Whether you work at a nursing home, a state agency, local government, private non-profit or university campus... whether you provide home health care or child care, you make Oregon work! Every day, SEIU Local 503, OPEU members from all over Oregon stand up to protect public services and raise standards for all workers.

    In this issue of President Joe's Journal, members unite to settle a first contract at Avamere Nursing Home in Clackamas and members at Curry County win a new contract on the Oregon coast. OUS members also sit down to bargain the 2007 – 2009 Higher Ed contract. DHS workers meet with legislators to help protect vulnerable children and hundreds of members fill the Capitol to tell legislators about the need to maintain funding for services.

Members Protect Oregon Children

    The Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) proposes to eliminate more than 100 Social Service Assistant (SSA) positions and force many of the nearly 200 SSAs out of the system. The proposal claims this will decrease caseloads for DHS caseworkers, but in reality, it will only increase their workloads. This plan does not improve the quality of care for at-risk children. In fact, if the DHS plan goes forward, it will make things worse for children and families in Oregon.

    Every member knows that the work we do to help Oregonians is frequently not well understood or appreciated. A recent SEIU Local 503, OPEU fact sheet explained the roles of DHS caseworkers and SSAs. Members in these positions are described as "partners" working to help maintain the best relationship between kids and families and DHS.

    Child welfare caseworkers in DHS have tremendous responsibility for vulnerable children in Oregon. Caseworkers visit families and spend time in homes or at DHS offices with the children under their care. These SEIU Local 503, OPEU members have a critical role in family decision meetings and adoption committee meetings. Caseworkers arrange for visitations and help coordinate activities with foster parents and schools. They draft reports, prepare court orders and affidavits, make collateral calls and testify in legal proceedings. Child welfare caseworkers do all this and more for as many as 25 families at a time. To get this work done and make sure it's done well, caseworkers rely heavily on the help of Self Sufficiency Assistants.

    From day one through the end of the process, an SSA stays with a client family. The SSA is responsible for the day-to-day monitoring that gives caseworkers information for a better insight into the family. An SSA supervises visits between parents and kids, provides transportation and acts as a liaison between the doctor and the mental health provider. The SSA helps with employment issues and he or she finds donated resources for families in need of clothing, appliances, cribs, strollers and many other items.

    Part mentor and part cheerleader, the SSA also acts as a second set of eyes for the caseworker. An SSA observes, documents and testifies about what happens during visits. Caseworkers and SSAs have a working partnership to make sure children and families get what they need. They work together to make certain the state, as well as the family, lives up to its obligations.

    SEIU Local 503, OPEU members all over Oregon have written letters, signed petitions and traveled to the Salem to let everyone know how important it is to keep SSAs on the job. Last week, DHS child welfare caseworkers Barbara Casey, Sarah Cochran and Kathy Granger shared their first-hand experience with legislators. They explained the vital role SSAs play in keeping the child welfare system working for children.

    According to Barbara Casey, each SEIU member and every Oregonian needs to know the DHS proposal has serious problems. Barbara says, "It's not a done deal. We're standing up to protect children and protect family services. We’re not going to let those kids down."

    We are watching, listening and standing together to protect more than 100 SSA positions. More importantly, we're working to make sure that these experienced and effective SEIU Local 503, OPEU members remain on the job to protect some of the most at risk kids in Oregon. Great job DHS members!

First Contract at Avamere Clackamas

    Nursing home workers at the Avamere facility in Clackamas reached a tentative agreement February 20 for their first-ever contract. The settlement calls for a 4% salary increase effective January 1, 2007 along with a $125 signing bonus for every employee. The contract provides that Avamere Clackamas wages will be very close to the salaries at the nearby Avamere facility in Oregon City, with extra pay increases for workers that are below scale.

    Trista McLees, bargaining team member, said this was her first experience in negotiations and she learned a lot. Speaking on behalf of other team members, Trista explained, "At first, we were hesitant to speak our minds because we didn’t have the protection of a contract. Then we all realized that it was up to us to tell it like it is. We laid it on the line and made clear what it would take to settle this contract."

    SEIU Local 503, OPEU members from every bargaining unit and every region in Oregon also made this settlement possible by standing up to support nursing home workers' rights to organize. Last summer, nursing home industry representatives, including the Avamere chain, agreed to enter a mutual cooperation agreement with SEIU. As a result of that agreement, workers at Avamere Clackamas were able to join our union through a neutral card-check procedure. When the bargaining team proposed that Avamere management accept the language and benefits of the two most recent contracts negotiated by SEIU members at other facilities, Avamere agreed. That left wages as the only issue during bargaining and members stood strong to win a fair settlement.

    Avamere also agreed to retain the existing paid time off (PTO) system at Clackamas. Members did not want to adopt the PTO procedures from other Avamere facilities in Gresham and Mountain View. Workers are very pleased to keep the current system in place.

    Congratulations to bargaining team leaders Trista McLees, Steve Winstanley, Cindy Brown and every Avamere Clackamas member! Your courage and determination demonstrates what we can do when we stand together.

OUS Contract Talks Begin

    Higher Ed members began bargaining with Oregon University System (OUS) managers last week. Management presented eighty-seven pages of proposals and most of those proposals represented take-backs. OUS managers say they want to make it easier to contract out university system jobs, make it easier to layoff workers and make it easier to undermine grievance rights. Michael Ellis, a carpenter from Portland State University and OUS bargaining team chair, said "These proposals are a step backward on workers’ rights that were previously fought for and won."

    Members at OUS campuses in Corvallis, Ashland, Klamath Falls, La Grande, Eugene, Monmouth and Portland work to keep the doors of Higher Education open and maintain a safe and efficient environment for all university students and staff. The next round of contract negotiations will be held at Western Oregon University in Monmouth on Thursday, March 15 and Friday, March 16. Bargaining sessions are open to all members. Contact any local officer, steward or elected bargaining delegate to find out how you can help tell management what you think about their take-backs. Be sure to wear purple on bargaining days and talk to all your coworkers. Now is the time to stand together.

    We'll need every member in this fight to make sure the seven great Oregon university campuses maintain respect for workers' rights. When you take one of us on, you take all of us on!

Curry County Members Win New Contract

    According to the official Curry County website, explorers in 1852 discovered gold and other precious metals in the rivers and beaches along the "One Hundred One miles of Nature's Best" called Curry County. Named after an early territorial Governor, an informal poll of citizens selected tiny Ellensburg as the seat of the newly established county in 1859 and in 1860 the first official poll counted 363 county residents. The name Gold Beach replaced Ellensburg in 1891 to celebrate the county’s namesake precious metal and eliminate confusion with a similarly named community in neighboring Washington.

    Last week SEIU Local 503, OPEU members with Curry County concluded negotiations and won a contract victory. The new one-year contract for nearly 75 workers, who keep modern day Curry county government running on Oregon’s south coast, includes 2.5% cost of living raises and increased health insurance caps.

    Like other parts of Oregon, rich timber resources helped grow the Curry County economy for decades. The current fight in Washington DC for continued allocation of federal funding based in part on timber depletion on Curry County's designated "Oregon and California Lands," usually referred to as "O&C," has serious implications for both workers and services for residents. Proposed cuts strain budgets here and in many other Oregon communities.

    The 1,648 square miles of modern Curry County run along the Pacific Coast north to Coos County, south to the California border and east to Josephine County. The first residents relied on water transport and later Curry county citizens remained relatively isolated well into the 20th century until inland and coastal transportation routes were developed. Area mines still produce cobalt, nickel, and chromium in the southern part of the county, but most of Curry County's economy now comes from agriculture, recreation, tourism and forest products.

    Port Orford cedar (Lawson Cypress) and myrtlewood are famous worldwide exports. Cattle and sheep benefit from high quality grazing conditions and blueberries, cranberries, and horticultural nursery stock grow well in Curry County's generally mild environment. The Harbor Bench area of southern Curry and California's northern Del Norte counties produce 90% of all Easter Lilies raised in the United States.

    Congratulations Curry County members on your new contract! You work to keep a beautiful part of Oregon safe and healthy. Every member can help support this region’s economy. Plan a visit soon to see and enjoy this special place.

eNews Flash

    A Busy Lobby Day: Monday February 19 may have been a Presidents' Day holiday for many, but for nearly 200 SEIU Local 503, OPEU members it was an opportunity to take a day to meet with legislators at the Capitol in Salem. Members traveled from as far away as Medford and Madras and from Coos Bay and Clackamas to testify and attend hearings on issues that affect every working family in Oregon.