Organizing Legacy Salmon Creek FAQ
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Organizing is the process of securing a voice at your workplace. When workers organize to form a union, they build communications infrastructure and work collectively to address issues and goals. To require your employer to bargain over these issues and goals, you must win a union election, establishing your right as workers to bargain a contract. The minute you win your union election, you establish the status quo, which means your employer can no longer change your wages and working conditions without your input.
- Contact us at organizesalmoncreek@wsna.org and get your questions answered.
- Sign a union authorization card when you are ready to move forward.
- Stay connected and get updates via one of our Signal message groups here and sign up for email updates here.
- Go public with our intent to unionize once a supermajority of nurses have signed cards.
- Prepare for an election where a simple majority of those who show up vote yes for a union.
- Start working towards a first contract that gives nurses a say in their workplace conditions.
WSNA represents over 21,000 nurses in Washington State across over 50 bargaining units. For more than 110 years, WSNA has championed issues that support nurses, advance professional standards, and improve the health of individuals and families in Washington.
WSNA provides representation, education, and resources that allow nurses to reach their full professional potential and focus on caring for patients. WSNA has represented nurses in our state since 1908, leveraging our collective voice to successfully advocate with employers, state agencies, and the state Legislature for better working conditions, safe staffing, fair compensation, and patient safety.
Nurses at Legacy Salmon Creek can organize at WSNA, even though their employer after the acquisition will be the Oregon-based OHSU. Despite anything you might have heard from your employer, it is your legal right to organize a union with WSNA.
The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) was founded in 1904 as the professional association for nurses in Oregon. A non-profit association, ONA is a constituent member of the American Nurses Association. ONA has several affiliated entities: Oregon Nurses Foundation, Oregon Nurse Political Action Committee, Nurses United Political Action Committee and WorkHealthy Oregon. ONA core values are integrity, respect, mutual support and professional excellence.
YES! Legacy Salmon Creek nurses would be jointly represented by WSNA and ONA, which means nurses would be members of both organizations. This has been done before – ONA/OFNHP jointly represents nurses at Providence Milwaukie and at Kaiser in Oregon.
Joint representation has many benefits in this situation: Legacy Salmon Creek nurses will be plugged into the larger bargaining table with ONA, while also having the benefits of representation by WSNA. ONA represents nurses across other Legacy facilities and OHSU, and WSNA represents nurses both locally and across the state.
As part of their acquisition of Legacy Health, OHSU has signed an agreement with ONA and our labor partners at AFT, Oregon AFSCME, and SEIU, committing to:
Base pay parity with OHSU RNs on this pay scale, along with maintenance of health benefits.
No layoffs for 12 months for OHSU employees before the closing of the agreement, and no layoffs for all unionized employees for 12 months after the closing.
Six months' severance for any layoffs after the 12-month window.
Significant investments in culturally competent workforce development to create quality jobs.
The benefits and protections of this agreement apply to current unionized workers and those who organize with ONA or one of our labor partners at OHSU or Legacy. Being a member of a union means you are protected from unilateral changes to your working conditions.
There is no guarantee for Salmon Creek nurses. To secure the protections from this agreement, nurses must be represented by WSNA/ONA prior to the closing of the OHSU/Legacy acquisition. The agreement ONA and other labor partners signed with OHSU only applies to unionized employees. To secure the protections of the agreement, it’s in your interest to certify WSNA/ONA as your union before the closing of this agreement.
Yes! Workers have the right to:
Self-organize to form, join, or assist labor organizations, bargain collectively through representatives of their choosing, and engage in other concerted activities for collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.
Discuss union organizing efforts during non-work time (breaks, before and after work) or when other non-work discussions are normally allowed. This also applies to distributing literature.
Sign union petitions or cards without fear of retaliation.
Engage in union activity without monitoring or the impression of being monitored by the employer.
It’s illegal for management to:
Discriminate against any of us based on our union activities.
Promise benefits, privileges, pay raises, to change working conditions to influence your feelings about forming a union.
Threaten layoffs to discourage support for our union.
Solicit grievances or promise to remedy them to keep a union out.
Selectively discipline any union supporter Spy on us to observe union activities.
This campaign is built out of nurses who want to get involved in the push for a union. Right now, that means talking with your coworkers, attending trainings, collaborating with organizers, and signing an authorization card. There are several ways to get plugged into the movement.
Signal Group
An authorization card is a form you can fill out to legally support a union. They guarantee joint representation by ONA and WSNA for bargaining a union contract. Once we have enough support among the nurses, we will submit the cards to the NLRB or the ERB. And they can also act as a membership application following our first contract.
Download the PDF version of the form:
Once you’ve filled out the document, you can send it organizesalmoncreek@wsna.org. Make sure to send this from your personal email.