We garnered some attention from the Labor Press and OPB! Here is the print article and the radio clip:
We are now waiting for November 4th (the deadline for OHSU to file objections) to be officially recognized by OHSU and the Employee Relations Board, and moving forward with our preparations for negotiating the first house officers’ contract at OHSU! We plan to celebrate again (and for those of you who couldn’t make it last time) at F&B Cafe Marquam Hill (date TBD).
Based on your feedback and in order to make our process as democratic and representative as possible, we want to follow this nomination procedure for our formal bargaining team and advisory committee:
1. Send out call for nominations to all house officers at OHSU (not just union supporters). Anyone can be nominated for any position (and we’ll create our clusters together afterward, based on our cadre of nominees, as well as the time commitments for each role, etc. given your busy schedules), but if you are nominating another person, we will need to verify their consent to serve.
2. The roles are as follows:
Bargaining Team Representative (9 reps/ 5 alternates)
Commitment of bargaining team:
- Attend any of the scheduled pre-bargaining trainings
- Starting December 7-8, 2019
- Full-day trainings
- Attend each bargaining session with OHSU
- Typically 4-8 hour sessions, held weekly
- Attend longer mediation sessions during the final stages of bargaining
- May take place on multiple days during the same week, work schedules permitting
- May last 12 hours or longer
- Create initial and all counter proposals to management (with the assistance of AFSCME staff and sample contract language provided from other contracts)
- Engage with coworkers and other members to communicate what’s happening in negotiations and to get feedback on proposals
- Research and study topics related to proposals and ideas
- Check and respond to email on a regular (most likely daily) basis
- Help lead coworkers in worksite actions
- Participate in any bargaining-related rallies, petition drives or other solidarity actions
Contract Advisory Team Representatives (25-30 reps)
The Contract Advisory Team is a group of member activists and leaders who will act as an advisory committee to our union prior to and during contract bargaining.
The role of the CAT will be to:
- Attend any of the scheduled pre-bargaining trainings
- Full-day trainings
- Starting December 7-8, 2019
- Engage with coworkers and other members to communicate what’s happening in negotiations and to get feedback on proposals
- Research and study topics related to proposals and ideas
- Help lead coworkers in worksite actions
- Participate in any bargaining-related rallies, petition drives or other solidarity actions
- Help educate members (within a communication structure) about bargaining
- Assist in designing educational materials about bargaining
- Assist in developing a communications plan before and during bargaining
- Design and engage members in solidarity actions during bargaining
3. Once we have nominations in place, the nominees will convene (virtually and in person) to create representative clusters for voting and we will communicate the process for voting.
4. Along with the ballot, all house staff eligible to be AFSCME union members will be surveyed about their top priorities at the bargaining table.
5. Once bargaining begins, we will meet monthly (all are welcome!) to give updates, get feedback, and celebrate our success!
Questions? As always, please reach out and let us know!
In Solidarity,
Sarah Thompson
