Vol 3, Issue 22

By Joe DiNicola, President, SEIU Local 503, OPEU

As the Thanksgiving holiday nears, members are ready to give thanks for the blessings in our lives and celebrate the accomplishments of co-workers, friends and neighbors. Every member can be proud of work we do to build a better future for ourselves, our families and our communities.

In this issue of President Joe's Journal, SEIU Local 503, OPEU members at Portland Public School District ask for support in the fight for fairness and respect. Financial help is available for members to meet some of the cost of higher education, and every member celebrates a tremendous victory as we welcome an additional 1500 Adult Foster Care Providers into our union.

In this issue: Portland Public School Members Stand Strong    SEIU Scholarships Help Students   Welcome Adult Foster Care Members!

Portland Public Schools Members Stand Strong

Contract negotiations are at a critical stage for 188 Nutrition Service Workers, 287 full-time Custodians and 17 part-time Custodians represented by SEIU Local 503, OPEU in the Portland Public Schools (PPS) District. The last contract expired in June, and almost six months later, the District continues to show a lack of respect for PPS workers.

Food Service Workers have been offered a 1% pay raise. As every member knows, anything less than the current 3% rate of inflation represents a pay cut. Even worse, the District has found unfortunately clever ways to balance the budget on the backs of workers by cutting scheduled work hours. With reduced hours, the District can lower expenses for healthcare and paid leave. Of course, the reduced hours do not mean there is any less work to be done.

For PPS Custodians, the current offer is a very bitter pill. Recognizing a tight school district budget, custodians went into negotiations and limited their request to a cost-of-living pay raise only. The District responded by proposing to cut their pay by almost 33 percent! As reported recently in the Labor Press, head Llwellyn Custodian and bargaining team member Mark Freimark said, "There's no way our members can take that kind of pay cut."

Custodians and Nutrition Service workers, just like workers everywhere, deserve a fair contract with affordable healthcare, a living wage, job security and a safe work environment. The PPS Board and Superintendent must be held accountable.

Join Portland Public Schools workers at a rally for a fair contract November 19 at 6 PM at 501 N Dixon in Portland. The School Board meeting follows immediately after the rally. Let's send management a strong message: "When you take one of us on, you take all of us on!"

SEIU Scholarships Help Students

The cost of higher education in Oregon and around the country continues to skyrocket, and many members look for creative ways to pay for a college education for themselves or family members. Here's the good news: SEIU scholarship applications are now available on-line for the 2008-2009 school year.

SEIU Local 503, OPEU offers two types of one-year scholarship awards to active members, their spouses, domestic partners, children or grandchildren. You must be an active union member for at least one year to qualify.

A financial aid award of $500 per school year is offered for students entering any accredited institution of higher learning in the United States. For current students, a grant-in-aid award of $750 per school year is available.

Here's what one of last year's SEIU scholarship recipients had to say:

"I want to thank you and the members of SEIU Local 503, OPEU for showing confidence in me by awarding a $500 scholarship. I will do my best to make good use of that support. I look forward to school in the fall and greatly appreciate your help toward my college education."

Another scholarship winner wrote to say:

"I would like to take this opportunity to extend my gratitude for your decision to award me a generous scholarship in the amount of $750. It is a much appreciated gift that I can assure you will be put to good use. Thank you again for your investment in my education and my future."

On behalf of 44,000 SEIU Local 503, OPEU members, "You are welcome. Keep up the good work."

Be sure to fill out your own scholarship application and share the good news with other students in your family. Union members make a big difference in so many ways and SEIU 503 scholarships are just one more opportunity to stand together for a better future.

Welcome Adult Foster Care Members!

This week, the Governor signed an Executive Order to clear the path for an additional 1500 Adult Foster Care Providers to join SEIU Local 503, OPEU. The newest members of our union care for frail or disabled relatives in providers' own homes.

Relative Adult Foster Care Providers stepped up with SEIU organizers and member volunteers to make this dream a reality. After months of phone calls and in-home visits, 58% of eligible workers signed cards to say, "Yes to Union!" The Employment Relations Board (ERB) counted the cards and certified a clear majority last week. That left only the final hurdle of an Executive Order, and the Governor wasted no time granting approval.

The 1500 Relative care providers join with the 2000 "commercial" providers recognized just a few months ago. All 3500 Adult Foster Care providers now represented by SEIU Local 503, OPEU are ready to face the opportunity and challenge of bargaining the all-important first contract.

Here's what Governor Kulongoski had to say about the importance of Adult Foster Care Providers in Oregon in the order he signed:

"The availability of adult foster homes enables seniors and persons with disabilities to live in the community in homelike settings when they are unable to live on their own. These homes allow vulnerable populations to live safely and securely while avoiding institutional care. In adult foster homes, medical and personal care services are provided in a manner that encourages independence and improves the quality of life of elderly persons and persons with disabilities.

"An important component in the range of adult foster homes is relative adult foster homes, where seniors and persons with disabilities are provided care by a family member. Like other adult foster homes, relative adult foster homes offer residents room, meals, laundry and other basic services as well as services directly related to their individual needs, such as incontinence care, assistance with eating, diabetic care, mobility and transfers, skilled nursing tasks, and dementia care. The quality of the care provided by relative adult foster homes depends upon many factors, including the care provider's training and the continuity of the relationship between the resident(s) and the care provider.

"Relative adult foster homes play an important role in the continuum of adult foster homes and other long term care services in Oregon and help to reduce the institutionalization of the elderly and persons with disabilities."

SEIU Local 503, OPEU is the first Adult Foster Care Provider union in the United States. Congratulations to every care provider, every member and every organizer who worked to make this victory possible. Well done, another win to make union history!