By DON McINTOSH
Oregon AFSCME says the murder of a mental health aide is painful validation of safety concerns union members have been raising in contract bargaining. Cascadia Behavioral Health employee Haley Rogers, a member of AFSCME Local 1790-4, was stabbed to death July 16 by one of her patients. Cascadia workers named safety as their number one concern when contract negotiations began in May of 2023. They want assurance that they’ll always have at least one coworker overseeing a facility, and they want a weapon risk protocol to protect staff and clients. When Rogers was killed, she was the only person working the overnight shift at McCarthy Place, an independent living facility in Gresham with room for 10 clients.
