Adult Foster Care providers gain a voice
and help launch SEIU Healthcare
Adult Foster Care (AFC) providers give 24-hour
care to developmentally disabled, mentally ill,
physically handicapped or elderly Oregonians
who cannot live alone but do not need to be
in nursing homes. However, providers are
paid poorly and most do not have access to
affordable health insurance. Equally important,
providers have little say in regulations affecting
their clients or the care they provide.
To obtain a voice, Oregon Adult Foster Care
providers decided to join SEIU 503. Many
providers, along with 503 members and staff
organizers, gathered cards, made home visits
and calls, and lobbied the legislature to gain
recognition. On June 1, Governor Kulongoski
issued an Executive Order giving providers
full collective bargaining rights. And on the
very last day of the legislative session, we
passed legislation confirming that order.
As the newest members of SEIU 503, several
Adult Foster Care providers joined other
healthcare workers at SEIU's National
Healthcare Conference held in June. Now,
Adult Foster Care providers are wrapping
themselves in the purple flag.
More than 2000 healthcare workers met in
Baltimore to launch SEIU Healthcare, our new
national union with more than one million
healthcare members from 38 SEIU locals,
speaking with one strong voice for good jobs
and quality care.
SEIU Healthcare will work to unite healthcare
workers, raise standards, and fix America's
broken healthcare system. Our first big effort
is to collect a million signatures on petitions
urging Congress to provide health insurance
to uninsured children. More information on
this effort is available at www.seiu503.org.
99 As health providers join together, we can make a difference
in improving our healthcare system. I had the opportunity
to share stories and get valuable information from other
care providers at the SEIU National Healthcare Conference
I recently attended in Baltimore. 99
Mozetta Zion, RN and Adult Foster Home provider from Portland
University workers struggle to win parity with State workers
Even though DAS and OUS won cost-of-living adjust
ments that exceed inflation and made certain health
insurance premiums will not come out of our pockets
- as we go to press - the fight for a fair contract isn't
over for OUS workers. Significant issues remain on the
table, including selective salary increases.
We asked Deanna Berglund, who is on the bargaining
team representing SEIU members at the UofO, to share
some of her experiences.
This is your first time as a member of the OUS
bargaining team. What do you think about your
new role so far?
I expected to learn a lot about our union and our contract,
and I have. It has turned out to be more fun than I antici
pated. Certainly there have been frustrating moments with
management, but I am impressed with how well SEIU staff
members of our team, Rich Peppers and Paul McKenna,
have prepared us for this and the example they set in our
face-to-face meetings. And I really value the relationship
that I've developed with all the other truly awesome
members of our union.
What will it take for SEIU to win parity for OUS workers?
We have already won COLAs that exceed inflation, and
made up some of the ground we've lost to inflation over
the last 10 years. We also stood firm and beat back insurance
premium cost shifting to our full-time and part-time members.
Now we must continue to push back against attempts by
management to weaken contract rights that we currently
enjoy. I see no reason we can't win such a contract if our
members are willing to let management know that we
deserve and expect a fair settlement.
We attend rallies and marches at the Capitol
and stand up at our worksite to show our
strength and commitment.
Bargaining 2007...
How Members Win Contracts
It all starts with members completing bargaining
surveys so the bargaining team knows which
issues are most important.
How can SEIU members make this happen?
We need more of what I call "visible support", which goes
beyond laying low in the workplace and thinking, "yeah, I
support what the union's doing." Visible support means
wearing purple, displaying SEIU stuff in your workplace,
even visiting a bargaining session when one is held on your
campus. It means answering the call of your local leader
ship to attend rallies or other events. Visible means putting
your name to paper on a letter or email to your university
president, Chancellor Pernsteiner, or Governor Kulongoski
to let them know you want a fair settlement now.
We have a tradition at the UofO of having brown bag
meetings at 2:00 a.m. for our night custodial staff so they
can stay informed about bargaining. Recently at PSU,
members shouted a chant created around the rather unique
name of their Vice President for Finance as we marched
past her office. Some part-time library workers lobbied
their Dean about the insurance inequity for part-timers,
with the result being a promise of letters of support from
the Dean to other OUS library directors and to university
administrators. We also appreciate the efforts members
make to welcome our team
and to feed us really well
when we visit their campuses!
Deanna Berglund
(left)
administers grants at Research Services at the UofO.
ESTIMAT1
AVERAGE
200
LOAF OF BREAD
1LB HAMBURGER
GALLON OF GAS
NEW CAR
AVG MONTHLY RENT
PERSONAL INCOME TAX
We go to
lobby days
and hearings
so legislators
hear from
front-line
workers.
PAGE 2
SEIU Local 503, OPEU - STRONGER TOGETHER
We find creative
ways to tell our
story.
Our bargaining team
does whatever it
takes to get there,
including a 27-hour
marathon session to
reach agreement.
We won an 18% pay raise.
It allows me to make
more than minimum
wage, which improves the
quality of my life and
improves the quality of
care I can provide. 99
This legislation was the result of care providers
taking action by writing letters, making phone
calls, signing postcards, and loading up the kids
to head to Salem, all to persuade lawmakers
that now is the time to invest in our kids.
Providers who care for three children or fewer
in their homes at rates that range from
$1.64 per child per hour on the low end to
$2.44 per child per hour on the high end will
see their first rate increase since the program's
inception in 1996.
Rates paid to providers will increase by an
average of 18%. The co-payments charged to
low-income parents will decline by an average
of 20%. In addition, the contract expands the
program to help more working families and
creates options for child care providers to
enhance their skills through a training fund.
The contract makes dramatic improvements to
the program for parents, providers, and kids.
CODA Local 963 Notice of Nominations
Darcie Ryan, Child Care provider,
President, Vice President, Secretary,
and one Bargaining Delegate
Portland
Nominations Open on Monday, August 13.
Nominations Close at 5PM on Tuesday, August 28.
Nominations must be submitted on the official nomination form to: SEIU Local
503, OPEU. Attention: CODA Local 963 Elections Committee,
6401 SE Foster Rd., Portland, OR 97206 Or fax to: 503-408-4099.
Member activism and
lobbying led to big
wins in the Capitol -
for ourselves and all
Oregonians.
Position descriptions for these offices and the official nomination forms may be
obtained at any SEIU Local 503, OPEU office or from your Local officers.
Ballots will be mailed to members' homes by September 10 and are due
back to the Portland Field Office by 5PM Tuesday, September 25.
Workers win in Slate Capitol
SEIU members won significant victories in
the 2007 Oregon legislature. Key to these
victories was our member lobby day
program. Over six hundred members met
with their legislators in Salem. We told our
stories and explained the importance of the
services we provide.
if a majority of workers in a non-union group
sign cards to form a union, their employer will
be required to recognize the union. If this law
had been in effect during recent organizing
drives, Oregon Lottery workers and Oregon
Courts workers would now be protected by a
union. Current law favors employers through
a tilted election process.
Funding for contracts
Public safety workers, including our members
at Oregon Youth Authority and the Oregon
State Hospital, will now, finally, be able to
bargain over safety and staffing issues.
Reforms to health care
Members in Medford send a strong message by
purpling up.
Over the past three years, SEIU Child Care
providers have been fighting for a voice in
Oregon's childcare system. The hard work has
paid off. In this historic legislative session, law
makers voted to grant providers a real voice by
giving them formal collective bargaining rights.
They also voted to fund the first-ever contract
for state-paid family Child Care providers.
What are some examples of creative actions
members have done to win a fair contract?
As a result of our members' lobbying and
activism, we won much-needed funding for
contracts for DAS and OUS workers, Homecare
providers, and Child Care providers. We also
won funding for safer staffing levels in nursing
homes, which will result in better care for
elderly and disabled Oregonians.
Stronger Tog«h'
Child Care providers take a stand for kids and working families
• —----
We made significant strides on healthcare.
By passing Senate Bill 329, we established a
process for reforming the healthcare system in
Oregon by controlling costs and expanding
access to healthcare for the uninsured. In
addition, SB 329 will improve the purchasing
power of consumers by making it easier to
buy into health insurance pools.
SEIU also led the fight to complete efforts to
expand the Prescription Drug Purchasing Pool
to all Oregonians. Any Oregonian (with or
without insurance) can sign up for free at
www.opdp.org and qualify for a possible 10-20%
discount below the prices they currently pay.
More rights for workers
We built the power of SEIU Local 503 by
expanding bargaining rights for over 5,000
Child Care providers and 3,500 Adult Foster
Care providers. It has been 34 years since the
legislature protected this many workers under
collective bargaining law.
Public sector workers won important victories
on collective bargaining. Because of new laws,
Working parents also earned significant victo
ries. We made it easier to take family medical
leave, particularly when people need to care
for ailing grandparents or grandchildren. This
session also saw Oregon move from being one
of the worst states for working parents in
which to find affordable day care, to being
one of the best. Child Care providers were
among the workers who lobbied hard on this.
Finally, workers gained a great deal of protection
from predatory lenders. The legislature passed
an across-the-board interest rate cap of 36%.
The new law also toughens the rules for
car-title loans, internet lending, and check
cashing stores.
Homecare providers
in the Capitol
Homecare providers pulled out all the stops at
the Capitol this session to tell legislators that
quality service for clients requires a workforce
that is respected, valued, and fairly paid.
We met with legislators face-to-face during
three Lobby Days. We testified and filled the
room for hearings about the budget and for
our bill to require Workers' Comp coverage for
Homecare providers. We spoke before the
Homecare Commission on the impact the
District 2 Notice of Nominations
Assistant District Directors (3 positions)
District Secretary (1 position)
Nominations Close at 5PM Friday, September 28
proposed sub-minimum wages and takeaways
would have on providers. We delivered a
thousand "Care Provider Platforms" in which
members told personal stories of the value of
our work. We jammed the Capitol phones
with calls to legislators telling them that
thousands of Oregonians rely on the home
care program to continue to live with dignity
in their own homes and asking them to fully
fund the homecare program. We appealed to
the Governor's office to support a fair contract
for Homecare providers.
Our efforts paid off when the Legislature
passed the Workers Comp bill that guarantees
coverage for Homecare providers and added
an additional $4 million to fund the Homecare
workers contract. We delivered a clear message
that it's time for Oregon to value our services.
Winning big at the
bargaining table is only
possible when Homecare
providers and our clients
do our part by telling our
stories and by sending
postcards and making
phone calls. 99
Bobbie Sotin, Homecare provider
from North Bend
SEIU Local 503, OPEU - STRONGER TOGETHER
PAGE 3
This election is being held to fill recent vacancies. These terms expires
September 1,2008. To be eligible for these positions you must be a SEIU Local
503, OPEU member from District 2. Nominations can be submitted to Jerry
Rosenkoetter.Jerry.H.Rosenkoetter@state.or.us
Election Process: The election of District Officers will be held at the District 2
Meeting Monday, October 22,2007. Absentee ballots can be obtained by
calling Barbara at 503-581 -1505 xl 50. All absentee ballots must be received at
SEIU Local 503, OPEU HQ by 5PM, Monday October 22, 2007.
CAPE Notice of Nominations
CAPE Board of Directors
Nominations Open Monday, August 20
Nominations Close 5PM, Thursday, September 20
Nominations are due to Amanda Basom, Portland Field Office: 6401 SE Foster
Rd., Portland, OR 97206. Rules governing candidate statements shall follow
those for SEIU Local 503, OPEU.
Election: There will be a CAPE Board of Directors election in October. Ballots
and candidate statements shall be mailed to all regular CAPE members by
October 1. Ballots are due back by October 24. A list of duties for CAPE Board of
Director positions is available by contacting Amanda in the Portland office.
The 503 Voice is published by SEIU Local 503, OPEU.
Contact: Kathie Best bestk@opeuseiu.org
LOCAL 503
Salem Headquarters
1730 Commercial St. SE
PO Box 12159, Salem, OR 97309-0159
503-581 -1505/ 800-452-2146 (Fax) 503-581 -1664
SEIU
Stronger Together
Portland Field Office: 503-408-4090 / 800-527-9374
Bend Field Office: 541-385-8471/800-832-0593
Corvallis Field Office: 541-752-0183
Eugene Field Office: 541-342-1055 / 800-521-3446
Medford Field Office: 541-779-4324/ 800-452-7965
Pendleton Field Office: 541-276-4983 / 800-452-8146
www.seiu503.orR
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