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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 2011)
NWLP-02-18-11:NWLP 2/15/11 9:54 AM Page 7 SEIU #49 scores Oregon’s biggest private-sector win in decades By DON McINTOSH Associate Editor BEND — Oregon’s biggest private sector union organizing victory in decades came through this month at St. Charles Medical Center in Bend, and it was a close one. In a Jan. 5 election, sup- port workers at the hospital voted 255 to 251 to join Service Employees Interna- tional Union (SEIU) Local 49, but that didn’t include 34 uncounted ballots cast by workers whose eligibility to join the union was in dispute.After the two sides reached agreement on the challenges, the National Labor Relations Board counted 22 of those ballots Feb. 2, and the final tally was 267 to 261. Several other unions have cam- paigned at the hospital over the years. But the tide seemed to turn in the last year or so after changes in management practice. Ken Daniels, who works at St. Charles sterilizing hospital equipment, was the worker who made the first phone call to Local 49. Daniels spent many years at a local sawmill as a mem- ber of the Woodworkers Union, but the mill closed, and eventually he took a job at the hospital. Daniels said things were different when he began at St. Charles 20 years ago: A nun, Sister Catherine Hellmann, was CEO of the Catholic- owned hospital, until 2000. “Sister Catherine looked after the lit- tle people,” Daniels said. “After she left, things deteriorated.” In two of the last three years, workers got no raises even as upper managers got bonuses. A dozen housekeeping jobs were outsourced. “People were afraid to speak up,” Daniels said. “Some housekeepers com- plained, and management told them if they didn’t like it, they had a two-inch- high stack of job applications.” After Daniels called Local 49, the union assigned organizers and helped turn out community support as workers organized themselves and got a cam- paign rolling. Joanne Kennedy, inpatient pharmacy technician with 30 years at St. Charles, said job security concerns were a pri- mary factor motivating support for the union. “We’re the only hospital in the area, so if you’re in a medical career and you don’t work here, you have to leave the area,” Kennedy said. And with no griev- ance procedure, and conditions worsen- ing in many departments — pay cuts, dozens of layoffs, shortstaffing, work- load increases — Kennedy said union- Turn to Page 8) Local Motion January 2011 A list of Oregon and Southwest Washington workplaces deciding whether to be union-represented – as reported by the National Labor Relations Board and the Oregon Employment Relations Board. Voting in union elections Date Workplace (Location) Union Yes No 1/5 St. Charles Medical Center (Bend) SEIU Local 49 267 261 53 53 1/11 Portland Housing Bureau (Portland) Oregon AFSCME 23 10 1/19 SI Funeral Services vault division (Clackamas)Teamsters Local 206 3 0 1/6 First Student school bus drivers (Grants Pass)Teamsters 962 1/28 Port of Portland airport police (Portland) DECERT AFSCME PoPPEA (incumbent) No Union 33 22 0 Unionizing by majority sign-up Date Workplace (Location) Union Number of workers in unit 1/14 Philomath Rural Fire District (Philomath) Garrettson Goldberg Fenrich Makler 1/27 City of Joseph (Joseph) Laborers Local 121 1/24 Tri-City Water & Sanitary Authority (Myrtle Creek) IBEW Local 659 5 6 6 Requesting a union election Workplace (Location) Union Number of workers in unit West Valley Fire District (Willamina) Employees ofWVFD Pioneer Memorial Hospital RNs (Prineville) Oregon Nurses Association DECERT Waste Management (Newberg) Teamsters Local 324 Valley Medical College (Salem) Teamsters Local 324 Morris Glass & Construction glaziers (Astoria) IUPAT District Council 5 AMR EMTs and paramedics (Grants Pass) AmalgamatedTransit Union Local 757 7 38 25 21 5 51 L EGEND : workers will be union-represented : workers will be on their own DECERT : unionized workers vote whether to go non-union JANUARY 21, 2011 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS PAGE 7
