AFSCME Local 328 All-Stars
During AFSCME Strong Week in January, we recognized several of our members for their outstanding contributions to our union. Here are the 2021 Local 328 All-Stars:
Problem Solver — Eden Avila-Eguiza: Eden is a Dental Assistant 2 who works at the Russell Street Dental Clinic who reached out to our union because she asked for a voluntary layoff and was denied. After speaking with her, our union staff realized that the reason she wanted a voluntary layoff was because she was a new mother who needed to pump at work and did not have a designated safe space to do so. (Eden had had been pumping in her car, random offices and, occasionally, the bathroom.)
Precedent Setter — Hyun-Ok Suh: Hyun-Ok is Cook 2 in Food and Nutrition Services who was fired for what management determined was a violation of OHSU’s attendance policy — she had used sick time for three occurrences in a 90-day period. OHSU decided to terminate her, despite there being no evidence of sick-time abuse and no prior history of attendance issues (though she did have some performance issues). Our union immediately filed a grievance on her behalf, taking the case all the way to arbitration. Often OHSU tosses money at grievants to get them to settle and drop their grievance. Because Hyun-Ok refused to settle, in October 2020, the arbitrator ruled in favor of Local 328 on our termination grievance. OHSU had been using one-track discipline, which can be easily described as “three strikes and you're out.” The arbitrator ruled that for the purpose of discipline, attendance cannot be lumped in with performance issues. This was a huge win for our union. Hyun-Ok was awarded back pay and got her job back.
Membership — Casey Parr: Casey is a respiratory therapist who has worked at OHSU since August 2010. He ran for and won a seat on our bargaining team in 2019. Local 328 leadership quickly realized what an asset Casey was to our union. Since bargaining, he has signed up to be a unit steward and was elected to our executive board. Casey has focused on membership, not only within his department, but across OHSU. Recognizing that high membership numbers create a strong union, he has helped push our union to be creative with our outreach. Casey is knowledgeable and incredibly approachable, which is why he is so successful signing up new members.
Member Advocate —Jeff Vogt: Jeff is a Cook 1, doing Cook 2 work, normally based out of Mac Hall. He has been with OHSU since 2014. Jeff started his activity with the union as a unit steward, then became an investigatory and grievance steward. Now Jeff is a lead steward and executive-board member. Jeff recently won his first disciplinary grievance. While Jeff has been an incredible advocate, he was chosen for this award for his incredible service during OHSU’s COVID-19 outbreak. He risked his own health and kept working within the department, alerting the union to various safety concerns and giving union staff a clear picture of what was happening and bringing coworkers forward to report concerns. He did not stop with that — he also made sure that some of the worst managers were held accountable. It is beyond doubt that Jeff saved lives within the FNS department and the greater community. Without him, the outbreak would have been far worse. Jeff is the definition of a working-class hero.
Clutch Member — Natlie Dutro: Natlie is an administrative coordinator at the Oregon National Primate Research Center at the West Campus. Natlie is a unit steward and new-employee engagement coordinator. She has stepped up at the very last minute to cover cases and has volunteered to mentor unit stewards. Just recently, Natlie has been appointed to the Local 328 executive board. From the moment our union leadership met Natlie, we knew she was going to be a fantastic addition to our team!
Equity — TJ Acena: TJ is an administrative assistant for Academic Affairs and has been with OHSU since 2015. And for our union, he is constantly pushing us to lead with progressive values and to better advocate for our diverse employees. He has worked to build our diversity, equity and inclusion committee from the ground up. As the committee chair, he is invested in developing effective ways of protecting OHSU’s most vulnerable employees — through contract language, trainings and community-building efforts. TJ uses his platform to highlight systemic discrimination issues, which allows us best to serve our membership. Ultimately, TJ helps to educate our stewards, staff and board in order to build be a better union.