Nov. 16, 2012_NWLP 10/10/17 10:52 AM Page 2
Bend hospital support staff drop SEIU, even as nurses ratify contract
About 600 staff joined
SEIU 49 21 months ago,
but never got a contract
Support staff at St. Charles Medical
Center in Bend, Oregon, voted 334 to
212 to go nonunion Nov. 1 — 21
months after a union was narrowly
voted in.
The workers’ 255-to-251 vote in
January 2011 to join Service Employ-
ees International Union (SEIU) Local
49 was Oregon’s biggest private sector
union win in years, and at Central Ore-
gon’s largest employer. But Local 49
never secured a union contract in the
course of more than 40 formal negoti-
ating sessions.
In a press statement, Local 49
spokesperson Jesse Stemmler said it
was clear soon after the election that
the hospital was not taking bargaining
seriously and was going to instead do
whatever it took to disband the union.
When a year was up, as federal law
allows, anti-union workers circulated a
petition to decertify the union. Nor-
mally, the National Labor Relations
Board (NLRB) would schedule an
election to determine whether workers
wanted to remain unionized, but that
was put on hold while the agency in-
vestigated charges that the hospital vi-
olated labor law.
“We felt it was nowhere near a fair
and democratic environment to hold an
election,” Stemmler told the Labor
Press.
But the decertification election went
forward after the NLRB approved a
voluntary settlement in early August.
In the settlement, St. Charles agreed to
post and e-mail a notice promising not
to do 18 things they were accused of
having done, including surveilling em-
ployees, disciplining employees for
supporting the union, removing union
bulletin board postings, prohibiting
distribution of union materials, telling
workers not to talk about the union,
barring the wearing of union stickers,
telling workers they were being
watched because of union activities,
denying union staff access to the hos-
pital, and on and on.
An 11”x17” notice may seem like a
pretty frail remedy for creating the at-
mosphere of dictatorship, but that’s the
standard end to so-called “unfair labor
practice” charges when the NLRB
finds merit to the union’s accusations.
When the agency doesn’t find enough
evidence — as when St. Charles fired
three union supporters — workers
have no further recourse under U.S. la-
bor law. Local 49 appealed approval of
the St. Charles settlement, but the ap-
peal was denied and the election date
set.
Stemmler blamed anti-union con-
sultants for the union’s election loss.
Stemmler said St. Charles Medical
Center hired The Burke Group, Cruz
and Associates, and Barran Liebman.
The attorneys and consultants trained
hospital managers, who then called
workers in for one-on-one meetings.
For workers who came in on their
day off to vote in the decertification
election, the hospital paid them for
their time, and reimbursed them for
mileage, Stemmler said.
“All members of the St. Charles
family will work together to move for-
ward,” the hospital declared in a press
release announcing the vote result.
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Nurses remain union
As for the hospital’s 670 nurses,
they’ll move forward with a new three-
year contract, ratified Oct. 26 after con-
tentious bargaining that included a
picket by the union and preparations by
management to bring in strikebreakers.
The nurses are represented by a dif-
ferent union — the Oregon Nurses As-
sociation (ONA).
St. Charles backed down on two
proposals the union objected to — a
proposal to replace charge nurses with
nonunion clinical supervisors and a
proposal to eliminate “float” nurses
who serve as rapid responders through-
out the hospital. Instead, the two sides
agreed to slight changes to charge nurse
job descriptions, and a staffing commit-
tee will resolve the question of how
many float nurses are needed.
The contract provides for annual
wage increases of 2 percent a year,
though it also increases the employee
share of health insurance premiums.
Nurses will have a new high-de-
ductible health insurance option cou-
pled with an employer-paid health sav-
ings account and a requirement to take
part in a wellness program. Nurses who
keep the existing coverage, offered
through a Preferred Provider Organiza-
tion, will pay an increased share of the
premiums in the second and third years
of the contract. Currently they pay 5
percent of the premium for employee-
only coverage, and 15 percent for de-
pendent coverage, and that will rise to
10 and 20 percent, respectively. Total
premiums for 2013 will work out to
just over $1,000 a month for individu-
als, and $2,463 a month for full family
coverage.
ONA labor representative Alison
Hamway described it as a fair contract.
The union bargaining committee rec-
ommended passage, and ONA reported
a 95 percent margin in favor when
Norman Sylvester to headline Dec. 1
Unions for Kids ‘Date Night’
Norman “The Boogie Cat”
Sylvester will headline the second an-
nual “Date for Doernbecher”
fundraiser Saturday, Dec. 1, at the Lo-
tus Cardroom, 932 SW 3rd Ave.,
Portland.
The event is a precursor to the an-
nual Unions for Kids motorcycle
poker run in June. The poker run
raises thousands of dollars for Doern-
becher Children’s Hospital, primarily
through a raffle for a Harley David-
son motorcycle. Raffle tickets for the
2013 bike will go on sale soon.
“Date for Doernbecher” starts at 6
p.m. There is a tax deductible cover
charge donation of $10. Since it’s a
“date night,” couples can get in for
$15 if they bring a brand new toy that
will be donated to Doernbecher for
the holiday season. The Lotus will be
featuring “Unions for Kids” specials
on certain beverages and food items.
Sylvester, a member of Musicians
Local 99 and a recent honoree into
the Oregon Music Hall of Fame, will
perform at 7 p.m.
For more information, contact Lee
Unions to host kids’ holiday party Dec. 1
at Elsinore Theatre in Salem
The 72nd annual “Holiday Party
for Children” will be held at Saturday,
Dec. 1, at the Elsinore Theatre, 170
High St. SE, Salem.
The free event, sponsored by the
Marion, Polk, Yamhill Counties Labor
Council, will feature holiday songs by
Norman Sylvester and Friends, a
showing of the movie “Ice Age 4: A
Continental Divide,” a visit from
Santa Claus, and a free goody bag.
Sylvester recently was inducted into
the Oregon Music Hall of Fame. He is
a longtime member of Musicians Lo-
cal 99 and a retired Teamster.
Doors open at 9:45 a.m.
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NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
NOVEMBER 16, 2012