PAGE 4 | December 16, 2016 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
UNION ORGANIZING
Peacehealth SW to vote AFT or SEIU
At PeaceHealth Southwest
Medical Center in Vancouver,
904 service and maintenance
workers will vote Dec. 14 and
15 on which of two unions
they want to be represented
by: an affiliate of American
Federation of Teachers (AFT)
or an affiliate of Service Em-
ployees International Union
(SEIU). The vote follows a
Nov. 22 union election in
which AFT got 297 votes,
SEIU got 176, and 171 work-
ers voted to remain nonunion.
None of those three choices
had an outright majority, so the
National Labor Relations
Board organized the Dec. 14-
15 vote as a runoff election.
The prospective bargaining
unit is made up of 47 classifi-
cations of employees, includ-
ing certified nursing assistants,
food service workers, and
laundry workers.
Both AFT and SEIU repre-
sent other workers in the
PeaceHealth hospital network:
■ A group of 310 licensed hospi-
tal technicians at PeaceHealth
Southwest Medical Center
voted to join AFT on June 2,
and are attempting to negotiate
a first union contract with the
hospital. Nurses at the hospital
are represented by another
AFT affiliate, Washington
State Nurses Association
(WSNA).
■ Meanwhile, SEIU represents
1,082 service and maintenance
workers at PeaceHealth hospi-
tals in Springfield and Eugene,
Oregon; the unit ratified its
first-ever union contract April
25. SEIU 1199 NW also repre-
sents 900 workers at Peace-
Health’s St. Joseph Medical
Center in Bellingham, Wash-
ington; and another 700 at
PeaceHealth St. John Medical
Center in Longview, Washing-
ton.
If the 900 PeaceHealth
Southwest workers vote to
join AFT, they’ll become
members of PeaceHealth
Southwest Caregivers United,
a sublocal of Oregon Federa-
tion of Nurses and Health Pro-
fessionals (OFNHP) Local
5017. If they go with SEIU,
they’ll be members of SEIU
Healthcare, a project of SEIU
Healthcare 1199NW and
SEIU Local 49.
IBEW
Local 280
Wishes
You and Your
Family a
Merry
Christmas
Our members have
the power to make
the season bright.
Enjoy Your Holiday Season
from
IBEW Local 125
17200 NE Sacramento, Portland, OR
503-262-9125