Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 2013)
Oregon Service Employees locals 503 and 49 discuss merger Merged union would be 65,000-strong in government, health care and building services Service Employees International Union’s (SEIU) two Oregon affiliates are discussing a merger: 55,000- member SEIU Local 503 represents state workers, home care workers, and nursing home workers around the state, while 10,000-member Local 49 represents janitors, security guards, and hospital support workers mostly in the Portland metro area. Discussions have been under way since late 2012, when members of the Local 49 Executive Board ap- proached Local 503 about it. Since then, the Executive Boards have held joint meetings and formed commit- tees to work out details. Local 503 is also holding meetings around the state, some of which are taking place this month. In the first round of meetings, members discussed benefits and pit- falls of a merger, or “unification” as proponents are calling it. Unification could expand SEIU’s ability to organ- NOVEMBER 15, 2013 ize hospital workers, janitors and se- curity guards outside Local 49’s Port- land stronghold. And it could pro- mote greater unity against anti-union assaults like those that have taken place in Wisconsin and Michigan. On the other hand it could present con- flicts: raising wages for members who work at Kaiser Permanente, for example, could affect premiums for other members who get their health care there. Several committees are working on details of the merger proposal, in- cluding governance structure and dues. Members of both unions pay 1.7 percent of payroll in union dues, but Local 503 members pay an addi- tional $2.75 a month above that. The two unions have similar structures: An elected board and president over- see an executive director, who directs staff. Local 49 began in 1921 as a jani- tors local. Local 503 started out as the independent Oregon Public Employ- ees Union, and affiliated with SEIU in 1980, becoming SEIU Local 503. Both have been growing: Local 49 is up over 4,000 members since 2000, while Local 503 is up by 30,000 members. One thing proponents agree on: The new entity would not be known as Local 503 or 49, but would get a new number. Leaders of the two unions expect to make a decision in January about whether to move forward with a merger. If they recommend unifica- tion, the final decision would go to each union’s membership to vote on separately, some time in Spring. That would be followed by a founding convention if the merger is ratified. SEIU is an affiliate of the Change to Win labor federation. It does not have a Solidarity Charter agreement with the Oregon AFL-CIO, but it does with some central labor coun- cils. The Oregon SEIU locals do col- laborate with the state labor federa- tion as well as with the Oregon Education Association. NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS PAGE 9
