AFSCME Local 88 Archives

Dentists say seeing more patients per day will lower the quality of care they offer to Medicaid enrollees and uninsured or homeless patients.

Dentists at the county clinics treat some of the area’s poorest residents: Medicaid enrollees, uninsured, and homeless.

Workers who help homeless addicts can be one mishap away from homelessness themselves. Their union gives hope it can be a longterm calling.

Katie DeSantis was homeless for 20 years. Then she secured stable housing, earned a degree, and began working for homeless service agencies.

Formerly homeless herself, AFSCME Local 88 member Salma Azizza today works to get unsheltered people into housing and get the help they need.

The county says workers won’t get retroactive raises—ratified in November with back pay stretching back to July—until February.

The vote came after about seven months of bargaining and a handful of rallies AFSCME staged outside county facilities.

If approved, the contract would bring a 5% cost-of-living adjustment retroactive to July 1, along with a $2,500 immediate bonus.

The contract covers case managers, residential advocates and other workers helping people transition from homelessness into housing.

A Multnomah County Commissioner took it very badly when county workers union AFSCME Local 88 backed her opponent.