“We’re here to say no way to lower pay,” declared Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 49 officer Caitlin Doherty July 9 at a rally outside North Portland’s Legacy Emanuel Hospital. Doherty is a sterile processing tech at Legacy, and a member of the union bargaining team.
More than 100 members, staff, and supporters of Local 49 rallied at Dawson Park, following a brief march accompanied by a drum and a purple vuvuzela. The action was called to protest Legacy’s offer in negotiations over a new union contract — raises of 1.5 percent a year, and limits on overtime.
Legacy is proposing to limit workers to three overtime shifts per two-week pay period. It also wants to end the practice of giving the most senior certified nurse assistants first pick at “daily flexing” (the option to leave work early when a ward has few patients). And it wants managers to have the right to schedule employees to work every weekend.
The union’s previous contract with Legacy, which expired June 30, covers about 570 workers in dozens of support occupations at the hospital.
Doherty said the union wants a wage increase that at least keeps up with inflation. Inflation has been about 2 percent a year the last several years. Local 49 is proposing 4.5 percent. The union is also proposing $1 an hour extra for weekend work, and it wants to add an additional 25 cents to the current $1.25 and $2.25 hourly bonuses for working swing and night shifts.
Doherty said a majority of members are at or near the top of a 10-step pay scale, so the union is proposing that an 11th step be added. But Legacy has said no to that also.
Emergency room technician Julie Williams, a single mother, says she earns $19.40 an hour after six years at Emanuel, and can’t afford the employer-provided health insurance plan. So she and her two children rely on the Medicaid-funded Oregon Health Plan for health insurance. They also receive food stamps.
Doherty said there’s no talk of a strike yet. More bargaining is scheduled for July 22 and 29.
