NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS |
More workers go union at
Cascadia Behavioral Health
Over the last few weeks, 209
front-line behavioral health pro-
fessionals with Cascadia Behav-
ioral Healthcare’s Respite and
Residential programs have voted
overwhelmingly to join Oregon
AFSCME Council 75.
Mail-in ballot elections that
took place over the past two
months included registered
nurses, residential counselors, cri-
sis counselors, and others at one
of the nation’s leading Certified
Community Behavioral Health
Clinics (CCBHCs).
They now will join co-workers
in the Project Respond, Street
Outreach and Outpatient units
who had previously won their
union recognition to bargain a
first contract.
“I have been with Cascadia for
three years, which actually qual-
ifies me as a veteran within the
Residential unit,” said Hannah
Sloane-Barton, a skills trainer
within the stabilization treatment
preparation program, helping de-
institutionalize clients so they can
transition to life within the com-
munity. “Now, we can work to-
gether to minimize any blind
spots when it comes to decisions
that impact direct care. Cascadia
is not a thing, it is a community
made up of the workers and the
clients we serve.”
February 7, 2020 | PAGE 7
Since the launch of the
“United We Heal” campaign in
2016, more than 1,000 behavioral
health and treatment industry
workers across Oregon have or-
ganized with AFSCME.
Oregon AFSCME Council 75
Executive Director Stacy Cham-
berlain said the new members
deserve respect, and that respect
“comes in the form of reasonable
caseloads and staffing ratios, safe
working conditions, career devel-
opment, living wages, and bene-
fits — which we have seen work-
ers win at the bargaining table.”
Oregon Democratic Party
staff unionizes with Painters
The Oregon Democratic Party is
now a union employer. The party
voluntarily recognized Sign
Painters & Paint Makers Local
1094 in December, and signed a
first union contract in early Janu-
ary. Local 1094 is an affiliate of
the International Union of
Painters and Allied Trades Dis-
trict Council 5.
The new three-year deal locks
in compensation and benefits for
10 full-time staff, as well as the
dozens more that will be hired as
political season heats up.
They join about 15 perma-
nent staff at the Washington
Democratic Party, who joined
Local 1094 two years ago.
Environmental justice
group goes union …
on the spot
That wasn’t so hard, was it? Six
employees of the environmental
justice non-profit OPAL Envi-
ronmental Justice Oregon won
union representation … the mo-
ment they asked for it. In a video
posted to the union’s Facebook
page, workers approach execu-
tive director Huy Ong Jan. 21
and read a statement announcing
their decision to join Communi-
cations Workers of America Lo-
cal 7901, asking for voluntary
recognition within three days.
“I don’t need time,” Ong
replied on the spot, adding that
he’d happily recognize the union.
The reaction didn’t come as a
total surprise: Prior to leading
Opal, Ong was Western Regional
Field Organizer for the workers
rights group Jobs with Justice.
Bethany Sherer
971.978.9534
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12/31/20
2020