable populations, our members at 1199 can't take full care of the people we care for at work when we don't have a place that's safe to live in. Simple as that. The cycle of poverty and poor health continues when we don't have a safe place to call home.
We stand proudly with the tenants to fight for justice, recognition, and the safety of talking to their neighbors. No one should feel at risk because they talk to their neighbors. We're in full support and we'll be here all the way.
Tenant Melissa Potter: Thank you everybody for coming out this morning. It's been quite the battle. I've been on the property for two years. I gave up the battle for a while because none of the neighbors would join me and fight the good fight, so I'm appreciative of the fact that my brave neighbors moved in and we came together to do this and finally get the conditions that we deserve. We all work too hard to be throwing our money aside for no reason. Being a landlord is like any other job in this world. You're providing a service and when you are not giving us the service that you're supposed to be providing us, which is a safe home, it's time for you to find a different business to be in.
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