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
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