February News and Information
Upcoming Town Halls: During bargaining, our town halls were an effective and important way to share information with and get feedback from our members, and we want to maintain this connection going forward. To that end, Local 328 will be holding quarterly town halls/membership meetings. The first two events will be held on March 25 and May 27, both Wednesdays, from 12 noon - 1:00 p.m. in UHS 8B60, with additional dates to be scheduled. As during bargaining, the town halls will be live-streamed for members who are unable to attend in person.
AFSCME International Convention: The AFSCME 44th International Convention will take place in Los Angeles from Sunday, August 9, through Friday, August 14. The Local 328 delegation will consist of the convention chair (an automatic delegate) and nine elected delegates. Members who are interested in serving as a convention delegate are encouraged to request the time off now. The delegate election will take place in the spring (dates TBD), so folks will have sufficient time to cancel their time-off request if they aren’t elected.
Unfair Labor Practice Update: AFSCME Local 328 filed a series of unfair labor practice complaints (here, here and here) based on the behavior of OHSU management during bargaining, including trolling the union on social media and spreading misinformation, as well as targeting union activists for potential discipline. Our union and OHSU unsuccessfully attempted to mediate the trolling ULP in October (details here). At the time of this writing, we are attempting to re-mediate the issue prior to proceeding to an Employment Relations Board hearing, as we feel this route is the best way to secure the remedies we are seeking. Our union remains firm in our position that any settlement must include a few key remedies, including an independent investigation of HR and the OHSU culture that has allowed these behaviors to happen.
Salaried Weekend Differential Grievance: The union also filed a grievance shortly after ratification of the new contract related to management’s interpretation of Appendix A and the new weekend shift differential (details here). Essentially, Local 328’s position is that the agreement for weekend differentials applies to salaried employees. OHSU position is that it doesn’t, even though an exception wasn’t captured in writing or mentioned verbally when the agreement was reached. The parties met in late January for an initial grievance meeting. Our union is prepare to take the case to arbitration if needed.