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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 2012)
Jennie Kordenat receives major IBEW award Jennie Kordenat of IBEW Local 48 received a Founders’ Scholarship from the International Brotherhood of Elec- trical Workers. It is one of only two scholarships awarded annually to working members of the IBEW based on academic achievement and po- tential, character, lead- ership, social aware- ness, and career goals. Kordenat will re- ceive $200 per semester hour toward her degree, with a maximum amount of $24,000, not to exceed an eight-year period. Kordenat, 41, is pursuing a pre-law degree, but also is interested in public administration and business adminis- tration. Until mid-2011, Kordenat, who is married and has two active middle- and high-school-age daughters, three dogs, and a rabbit, was working full time and taking 10-15 credits at Washington State University-Vancouver campus. She had to take a break from school to attend to a life threatening medical is- sue afflicting her husband. Now that he’s fully recovered, she will return to her previous schedule of work, family (now with an exchange student from Iceland), and school, next term. Kordenat is a senior prevailing wage compliance investigator for Fair Con- tracting Foundation of Oregon and Southwest Washington. She has worked there since 2006. A resident of Longview, Wash., Ko- rdenat joined the IBEW in 1993, com- ing in as an apprentice. As a member of Local 970 she served as recording sec- retary, on the Executive Board, and on the Examining Board. [Local 970 merged with Local 48 earlier this year.] Kordenat’s father, Jan Kerby, is a re- tired 42-year member of the IBEW and a past president of Local 970. He now serves as registrar for Local 48. Kordenat’s husband, Keith, is ap- prenticeship coordinator for Portland- based Iron Workers Local 29. 600 nurses, allies picket St. Charles Medical Center The Bend hospital turns sprinklers on half an hour into informational picket BEND — St. Charles Medical Cen- ter may have turned the sprinklers on picketing nurses Sept. 10, but it didn’t dampen their fervor for a fair contract, says Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) representative Alison Hamway. ONA reports that over 600 support- ers, including nurses, co-workers, and community allies, turned out for the late afternoon picket outside the Bend, Oregon, hospital where 670 nurses are working under a contract extension since their previous two-year agree- ment expired. At about 4 p.m., half an hour after informational picketing began on the sidewalk next to Neff Road, sprinklers came on in the section of lawn nearest the picketers. ONA attorney Alan Yo- der called the hospital immediately, and the sprinklers were shut off. ONA spokesperson Scott Palmer says the union can’t be certain whether the sprinkling was intentional, but it came after several other aggressive acts by hospital management: • The hospital has contracted with Huffmaster, “a leading provider of strike management solutions,” and the firm has e-mailed nurses all over the state to recruit them to work in the RN Barbara Crane, president of the National Federation of Nurses, addresses members at a Sept 10 informational picket at St. Charles Medical Center in Bend, where the Oregon Nurses Association is in a contract dispute. event of a strike. • On the day of the informational picket, some managers were telling nurses they weren’t allowed to attend the picket on their 15-minute breaks — until ONA protested that move, and every manager was reminded that nurses have that right. • And on Sept. 6, the day after a me- diated bargaining session, ONA Execu- tive Director Susan King was making the rounds at St. Charles updating members about the contract, accompa- nied by ONA President Steve Rooney, who is a St. Charles intensive care unit nurse. Managers told them they were interfering with patient care and told them to leave; they refused. Thus far the two sides have met 17 times since May, six of them with the help of a federal mediator. In particular, union nurses object to two hospital proposals that they say would harm patient care. One proposal would eliminate charge nurses, which are akin to foremen in that they assign other nurses to duties based on an as- sessment of how much care patients need. The hospital’s 56 charge nurses would be demoted to regular bedside nurses, and their duties would be taken over by newly hired “clinical supervi- sors” — nonunion employees without medical expertise, whose job would be to ensure that the hospital stays within budget regardless of patient circum- stances, Hamway said. Second, St. Charles wants to elimi- nate “unassigned critical float RNs,” a group of 11 nurses who serve as rapid responders to life-threatening emergen- cies in the hospital. St. Charles also has not agreed to a “successorship” clause in the contract — which stipulates that the nurses would remain unionized in the event of a sale of the hospital. Nurses have had a union contract at St. Charles since 1977, after they went on strike to win union recognition. RN hourly wages at St. Charles currently range from $31.05 starting wage to $50.38 for a nurse with a master’s de- gree and 25 years experience. The av- erage nurse at St. Charles has 10 years of experience and earns $41.89 an hour. ONA is affiliated with the National Federation of Nurses and the Oregon AFL-CIO. The two sides meet again Sept. 27. (Editor’s Note: 600 caregivers rep- resented by Service Employees Inter- national Union Local 49 are trying to secure a first contract at St. Charles. They voted to unionize in January 2011.) Broadway Floral for the BEST flowers call 503-288-5537 1638 NE Broadway, Portland (International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X) Established in 1900 at Portland, Oregon as a voice of the labor movement. 4275 NE Halsey St., P.O. Box 13150, Portland, Ore. 97213 Telephone: (503) 288-3311 Fax Number: (503) 288-3320 Editor: Michael Gutwig Staff: Don McIntosh, Cheri Rice Published on a semi-monthly basis on the first and third Fridays of each month by the Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non- profit corporation owned by 20 unions and councils including the Oregon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in Ore- gon and SW Washington. Subscriptions $13.75 per year for union members. Group rates available to trade union organizations. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT PORTLAND, OREGON. CHANGE OF ADDRESS NOTICE: Three weeks are required for a change of address. When ordering a change, please give your old and new addresses and the name and number of your local union. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS, P.O. BOX 13150, PORTLAND, OR 97213-0150 PAGE 2 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS SEPTEMBER 21, 2012
