Pro-union, pro-choice: Workers at
Planned Parenthood vote to unionize
Local Motion
July 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
7/25 Estenson Logistics (Medford) Teamsters 962
15
0
Unionizing by majority sign-up
Date Workplace (Location) Union
Number of workers in unit
7/14 City of Sutherlin (Sutherlin) Oregon AFSCME
22
Requesting a union election
Workplace (Location) Union
Number of workers in unit
WR Grace & Co. (Albany) Machinists District Lodge W24.
Planned Parenthood (Portland, Gresham Salem, Bend, Vancouver) SEIU Local 49
L EGEND
: workers will be union-represented
DECERT :
: workers will be on their own
A decertification election occurs when some union-represented workers declare
that the union no longer has majority support. A ‘yes’ vote is a vote for the union.
25
166
Workers at Planned Parenthood of
the Columbia-Willamette voted to
unionize in ballots counted Aug. 10 by
the National Labor Relations Board.
The tally was 97 to 43 in favor of join-
ing Service Employees International
Union (SEIU) Local 49.
It started when a worker called Lo-
cal 49 to say the group needed a union.
Enough workers had signed union au-
thorization cards a month later that Lo-
cal 49 was able on July 11 to request a
government-overseen election for 160
health care and support workers at
Planned Parenthood’s 11 women’s
health clinics in Portland, Gresham,
Bend, Salem, and Vancouver.
Workers interviewed by the Labor
Press spoke of a variety of motivations
for wanting a union, but a common
theme is a desire for a more formal
voice in how the clinic is run. Wages
have been frozen for three years, and
employer-provided health benefits get
changed significantly without any input
from workers. And employee turnover
at the clinics is high, workers said.
Zac Ireland, an employee at Planned
Parenthood’s Northeast MLK Boule-
vard Clinic, said staff has turned over
almost entirely in the five years he’s
been there. A union contract, Ireland
said, could create more job security and
give employees more incentive to stay,
and help make it a better place for pa-
tients.
“A lot of people don’t want this to
be a trial job that you do while you’re
going to nursing school. They want it
to be a real job.” Ireland said. “We re-
ally believe in the mission of Planned
Parenthood.”
When Local 49 filed for an election,
the union wrote to Planned Parenthood
management asking for a meeting to
discuss neutrality. Management de-
clined. Instead, Planned Parenthood of
the Columbia-Willamette hired the
Barran Liebman law firm, and ran what
Local 49 Political Director Felisa Ha-
gins termed an aggressive anti-union
campaign, with e-mails, meetings and a
letter sent to employees.
Hagins said about a third of Planned
Parenthood chapters nationwide have
workers who are union-represented.
The next step will be for the two
sides to meet to negotiate a collective
bargaining agreement.
CWA Local 7901 signs first
contract with Free Geek
Twenty-two workers at Free Geek,
www.freegeek.org a local computer re-
cycler, ratified their first union contract
July 19.
Free Geek is a non-profit that refur-
bishes computers and gives them to
low-income people in exchange for
community service. The organization
was founded in 2000 as a worker-man-
aged collective, but as it grew, it began
to add employees who were not mem-
bers of the decision-making body. On
Nov. 3, 2010 those workers voted to
unionize with Communications Work-
ers of America Local 7901.
The bargaining unit covers both full
and part-time permanent employees as
well as temporary “apprentices” who
work there from nine to 12 months. At
Free Geek’s facility at 1731 SE 10th
Ave. in Portland, bargaining unit mem-
bers work with volunteers, rebuild
computers, and disassemble old elec-
tronics equipment to recycle dangerous
chemicals and heavy metals.
After seven months of negotiations,
both union members and the manage-
ment collective unanimously approved
a two-year contract that provides imme-
diate pay raises of 5 to 50 cents an hour.
Wages start at $11.55 an hour and rise to
$12.55 over time under the new con-
tract. The two sides will bargain again
over the wage scale for the second year.
The contract also gives workers paid
holidays and paid vacation for the first
time, and health benefits for those
working at least 24 hours a week.
Workers start out with one week paid
vacation a year, which rises to three-
and-a-half weeks after seven years.
Employer-paid employee-only health
insurance, which was offered only to
full-time permanent employees, now
will be offered to all employees work-
ing more than 24 hours a week. Em-
ployees will contribute roughly $7 to
$35 a month toward the premium, de-
pending on the number of hours
worked.
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AUGUST 19, 2011
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