Solidarity with BERG — Point of Action #4: Provide Mandatory, Extensive Bias Training

To the BERG: Our union sees, recognizes and values the incredible leadership and perseverance of our Black colleagues at OHSU. We stand in solidarity with the BERG. AFSCME Local 328 has been reflecting as a union, and we recognize our ability to do much better.

As stated in our December 2020 letter to the OHSU Black Employee Resource Group, AFSCME Local 328 has committed to stand and bear witness to the BERG’s letter sent to OHSU leadership and the board of directors on August 31, 2020, which called out concerns around OHSU’s racist practices, particularly those impacting Black employees. This month we address the first of the BERG’s 14 Points of Action, which is to:

Provide mandatory, extensive bias training to all HR and Public Safety employees and all levels of management, supervisors and lead roles. Anyone in roles related to screening, evaluating, disciplining and labor relations must know what bias is in themselves and how to recognize it in others. This requires a deep and, in some cases, uncomfortable dive and will require more than a two- to four-hour presentation.

The concept of human-resource management is almost as old as our very own country. It came from the belief that employees were critical to a company’s prosperity and that the success of an organization depended on having workers who were happy and healthy. Today this no longer seems to be the common understanding. At OHSU specifically it has been made clear time and time again that HR’s primary role is to protect the employer (and, by extension, administrators and managers), not to invest in rank-and-file employees.

And so we ask, have all HR employees completed extensive bias training? If so, has this changed their interactions with Black OHSU members? If so, will this change be noticed in disciplinary meetings? Will there be a transformation in the hiring process and in opportunities for advancement? Can you really change a person’s heart through training? Doesn’t true change come from real experiences that pierce so deeply that people ask why they didn’t understand sooner?

Have OHSU leaders determined how they will know if those in roles related to screening, evaluating and disciplining employees are able to identify and distinguish what biases they hold? How will the OHSU community know that those in positions of leadership are being honest and fair? Are those in HR equipped and willing to call out their colleagues? Are they brave enough to call out someone they report to? If so, are they prepared for the fight that will come, for the potential to be iced out by their coworkers? And the biggest question remains: Is OHSU ready and willing to deal with its leaders in the same way it would deal with an employee who is lower in the hierarchy?

And what of the employees in Public Safety? Have they completed extensive bias training? If so, has this changed their interactions with Black OHSU members? When when racial slurs, swastikas and nooses appear at OHSU, will the incidents continue to be handled in a passive manner? Will things go back to business as usual once the matter has been cleaned up? Will Black employees, students and patients be given the benefit of the doubt in the same way that their white counterparts would be? The challenges we’ve faced at OHSU affect so much more than the well-being of employees. These expressions of hate must be seen as a threat against the entire OHSU organization and community.

Lackadaisical HR guidance has created an environment in which managers and administrators respond to HR’s cues the same way some patients respond to a doctor’s cues: by treating guidance as gospel. HR employees need to understand the extent of their influence. Managers often default to “HR policy” because it’s easy, rather than use their best judgment and discretion to adapt policies to meet business needs and support employees. When we see suboptimal support of Black employees by HR and Public Safety, and see the impact of bias and how it affects all OHSU members, it influences the culture not only at OHSU, but within the greater community.

AFSCME Local 328 continues to hold the entire OHSU community accountable (including but not limited to members of our bargaining unit, OHSU leadership, students and researchers) to do their part — individually and collectively — in remaking OHSU into an anti-racist institution. In order for this to happen, we must all be accountable and demonstrate transparency. As such, we stand with the BERG and their call for OHSU to provide mandatory, extensive bias training to all HR and Public Safety employees and to all managers, supervisors and employees in lead roles.