Janet Weiser may never have a union. But with the help of Working America, she and fellow licensed massage therapists (LMT) in Oregon are trying out the union principle — organizing and working collectively to improve industry standards.

Working America is the AFL-CIO’s outreach organization for those who agree with the labor movement’s economic justice agenda but don’t have a union in their workplace. Nearly a year ago, its organizers started the campaign with a mailing and survey sent to all Oregon LMTs.

“There are no standards for the industry at all,” says Aneta Molenda, Working America’s lead organizer in the campaign.

We want to open the eyes of the public, to let them know that of the $120 you pay at the high-end spa, your massage therapist is only getting $25 of it.” — LMT Janet Weiser

LMT earnings vary widely, from as high as $100 an hour to as low as minimum wage. The self-employed, and those working the health care side of the profession — earn the most. Earning the least are those who provide massages at big corporate franchise operations like Massage Envy, Elements, and Hand & Stone. Customers there might pay $50, and only $16 of that goes to the person providing the service. And to get there, that LMT might have spent 500 hours — and $5,000 to $15,000 — in massage school.

Even on the medical side, where an insurer might pay $45 per 15-minute unit of massage, a clinic might pay the practitioner just 40 percent of that rate.

It’s also an overwhelmingly female profession: 82 percent of Oregon’s 6,790 active licensed massage therapists are women. And it’s incredibly hard work, taking a toll on bodies: 16 “massage hours” a week is considered full time, and 25 is the outer limit of what’s possible.

To raise public awareness about conditions in their profession — and eventually shed light on good and bad players in the industry — Weiser and other LMTs formed the Massage Advocacy Project (MAP).

HELP OUT Know a licensed massage therapist? Go to a licensed massage therapist? Tell them about the Massage Advocacy Project. And be sure to “like” the project on Facebook.

“We want to open the eyes of the public,” Weiser said, “to let them know that of the $120 you pay at the high-end spa, your massage therapist is only getting $25 of it.”

So far, the campaign has contacted over 1,300 LMTs, and set up booths at four Portland street fairs. About 100 LMTs have signed on, and 20 to 30 attend monthly organizing meetings. Molenda says the group has already had its first success — getting one small operator to foreswear making use of a non-compete agreement that it made LMTs sign. And for Weiser and other LMTs, the group has also created community in what can be an isolating, mostly solo profession. The groundwork done, the campaign is preparing to officially launch Oct. 21.

Time: Wednesday, Oct. 21. Registration starts at 2:30 p.m., and the program begins at 3 p.m.



Place: 721 NW 9th Ave, Portland.

