The Oregon public employe., September 01, 2001, Page 9, Image 9

Alice Dale Bids Farewell to Local 503
ctober 31, 2001, was my last day
■ working as your executive director. It
W has been a wonderful and remarkable
. 21 years. Our Union was known as the
Oregon State Employees Association when I first
started in September
1978, as a member of
the union’s legal staff.
Two years later we
affiliated with the
Service Employees
International Union,
and officially became
SEIU Local 503.
In 1980, SEIU was
the 4th largest AFL-
CIO union (and the
Alice L. Dale
fastest growing). We
were one of the first
state employee association affiliations with SEIU.
Many more followed our lead. Today, SEIU is the
largest AFL-CIO union in Oregon and the United
States. It is one of the most progressive unions and
truly invests in organizing the unorganized and
building strong rank-and-file Locals. Our leaders
made a good choice with SEIU, over 20 years ago.
Having served as legal counsel and your
assistant executive director, I returned from a two-
year stint in private law practice to work as your
executive director from July 1985 through October
2001. During this time, we had a lot of victories—
pay equity for thousands of women workers,
building a steward system and a political program
that are among the best, if not the best, in the state.
We have an external organizing program that leads
within the Oregon AFL-CIO like no other union.
Our organizing and political program launched a
plan to expand collective bargaining rights to
12,000 homecare workers through the initiative
process. This successful effort, led to our filing a
representation petition, with over 4,000 members,
on October 23, 2001. This election will mark the
largest union election in the history of our state,
public or private sector. Local 503 had two power­
ful statewide strikes in 1987 and 1995 that changed
our union and the public’s view of our union.
Today we are viewed as a tough, rank-and-file
union that gets results.
I feel very privileged to have worked with
so many wonderful, committed members. From
hundreds of bargaining sessions, to weekend
canvasses, to evening phone banks, to housecalls, to
leadership trainings, to grievances and arbitrations,
SEIU Local 503 shaped who I am as a trade union­
ists and as a person. I know from experience that
workers, united, can improvetheir lives and die
communities in which we live. I know that devel­
oping an activist culture—an “organizing union”-—
is infinitely doable and makes a real difference in
the lives of our members.
I have been working as the Trustee of SEIU
Local 49 in Portland since January 2001. Local 49
is a 5500 member private sector healthcare and
■
■
building services (janitors) Local. It has been
fiddled with political problems for over a decade and
has been unable to develop the collective bargaining,
political and organizing program that we have at
Local 503. At the same time, Local 49 has a great
group of leaders and staff that are ready to change
their Local. I hope by working there full-time, with
leaders and staff, to be able to bring experience and
leadership that allows Local 49 to be a vibrant,
organizing Local, like Local 503.
I also hope to continue to work very closely
with the leadership and staff of Local 503. I will
continue to be a Vice-President of SEIU’s Interna­
tional Executive Board and I will be actively in­
volved in the SEIU Oregon State Council. My
commitment to healthcare reform is unwavering. I
hope that being in a healthcare local, and learning
this industry from the vantage point of workers, that
I "will be able to be an even more effective advocate
for changing our healthcare delivery system, in
Oregon and nationally.
My decision to leave was a difficult one. I
love Local 503 and I have so many friends in the
leadership and staff. At the same time, I was ready
for a change and Local 49 was in need of new
leadership. The change feels right. So, I leave you
with many victories but many challenges still ahead.
President Kathie Best, with whom I have developed
a great partnership, asked me to assist the Board of
Directors in the selection process for my successor.
I was honored and I am delighted to do so. By
January, 2002, we hope to have a successor in place.
Good luck to you all in the fights ahead. As
Mother Jones said, “Don’t mourn, organize!”
Union Maid - Song for Alice
Tune: “Union Maid” by Woody Guthrie
There once was a union maid who never was afraid
Of the right-wing hacks or the corporate flaks
Or the muckety-mucks and the games they played.
She’d stand up to the boss when workers rights were crossed.
She’d look ‘em in the eye with her head held high
And make ’em pay the cost,
CHORUS:
Sayin’ you can’t scare me, I’m stickin’ to the Union,
I’m stickin’ to the Union,
I’m stickin ‘to the Union.
No, you can’t scare me, I’m stickin’ to the Union
I’m stickin’ to the Union till the day I die.
Her name is Alice Dale, and she has never failed
To take a stand for a just demand
Or to see that equity should prevail.
For nearly two decades, she’s led our great crusade.
Hey, Alice, you’re due a big “thank you”
For the role that you have played... .CHORUS.
.. H
But now the time has come for Alice to move on.
But please don’t grieve, she’s not gonna leave.
The union fight she’ll carry on.
She’s headin’ down the line to Local 49.
So give ‘em hell, we wish you well,
And let your spirit shine. CHORUS
Lyrics by Paul McKenna October 2001
THE OREGON PUBLIC EMPLOYEE PAGE 9