Autism Service Providers Vote to Unionize First Center in Oregon

Behavior technicians and administrative staff working for large autism services provider organize the first union of its kind at a center in East Portland.

Overcoming weeks of anti-union scare tactics, a group of 30 workers at the East Portland Center for Autism and Related Disorders voted decisively on Thursday, May 23 to form a union with OFNHP!

The Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD), with sixteen locations in Oregon and over 230 nationwide claims to be the largest provider of autism services in the world. Workers at the East Portland location are breaking new ground with their successful union election. CARD Portland-East is the first center to unionize to improve working conditions and address their alarming turnover rate.

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Care Beyond Borders

Check out OFNHP’s new blog series Caring Beyond the Bedside. On our first post, OFNHP members share their experiences volunteering in Lambayeque, Peru for the 2019 FACES Foundation medical mission treating children and adults with cleft lip and palate deformities.

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Delivering Care Beyond The Bedside

The Portland community, including many OFNHP members, turned out in force on Sunday to participate in the Reclaim MLK Annual March for Human Rights and Dignity. The event was sponsored by Don’t Shoot Portland (also called Don’t Shoot PDX), a grass-roots organization with a focus on social justice.

OFNHP members were on hand to give away hundreds of books to children and their families, as well as toothbrushes and first-aid kits. The federation also set up a station for children to make bracelets. The books were hand-selected by OFNHP, which worked with First Book, an AFT partner that helps affiliates in providing free and low-cost books and educational resources to students, families and communities in need.

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PeaceHealth St. John Lab Workers Ratify Great New Contract!

Congratulations to our bargaining team at PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center on a great new contract! The bargaining team–Leona Marre, Ken Paulson, Jodi Grieg–reached a tentative agreement with management on Wednesday, November 21 that included increased hours, staffing improvements, and serious raises.

Employees will average wage increases of 19% over the three-year term of the contract. Members voted unanimoulsy in favor of the agreement on Tuesday, November 27!

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Yes, Safe Patient Limits Will Save Lives

One ballot question has captured the attention of voters in the Bay State: whether or not to set safe patient limits for nursing care in hospitals. Question 1, backed by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, would require hospitals to limit the number of patients assigned to each nurse depending on the type of hospital unit and acuity of patients.

OFNHP President Adrienne Enghouse and Kaiser Westside Medical Center RN Courtney Smith flew to Boston to help with the Get Out The Vote Efforts for the #YesOn1 campaign.

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