Long-Term Care Reform
By Melissa Unger, SEIU 503 Executive Director
70,000 Oregonians - nearly the population of
Medford - work in caregiving jobs, providing
services to seniors, people with disabilities, and
children. This long-term care system is in crisis,
and the problems we see today are getting
worse. The time for bold action is now.
There is hope. When caregivers are able to join in
union there are immediate results. The quality of
care improves, with dramatic impact on people's
lives, and families supported by caregivers are lifted out of poverty. In
Oregon, there is a clear link to when homecare workers organized a
union and results that helped consumers and caregivers.
2020 General Council
lane Connu Events Center, Eugene OR
The 2020 General Council, SEIU Local 503's supreme governing
body, will convene at the Lane Events Center in Eugene August
6-8,2020. Council Training for appointed Committee Chairs and
members will be scheduled prior to General Council convening.
The problems that plague this workforce are large and long-standing.
For centuries, women have performed caregiving as an expectation.
As caregiving has become a profession it has been women, specifically
women of color and immigrants, who have filled the jobs. Since then
caregiving has lived in the shadows, often unpaid or as low-wage,
no-benefit jobs. The history of sexism and racism is the reason this
profession is overlooked and undervalued.
Members of all SEIU 503 sublocals will elect voting delegates
to General Council in the coming months during their sublocal
elections. Even our smallest sublocal has at least one delegate.
Delegates for larger locals are apportioned under an established
formula. Members of the Board of Directors—Statewide Officers,
Directors, and Assistant Directors—serve as delegates to General
Council by virtue of their position.
Over the next decade, long-term care will be one of the largest growing
professions in the United States. We must address the issues in this
system now.
See the Local Election Chart on pages 2-5 of this publication
for details about your sublocal's elections. New and updated
Election and General Council information will be posted on our
website as it becomes available.
I believe that in order for SEIU members to continue increasing their
wages, winning benefits, and improving the quality of care that we
provide, we must lift this entire system up. We cannot succeed while the
rest of the long-term care system is completely broken.
General Council Resolutions
In the coming years, our union will focus on that monumental task. As
we continue to fight for our members, we will also address the problems
faced by non-union workers, by consumers, and their families.
A General Council resolution is SEIU 503's version of a proposed
law - and every member has the right to legislate. To be
considered, a resolution must be submitted through official action
of a sublocal, the Board of Directors, or a Standing Committee.
In the event a sublocal does not endorse a proposed resolution,
the author of the resolution may present the resolution to the
Resolutions Review Committee after obtaining the signatures
of fifty (50) active members. Sublocal officers are responsible
for providing assistance to members in the resolution drafting
process.
This work can take many forms. We can and should push government
- the largest funder of long-term care - to improve standards. We must
organize more workers into unions so they have the power to advocate
for themselves. We must organize consumers to apply public pressure
to decision makers who can improve training, workforce development,
and staffing standards.
Resolution sponsorship also means that no satisfactory solution or
expressed view can be found by any action other than that of the
General Council.
We can do all these things and more. And we have to, because the
workforce of the future is a workforce of care providers. It's on us to
make sure those are good jobs.
A proposed resolution should have a subject summarizing
the intent as concisely as possible. It should start with one or
more "Whereas" paragraphs, describing why something
should be done, changed or
implemented, and conclude r
with "Be It Resolved"—
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the proposed action. A
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proposed resolution shall
2020 GENERAL COUNCIL RESOLUTION SEIU LOCAL 503, OPE
(should tell exactly what It's about)
Subject: Resolution Name
s, Or Board of Directors
Standing Committee name.
Authored by. Member's name, or
... or-SOU"), or Standing Committee, or Board of
Example resolution
Submitted by: Jj^Name (st "Homecare
embrace only one subject and
matters properly connected
therewith. Resolutions may be
submitted to the Resolutions
Review Committee up to 90
days before General Council
convenes to be considered
timely. The Board may submit
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resolutions up to 30 days before
General Council convenes.
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General Council is scheduled to
BE it resolved , that Bytaws Article W1 SMl0n , .
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convene on Thursday, August
6,2020.
See SEIU 503 Bylaws, Article
IX - The General Council
for additional information,
available on our website:
www.seiu503.org.
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Signature:
Standing Committee Chat
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