The 503 voice., May 01, 2008, Image 2

Five-Year Plan Focuses
on Quality, Engagement,
Growth and Politics
The SEIU 503 Board has unanimously
adopted a five-year strategic plan
that envisions progress for the local
and the American labor movement
in four areas— improving the quality
of members' jobs and the services we
provide, increasing member engagement
in union activity, growing-the local, and
further enhancing political power.
SEIU 503 members join a coalition of supporters in the State House gallery in a special session lobby day in Salem.
Legislative Session Very Special
for Several SEIU Constituencies
The special off-year state legislative session
in Salem in February was very special for
several SEIU 503 constituencies thanks
to intense and well-targeted lobbying on
behalf of members as well as excellent
leadership from key legislators.
Advertised as an experiment to gauge
whether Oregonians might benefit from
having the biennial Legislature meet
annually in the future, the month-long
session delivered big-time for child
welfare and mental health employees
in the Department of Human Services
as well as Adult Foster Care providers.
Oregon State Hospital workers received
$1.8 million in immediate funding for more
staff and $4.87 million in earmarked money
to pay for additional front-line staffing
with another $150,000 set aside for a study
of community mental health placements.
"When staffing is inadequate, treatment
suffers," Donell Chapman, new president
of the state hospital workers' sub-local,
told a legislative review committee. "We
want to emphasize that adequate staffing
includes the need for many different
types of workers. Our members include
line staff, social workers, custodians,
psychologists, and security workers just
to name a few...We believe a well funded
mental health system [also] must include
good community based care."
Another DHS study mandated by the
Legislature in February requires the
development of a long-term plan for the
future of services for elderly Oregonians.
It was championed by Sen. Bill Morrisette
(D-Springfield) and Rep. Jean Cowan
(D-Newport), who were lauded by
advocates for exceptional leadership and
commitment throughout the process.
Adult foster care providers won $6.88
million towards funding for their first
contract as union members. These
funds would be spread among a variety
of providers including relative care
providers, care providers for the
developmentally disabled, and
care providers for seniors and the
developmentally disabled.
The Legislature also added $2.5
million for Social Service Assistants
and case managers, requesting that
DHS come up with a way to fill all
78 SSA positions that had been slated
for elimination.
These gains were especially
encouraging because state economists
reduced anticipated revenue forecasts
in light of the national and regional
downturn shortly after the start of
the session. This eliminated a portion
of the funds legislators initially
anticipated using to plug holes in
under-funded state programs.
"We've been able to build on progress
we made in the 2007 session and set
the stage for additional work in 2009,"
said Barbara Casey, SEIU 503 member
who chairs the local's Citizen Action
for Political Education committee.
"How well that carries over, of course,
will depend on how many worker­
friendly candidates we can help elect
to office this year."
Casey praised members and staff who
worked with such allies as AARP, the
Oregon Association of Area Agencies
on Aging and Disabilities and the
Oregon Health Care Association to
persuade legislators of the human
needs involved and the long-term
economic benefit to the state in raising
Medicaid rates and increasing funds
available to compensate adult foster
care providers.
One especially effective tool was a
lobby day organized by the Coalition
for Seniors & People with Disabilities,
bringing hundreds of Oregonians to
Salem for strategy sessions, lobbying,
and testimony before committees.
The plan details a series of steps in
each of these areas and goes on to list a
dozen new initiatives specific to Local
503 designed to advance these goals.
In short, these initiatives would
• improve service quality via pilot
projects, training, communication
and bargaining;
• place more emphasis on career
ladders for all members through
programs like the training we worked
with the Homecare Commission to
establish for homecare members;
• explore joint labor-management
workforce development programs; •
• realign local resources by exploring
the possibility of negotiating longer
contracts and doing more coordinated,
multi-employer bargaining;
• simplify leadership paths
for members to encourage
meaningful participation;
• make SEIU 503 Community
Action Centers effective vehicles
for member engagement;
• engage new employees with a timely
and inviting orientation process;
• work jointly with our International
union to help spur growth throughout
the country, including states where the
labor movement is currently weak;
• expand CAPE participation with
more member interactivity;
• use education, mentoring, and
volunteer participation to identify
and support member leaders;
• promote responsible investment
of our pension funds by educating
members and political leaders; and
• expanding door-to-door political
outreach to care providers, and then
possibly others.
The strategic plan emanated from a
visioning process undertaken by an
intensive two-day retreat in Welches
last fall with the full Board of Directors
and much of our staff. -