Union members collect signatures for nursing home initiative
Nursing home workers and sup-
porters gathered at Portland’s Pioneer
Courthouse Square on Mother’s Day,
May 14, to collect signatures for a
new ballot initiative. The measure
would set minimum staffing standards
in nursing homes. The Nursing Home
Resident Safety Act is backed by Ser-
vice Employees International Union
and the Oregon Alliance for Retired
Americans, a union retirees group.
SEIU has been unionizing workers in
nursing homes.
Currently, nursing home workers
can be responsible for as many as 25
residents. Measure backers say such
understaffing means patients face de-
hydration, incontinence, bedsores and
neglect and fall injuries.
If the initiative gets on the Novem-
ber 2006 ballot and wins voter ap-
proval, the minimum staffing level of
nurses and aides would be improved,
and the Oregon Department of Hu-
man Services would have the power
to audit and revoke the licenses of
nursing homes that violate the new
standards.
The campaign plans to use a com-
bination of paid and volunteer signa-
ture gatherers to qualify for the ballot.
It’s a statutory measure, not a consti-
tutional change, so it will need 75,630
valid signatures by July 7, 2006.
Call
503-288-3311
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MAY 19, 2006
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