Published: April 3, 2019

Our Human Services Coalition’s elected bargaining team met with management on Thursday, March 21. We made two coalition-wide proposals: one proposal that would promote educational career development/advancement for all employees; and one proposal that would ensure that employees who have suffered direct or vicarious trauma during the performance of their work shall be provided with the support and time they need to start healing.

Finally, we proposed an LOA expanding the functionality of the Joint wellness committee expanding it to all DHS-OHA worksites with the intent of expanding off of the DHS-OHA policy to allow for more flexibility on what can be topics or areas of focus in such committees. We received a counter to our proposal regarding personnel records and ensuring that you are notified promptly and prior to any release of your personnel records if there is a subpoena or request — we seem to be very close to an agreement on this proposal. All proposals are now on the table. You can also see where our Central Table team is at with economics.

On Tuesday, April 9 we’ll be having a DHS Lobby Day and meeting with Legislators in the Capitol to talk about the urgent need to fully fund each DHS program to reduce caseloads, support the families who rely on our social safety net for food and health care, and protect Oregon’s most vulnerable children. Remember, the more members in attendance, the bigger the impact we will have, so if you are able to join us for the DHS April 9th lobby day be sure and register today.

On Tuesday, April 30 we’ll have a Child Welfare lobby day. This will be an opportunity for child welfare workers to push the kind of funding our state needs in order to provide quality services to some of Oregon’s most vulnerable. If you’re a Child Welfare worker and can join us on Tuesday, April 30, be sure and register today.