PAGE 6 | June 17, 2016 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Who’s on our side?
Doctors at PeaceHealth in Springfield
and Eugene plan to picket June 23
Muhammad Ali —
A champion of the people
Nation’s only hospitalist union
fights to improve patient care
and safety
1
Doctors at PeaceHealth Sacred
Heart Medical Centers in
Springfield and Eugene will
conduct an informational picket
Thursday, June 23, from noon to
1:30 p.m. at RiverBend Medical
Center, 3333, RiverBend Drive,
Springfield.
The doctors made history in
2014 when they became the first
hospital doctors (hospitalists) to
organize a labor union—the Pa-
cific Northwest Hospital Medi-
cine Association (PNWHMA),
which is an affiliate of the
American Federation of Teach-
ers Local 6522.
But after nearly 18 months of
bargaining, they are still without
a first contract.
PeaceHealth hired the Seat-
tle-based law firm of Garvey
Schubert Barer to handle nego-
tiations.
PNWHMA said in a press
statement that negotiations are
By Tom Chamberlain Oregon AFL-CIO President
964 America was in the grips of racial segregation. In
June of that year, three young men — two white and
one black — were killed by the KKK in Mississippi for
daring to register Black Americans to vote. It was a time
of fear and overt prejudice, which permeated every sector
of American life. It was a time of knowing your place
and station in society. It was the year when the heavy-
weight boxing champion converted from Christianity to
the Nation of Islam, and changed his name from Cassius
Clay to Muhammad Ali. When reporters continued to ad-
dress him as Clay, Ali responded “Cassius Clay is a slave
name. I didn’t choose it and I don’t want it. I am Muham-
mad Ali, a free name — it means beloved of God, and I
insist people use it when people speak to me.”
In the mid-’60s, young American men were drafted
and fed into the war machine in Vietnam. Hundreds of
thousands — perhaps millions — of Vietnamese and
Americans lost their lives while corporatists made bil-
lions. Muhammad Ali refused to submit to the draft even
though he was assured he would continue to box and
would never serve in Vietnam. Ali refused, even when he
was sentenced to five years in a federal penitentiary,
stripped of his title, and banned from boxing. At his sen-
tencing, Ali made the following statement:
“Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go
10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on
brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in
Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human
rights? No, I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to
help murder and burn another poor nation simply to con-
tinue the domination of white slave masters of the darker
people the world over. This is the day when such evils
must come to an end. I have been warned that to take
such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have
said it once and I will say it again: the real enemy of my
people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people
or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are
fighting for their own justice, freedom, and equality. If I
thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality
to 22 million of my people, they wouldn’t have to draft
me, I’d join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing
up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been
in jail for 400 years.”
On June 3, after fighting Parkinson’s Disease since
1980, Muhammad Ali died. Some will remember his
prowess in the boxing ring, the footwork, speed and
strength. His wit and razor sharp tongue that would cut
foes inside and outside the ring. I will always remember
Muhammad Ali as a champion of the people, who could
not be bought, who could not be bullied, who stood his
ground knowing the ramifications of his actions.
To me, Muhammad Ali will always be an anti-estab-
lishment hero refusing to accept the status quo. He made
those in power uncomfortable, perhaps a little fearful. He
truly deserved the title he cherished so much. He is and
always will be the peoples’ champion.
Tom Chamberlain is president of the Oregon AFL-CIO, a 130,000-member-strong
federation of labor unions.
stalled due to PeaceHealth’s un-
willingness to allow the hospi-
talists to practice medicine in the
safest manner possible, with
reasonable patient loads, and
without interference from ad-
ministrators who do not practice
medicine.
“Administrators cannot be al-
lowed to continue standing be-
tween physicians and their pa-
tients and dictating how many
patients each physician must see
per day—regardless of the com-
plexity or circumstances of each
patient’s case,” the statement
read.
“We unionized in order to
protect our ability to always pro-
vide optimal care for those in our
community and beyond who
seek care at Sacred Heart. We
will picket, and even go on strike
if necessary, to secure a contract
that ensures decisions made by
administrators can never impede
our freedom to act in the best in-
terest of our patients,” said Dr.
Frank Littell, a hospitalist at Sa-
cred Heart Medical Center.
The PNWHMA was formed
in October 2014 in response to
PeaceHealth’s plans to out-
source patient care to a private
for-profit temp agency. The
story of the union’s formation,
the first of its kind in the U.S.,
was featured in the New York
Times in January 2016 [Doctors
Unionize to Resist the Medical
Machine].
The PNWHMA is now part
of a coalition of unions at Sa-
cred Heart, which includes the
Oregon Nurses Association, Op-
erating Engineers Local 701,
and Service Employees Interna-
tional Union Local 49. The
coalition member unions have
all sent letters of support for the
hospitalists to PeaceHealth’s ad-
ministration.
The June 23 picket will be for
informational purposes. It is not
a strike, and Sacred Heart Med-
ical Center will be open and op-
erating as normal. All partici-
pants in the picket will do so on
their own time. Community
members are invited to partici-
pate and show support for their
local doctors.
...Big union win at PeaceHealth Vancouver
From Page 1
chance. Give us a year. Vote no.’
They had really shiny shoes and
really really expensive suits.
And I’m like, ‘Oh, that must be
management.’”
Several eyewitnesses de-
scribed an emotional scene the
night of the union vote. In the
hospital’s education center, it
was standing room only as
dozens of union supporters and
a handful of managers observed
the vote count. Flower says
when the result became known
at about 8 p.m., she broke down
and started sobbing.
“I was so happy,” Flower said.
“Other people started to cry. And
then they all broke out in ap-
plause, hooting and hollering.
We stood up and were hugging
each other. And management
walked out.”
As PeaceHealth Labor Rela-
tions Director Scott Allan
headed for the exit, OFNHP
President Dawnette McCloud
approached him with a written
request to begin negotiating a
first union contract. McCloud
says Allan refused to take the let-
ter, but three women unionists
spontaneously locked arms and
“People started to cry.
And then they all broke
out in applause, hooting
and hollering. We stood
up and were hugging
each other. And man-
agement walked out.”
— Union supporter
Danene Flower
blocked his way out. He then
tucked it under his arm and
walked out.
The new bargaining unit con-
sists of 310 specialists in 27 li-
censed technical classifications,
including licensed practical
nurses, physical and occupational
therapists, and MRI, surgical, ra-
diology, CT, ultrasound, anesthe-
sia and pharmacy technicians.
AFT organizer Joe Crane said
he’s hopeful the momentum of
the win will carry forward in a
separate AFT campaign among
a much larger group at the hos-
pital — service and mainte-
nance workers such as cleaners,
food service workers, and certi-
fied nursing assistants.
Service Employees Interna-
tional Union (SEIU) is also cam-
paigning to represent that group,
so the two unions will likely
compete as to which would be
the most effective. SEIU also
sought at one point to represent
the hospital technicians, but for-
mally withdrew before the June
2 election. SEIU Local 49 repre-
sents a group of 1,082 service
and maintenance workers at
PeaceHealth hospitals in Spring-
field and Eugene, Oregon. That
unit ratified its first-ever union
contract April 25. The contract
contains health insurance im-
provements and across-the-
board raises that total 8 percent
over three years. But Local 49
says the average worker will see
wages rise 21 percent in that
time, because equity and catch-
up raises are needed in the shift
from the existing arbitrary pay
system to a new seniority-based
wage scale.
At PeaceHealth Southwest,
the newly unionized workers
will meet June 9 to discuss what
they want to bargain for in their
first union contract. The list is
likely to include improved pay
and benefits, and stronger pro-
tections for workers rights.