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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (May 15, 2009)
May 15, 2009:NWLP 5/12/09 10:09 AM Page 8 SEIU fights for reinstatement Nursing home worker fired after joining union campaign By DON McINTOSH Associate Editor Elizabeth Lehr was well liked by her managers at Laurelhurst Village senior care community. Six months after her summer 2007 hire as a receptionist, Lehr got an “employee of the month” plaque. She was recognized for her “kind manner” and praised for answer- ing the phone “with a smile in her voice.” Lehr, 23, says she loved her job, her co-workers, and the residents she came to know, some of whom would spend all day with her in the lobby of the Southeast Portland assisted living facility. On April 2, she was fired — 10 days after she got involved in a union cam- paign. That’s all too common in the United States, where every year thousands of workers are fired, illegally, for trying to get union representation in the work- place. Lehr first learned there was a union campaign when she overheard two of- fice managers discussing it. Workers were coming in when they weren’t scheduled, the managers said, and talk- ing to co-workers in the break room. Later, a manager giving Lehr a ride home remarked casually that dietary Receptionist Elizabeth Lehr, one- time “Employee of the Month,” was fired 10 days after joining a campaign to unionize Laurelhurst Village nursing home. aide Henry Olivera was involved with the union campaign, and said he’d bet- ter watch out. Lehr decided to ask Olivera about the union. Service Employees International Union Local 503 — a 45,000-member statewide union of janitors, health care workers, and public employees — rep- resents workers at 26 Oregon nursing homes. Its staff organizers had begun meeting with workers at Laurelhurst Village. Laurelhurst Village, 3060 SE Stark, Portland, used to be Catholic- owned Mt. St. Joseph, but was sold in 2004 to a for-profit company, Portland- based Farmington Centers. Farmington owns 16 nursing homes in three states, including Farmington Square in Beaverton, Gresham, and Tualatin, and other locations. Olivera, one of the earliest Laurel- hurst Village workers to get involved in the union campaign, helped arrange a visit at her house from a union organ- izer to explain the union campaign. Lehr says unionizing sounded reason- able to her. “I felt it was the best avenue for us to have a living wage and benefits that we deserve, and have a voice to advocate for residents,” Lehr told the Northwest Labor Press. Lehr agreed to join the organizing committee, and started talking to co- workers. A week later, her first public act in support of the union tipped off management to her sympathies. Lehr and four other workers made an unan- nounced visit to Laurelhurst Village CEO Hannah Austin to protest the un- explained suspension of a pro-union co- worker. Two days after that, April 1, Lehr came in on a day off to distribute fliers in the break room during shift change, taking care to hand them only to work- ers who were off the clock. In walked the site administrator, the second-in- command manager at Laurelhurst Vil- lage. Managers have their own break area, Lehr says, and until the union campaign were seldom seen in the break room used by workers. The ad- ministrator, maybe to justify her pres- ence there, made a big show of looking for coffee, Lehr said, not knowing that the coffee maker there had been broken for a long time. Lehr figured the admin- istrator was there to conduct surveil- lance. But Lehr wasn’t intimidated. She continued distributing fliers to workers until another manager told her to leave. Lehr argued that she had a right to be there, since the company had allowed off-shift workers on the premises in the past. In any case, shift change was over. You Lehr left the break room, and sat on a couch in the lobby of the skilled nursing building, waiting for a friend to get off work. But again the manager appeared, and ordered her to leave. “What will happen to me if I stay?” Lehr remembers asking. Lehr found out: The police would be called. A pair of officers arrived (one of them a police union rep, Lehr says). Lehr left rather than be arrested for trespass. When Lehr returned to work, she was called into a meeting with her su- pervisor, a human resources manager, and the CEO. She was called insubordi- nate for having lingered in the lobby; told she’d been “physically aggressive” during the employee delegation to the CEO; and accused of copying pay- checks to get names of employees the union could talk to. She denied the ac- cusations, but was fired anyway, es- corted off the property, and banned from the facility. For Lehr, it was a heavy blow. Lau- relhurst Village contested her unem- ployment claim. She’s jobless in a tough job market, and worries that be- ing fired for unionizing will be a stain on her employment record, something hard to explain on future job applica- (Turn to Page 7) Robert Jennings, Labor Trustee Pipe Trades District Council 36 are committed to labor unions, and so is your bank. Labor Trustee Robert Jennings has his work cut out for him. Between managing his duties as a trustee on his trust funds and with the local District Council, he could use extra help. Union Bank is the perfect fi t. Our team of Labor Management specialists works together to provide Robert with customized treasury management services that automate his collections and disbursements, streamlining his administrative functions. The enhancements free up time for Robert and his staff, so they can focus on delivering unmatched service to members. For over 60 years, we’ve helped local labor unions operate more effi ciently. No wonder Robert trusts us to get the job done. 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