I worked in a non-profit organization up until yesterday. It was pretty much a dream job: crappy pay, but amazing coworkers, diverse team of extremely competent people, a non-hierarchical power structure with participatory (democratic) management, and very fulfilling and meaningful work.
Unfortunately, like most nonprofit boards, ours was made up of disconnected, upper-class white boomers who use their board membership for virtue signaling and washing of their reputation. When said board made major financing screw ups, rather than owning up to their incompetence they decided to blame it on our participatory structure and use this as an opportunity to take away all of our power and push a general director on us. This person had zero background in the field, zero experience in nonprofit work, zero relevant education, but had personal connections with multiple board members.
Despite a complete lack of know-how they made major decisions with all the confidence of a narcissistic sociopath: 2/3rds of the staff were fired (some illegally) including anyone who voiced any opposition, our workloads were essentially quadrupled with no salary increases, and the quality of the service we provide was severely affected, in turn putting our fragile clientele in danger. Tired of hearing the floor staff complaining about how these changes were compromising the mental health of our clients, they issued an amendment to our contracts telling us to shut up, pledge full loyalty to the board's vision and put our personal values aside (yes it actually said this). When no one agreed to sign the amendment, they decided to just implement it as official organization policy. I knew I had to get out, but some of my coworkers didn't have that luxury (one needs to be employed to obtain her citizenship or she will be deported).
At that point, I announced my resignation and gave them a week of notice… But during that week I met with union representatives and they guided me through the process… I would sneak out during meetings and meet them in the alley behind work where we'd exchange envelopes looking shady as hell and it was pretty badass. Yesterday was my last day. I collected all the cards from employees and sent them in before leaving. We got a large majority of votes.
The whole process just gave me a rush. When I told my coworker that I sent in the cards, I swear I saw every muscle in her body simultaneously relax… I have literally never seen a human body do this, and it felt amazing.
Starting my new job next week. They don't have a union yet…