OHSU Must Take Action to Investigate and Prevent Employee Abuse

It's been a little over three weeks since Local 328 publicly raised the issue of supervisor abuse of employees in the EVS department. We took this step after years of frustration with an ineffective internal process to report and curb abuse by OHSU supervisors and managers.Today, Local 328 President Matt Hilton sent the following letter to OHSU Vice President Dan Forbes and the rest of the OHSU leadership team which met with our Union two weeks ago today on this issue.Dear OHSU Stakeholders:Two weeks have passed since we met to discuss the abuse issues in EVS.Dan Forbes has agreed to begin the investigative process by interviewing one of our affected members this week. Getting members to agree to tell their story to an OHSU official has been a painfully slow process because of employees’ continued perception that it will not be safe for them to do so. This perception was demonstrated to be an accurate one this week when a member was loudly and publically accosted by a supervisor for talking to the union. Word of this incident spread quickly among EVS staff. We have shared that information with Dan.We want to be clear that Local 328 believes that OHSU’s current process for investigating employee claims of abuse is fatally flawed. This is not an aspersion on any individual’s character or intentions. We appreciate that Dan agreed to interview our member on this matter, but it is clear that he does not have the time, nor should it be his job, to carry the investigation forward to completion. What Dan is doing is an emergency intervention. We agree that it needs to be done so that employees in EVS have some hope of getting relief soon, but it is a stopgap measure. It is not a substitute for a full and independent investigation — one that is culturally sensitive, one that recognizes the relationship difficulties posed by traumatic experiences, one that our members can trust.But, securing that independent investigation for EVS is also only a temporary solution. There needs to be a reform of the process by which employee complaints are heard and investigated. We believe that the best intentions of individuals will not overcome an internal structure that serves primarily (whether intentionally or not) to suppress complaints and shield OHSU from liability rather than to solve problems. The fact that the EVS situation has come to this point without any significant intervention or abatement of the abuse over a period of years is the best evidence that the internal complaint process needs dramatic change.Our union is going to continue to engage our membership on this issue and we are going to continue to try to frame a broader discussion on employee abuse at OHSU. We do value a collaborative relationship with OHSU. There are many issues on which we want and need to work together productively. We hope that this issue turns out to be one of them.We believe that OHSU is taking this issue seriously.We propose that:

• An independent investigation be conducted re: the employee abuse in EVS.
• An effective internal process be created for handling employee complaints of bullying, harassment and intimidation going forward.

Local 328 is prepared to meet and discuss how we might work together to resolve the issues in EVS and address our concerns. Recognizing that you will need time for consideration, we would appreciate hearing from you on this matter by Friday, Dec. 18.Thank you,Matt HiltonPresident, AFSCME Local 328