[…]VRS [Video Relay Service] interpretation is considered such an essential service that it is funded by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) through a small fee all phone users pay as a part of their monthly bills. Yet the companies that receive this federal funding are far from publicly accountable. Instead, VRS services are dominated by private equity, a notoriously opaque industry often associated with ruthless cost-cutting and profit maximization.

The private equity firm Kinderhook Industries acquired Purple Communications in 2017, and workers who were hired in the following years describe an environment marked by high turnover, poor service and harsh labor policies. These workers believe that private-equity ownership is partly to blame for the conditions they faced on the job — and for the sudden closure of their workplace earlier this year.

Workers like Klug and Draeger were already frustrated, but then Purple Communications did something that pushed them to take action. In October 2023, the company unrolled an arbitration agreement it expected workers to sign, requiring any workplace disputes to be resolved through a private and binding process overseen by the company. Human resources refused to meet with staff as a group, according to Draeger, while management threatened consequences like loss of raises if workers refused to sign. So in January, they finally decided to reach out to a union, a local of Communications Workers of America that represents workers in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Just four days later, on January 11, the company made a shocking announcement: It would close all of its operations in Minnesota — the office where Klug and Draeger worked, as well as a satellite in Bloomington — and lay off roughly 50 interpreters the following month. The workers believe the company caught wind of the union organizing effort.