Cost of Living Increase coming July 2025 to a paycheck near you!
This year, we will be receiving a 2.8% cost of living wage increase. This will begin the first full pay period of July. Thank you to the 2024 Bargaining Team for negotiating this win for us!
Reimbursement for Licensure: Nurses and Physicians Only
Nurses Unit Members and Physicians Unit Members!
Please note that your reimbursements for licensure and certifications need to be submitted within 45 days of the end of the fiscal year which was June 30.
If you miss this window of opportunity you must get director approval for that reimbursement.
These reimbursement requests must be submitted to your supervisor no later than August 14, 2025 if the expense occurred on or before June 30, 2025.
Please reach out to Jenn Mower or Mary Troffaes with any questions or concerns about this.
This does not apply to general unit members.
Upcoming AFSCME Trainings
Oregon AFSCME provides a number of Union related free trainings each month. The full schedule can be found on the Oregon AFSCME website.
Topics include Stewards training, Beyond Bias training, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission training and others.
Know Your Contract Trivia
Here we will be hosting a monthly trivia contest!
Email your trivia response to [email protected] for a chance to win a gift card!
One winner will be per newsletter.
True or False: Cost of living increases, or COLAs, are based on CPI-U East data for the previous year?
May Trivia Winner: Amy Gurley with an answer of True! Employees are guaranteed the right to union representation during any disciplinary or “investigatory” meeting. It is up to the union member to reach out to union staff and organize this. You can contact Jenn Mower or Mary Troffaes to organize this at any time or talk to your Steward or Communication Action Team Member!
Union History - The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
On March 25th, 1911, a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City resulting in the death of 123 women and 23 men, most of whom were recent immigrants and young women.
The owners had locked the stairwells and exits to prevent “unauthorized breaks and theft” but this trapped the workers in the burning building. The majority of the workers died from smoke inhalation, burns, and blunt impact injuries while a few leaped to their death.
This tragedy spurred the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers’ Union which resulted in the improvement of factory safety standards, legislation regulating building safety codes and enforcement, and improvements in firefighting.
On October 11th, 2023, more than a century after the fire, a memorial was finally placed at the Brown Building in New York City to honor the victims.
Committee Corner
The Local currently has two committees that were recently formed: the Communications Committee and the Constitution Committee.
This month, the Communications Committee has been working diligently with Council 75 to better understand how the new email system, Action Network, works and functions. We are gearing up to start our transfer to this new platform. Though this is taking a bit longer than anticipated, we know the change will be best for the Local! You can thank the Communications Committee for this awesome newsletter as well!
The Constitution Committee continues to seek members to join and support the difficult but rewarding and necessary process of updating our constitution for the first time since 1998.
Both of these committees would appreciate member involvement. If you're interested in either project, please reach out to us at [email protected].
Stewards Needed
Our union currently has over 1,000 members collectively. We have 7 Stewards to represent our labor needs across the whole county.
We are looking for individuals from each department and division that would like to support fellow workers by becoming a Steward.
Stewards are Union representatives that employees can come to with contract questions or who may sit in as Union representation during disciplinary meetings (or investigatory meetings as they're now called by HR). This work is important and there is financial compensation for the work you perform as a Steward.
If you have questions or are interested in becoming a Steward, please reach out to Mary Troffaes, our Union 2nd Vice President by emailing [email protected] or texting her at 541-337-6066.
Reminders
All communications including teams and email on county computers are subject to transparency laws.
Additionally, the county has access to any communications you have on your work computer or through work assigned emails.
When contacting the Union with specific questions or concerns, it is best to do so through personal emails, calls or texts.
You can find contact information for your Local 2831 Union Officers on the website.
Or you can email us at [email protected]. Please allow 1-3 business days for return emails at this address.
Additionally, the AFSCME Member Services Center is available from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday.