NWLP-02-18-11:NWLP
2/15/11
9:54 AM
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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
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