The steward delegates is the legislative power of our union. The assembly is made up of steward representatives from each worksite, and for every fifty union employees there is one steward representative in this decision making body. According to our bylaws, for every additional fifty union employees there shall be an additional steward representative allowed on the assembly. For example, if there are forty-five members you have one representative, but if you have fifty-one members you have two representatives, and so on. The goal is to make sure that just like our congresspeople, we have enough representatives to ensure that a set number of workers are able to have a voice speaking for them.
What do we do?
We meet quarterly to review or establish new policies for OFNHP. The assembly receives quarterly report-outs from our union president, as well as other committees like political action, leadership development, and others. The steward assembly also approves of the union's budget that is presented by the budget committee. We act as a counter-balance to the Executive Board, similar to the way that Congress acts as the counterpart to the Senate. Together we help establish the direction of our organization and ensure that these decisions are accountable to the members we serve.
Why be on the Steward Delegates committee?
We are a member driven union and our voices guide the larger group to complete our goals. We assist the vision planning we have for growing our union as well as discussing issues across the bargaining units. The steward delegates are the democratic driving force of OFNHP ensuring that our union is a natural outgrowth of our ability to organize ourselves collectively to solve problems that affect all of us. To be a part of our union’s steward delegates, it means that you are making your voice heard for you and your worksite. It takes thirty-percent of the stewards delegates to pass a motion during our quarterly meetings.
Our goal.
Is to educate more members on the Steward Delegates Assembly and to hopefully recruit more stewards to join. To be as effective as possible we would like at least 1-2 representatives to join from every location. We have multiple groups like Peace Health (Southwest and Sacred Heart), St. Charles in Bend, Mid-Columbia Medical Center and Kaiser Permanente all have representatives.
How to Join.
If you want to join, reach out to ItsMyUnion@OFNHP.org, or your union steward, Internal Organizer, or leader. We then run an online petition in your worksite to ensure that at least fifteen members in your worksite endorse your candidacy. If there are multiple members running for an empty seat, then we would hold an election after those candidates surpassed their fifteen member endorsement threshold. Currently, we have enough open seats that members who get their endorsements are essentially “unopposed” and elections have not had to happen. Hopefully in the future, when the body is more full, we will have so many candidates that we will have vigorous elections when filling seats.
So join us! This is how we ensure that our union is the voice of the workers, and that we become an even stronger body who fights for justice and democratic values in our worksites!
Click Here to Print a Flyer About Joining the Steward Delegate Assembly!