AFT trustees Kaiser nurses Local 5017

Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals Local 5017 was placed in trusteeship July 7 by its parent organization, American Federation of Teachers (AFT). The 17-member local union Executive Board plus three senior officers, including President Kathy Geroux, were removed from office. Florida labor lawyer Mark Richard was brought in as trustee.

Local 5017 represents more than 2,500 registered nurses and health care professionals at Kaiser Permanente and Providence Milwaukie Hospital.

The local was organized as an AFT affiliate in 1979.

Local union leaders were moving to disaffiliate from AFT, and announced a July 7 membership meeting to discuss it. But Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals’ bylaws specify five membership meetings a year, and specifically state that no meetings can be held in July. That, and alleged unauthorized use of dues money to promote disaffiliation, gave the national union grounds to trustee the local, said AFT spokesperson Jamie Horwitz.

“AFT members have the right to disaffiliate, drop out of a bargaining coalition or make other changes their local union leaders may want," said AFT International President Randi Weingarten in a press statement, "but the leaders must follow the steps outlined in the union constitution.”

In their own press statement, the ousted leadership said that while membership meetings are not ordinarily scheduled in July, as specified in the local bylaws, the Constitution also says that special meetings can be called.

“We believe that everyone on the Executive Board will be vindicated of all the charges made,” Geroux said. “We are looking forward to leading our local again after this misunderstanding is cleared up.”

Geroux said she has a meeting scheduled with Weingarten in Portland on July 20.

Contract negotiations are scheduled to begin at Kaiser Permanente in 2010. Horwitz said if Local 5017 were to disaffiliate, it would no longer be a part of a 15-union coalition that bargains together with Kaiser. That could jeopardize what may be tough negotiations in any case: Kaiser has lost revenue in the recession because many laid-off workers are losing health coverage.

Horwitz said AFT doesn’t have a timeline, but hopes to return Local 5017 to local control as soon as possible.

He said it is only the fourth time in AFT’s 93-year history that it has trusteed a local union.

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