The members of the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (OFNHP, AFT Local 5017) are voicing our outrage at the ongoing attack on women and healthcare autonomy represented by the recent Supreme Court decision.
Our power analysis session on August 27th was an incredible success, and we learned how to put together powerful campaigns that can pressure our targets to change things in our workplaces and in the healthcare system as a whole. What comes next is the work of mapping and charting our workplaces, so we can better understand where we are already strong and where we need to build more solidarity. This will be held at our Tigard office on October 12th, starting at 6:00pm, and all members are invited to participate.
As the landscape of student debt shifts, and more and more opportunities allow borrowers to have their debt relieved, the AFT is using every avenue to ensure that the word is out. In affiliate meetings, telephone town halls, media coverage and social media, the union is spreading the news, and at a student debt clinic at AFT headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 31, AFT President Randi Weingarten vowed to reach as many people as possible with information that could save them tens—and sometimes hundreds—of thousands of dollars.
Our colleagues at the Alliance of Healthcare Unions, the coalition of 52,000 Kaiser workers that we work with to win our master contract, recently put together a training to help Kaiser members better understand their retirement benefits. You can watch the video of that training below, which provides essential information to help you decode the Kaiser retirement system.
(Passcode: YU12r7&O)
Our Political Education and Action Committee (PEAC) has been hard at work building relationships with our political allies and setting up our endorsements for this year’s election! Below you will find some of the candidates that we have endorsed, and decisions were made by looking at each leader’s record and answers to important questions posed by colleagues across Oregon’s labor community.
For our Kaiser members covered under the Alliance National Agreement and the Partnership with management, there is an appointed position that helps the bargaining units with added contract enforcement.
The trust was named for Ben Hudnall, a labor leader who held a thirty year business manager position for the Engineers and Scientists of California, Oakland IFPTE Local 20. He was a strong advocate for education and retention of employees. Ben Hudnall’s tireless work in the early days of the partnership, as well a
OFNHP consists of nurses and health professionals who’ve been on the frontlines, providing our communities with lifesaving care throughout this pandemic. To us, a union not only helps protect healthcare workers by fighting for living wages, benefits, and agency on the job.
Our union’s strength has been most visible the past few years by the rapid rate of growth we have seen. We’ve added tech units at both St. Charles and Mid-Columbia Medical Center. As such, and as healthcare professionals, we continue to organize and invite new members to become a part of one of the strongest union locals in the country.
Weingarten Rights guarantee employees the right to union representation during an investigatory interview or at any time they suspect questioning might be related to disciplinary action. All union represented employees have the right to union representation whenever they believe a line of questioning could result in discipline, not just when the employer says that it could. This is often invoked on normal meetings with management or when answering questions regarding work performance.