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By Oregon Small Business Association,
The union representing 7,000 employees at Oregon Health & Science University canceled its strike authorization after reaching a tentative agreement following an unfair labor practices complaint.
The AFSCME Local 328 filed a complaint with the Oregon Employment Relations Board alleging that two administrators involved in the contract negotiations posed as employees and undermined the union positions on social media, according to the Portland Business Journal.
After five months of bargaining, union and OHSU representatives declared an impasse. But after meeting with a mediator for 21.5 hours, they tentatively agreed on a new three-year contract. The union will vote on ratification in September.
The trolling incident that led to the filing of an unfair practices complaint involved Daniel Forbes, OHSU’s vice president of human resources, and Patrick Frengle, a financial analyst. Union officials accused them of posting on Twitter and Facebook disguised as AFSCME employees, criticizing the union’s positions and spreading false information about dues. After the complaint was filed, Frengle was removed from the bargaining team, Forbes resigned from OHSU effective Nov. 1, and Dr. Danny Jacobs, president of OHSU, issued a public apology.
An informational picket drew 1,500 people to OHSU’s hillside campus in support of the union. The previous contract ended in June. According to The Lund Report, OHSU said it offered no increase to the cost-share for health insurance, wage increases averaging 2.62 percent to 2.82 percent each year, plus anniversary step increases of between 1.5 percent and 4 percent a year. It also offered more money to those earning less than $22 an hour and a paid-time-off program, but that conflicted with the existing union sick bank program. The union also wanted consistent rather than variable cost-of-living increases.