Our Goals & Achievements

We are proud of the accomplishments our local has made in this term and would like to illustrate the achievements made by those in this slate. However, we know that many of these are not simple one-and-done tasks, but ongoing efforts that require commitment and passion in order to continue achieving wins for our membership in the coming years.

Under the leadership of President Jennie Olson, Local 328 has:

  • Reached our highest percentage of dues paying members in a decade at 78%!

  • Implemented the Safe Staffing Committee at OHSU under House Bill 2697

  • Blocked increased out-of-pocket healthcare costs for all employees at OHSU through activism on the Employee Benefits Council

  • Implemented the Building Bridges apprenticeship program in collaboration with United We Heal at OHSU, offering free education and on-the-job training for programs in Medical Assisting, Dental Assisting, Certified Nursing Assisting, and phlebotomy.

  • Championed legislation that expands union-voices in OHSU governance, including representation on the OHSU Board of Directors (SB 423) and representation on OHSU Presidential hiring committee (HB 2695)

  • Testified to the Oregon legislature in support of workplace safety (SB 537) and requiring hospitals report report on funding spent to replace workers during a lock-out or strike (HB 2792)

  • Fought legislation that targets union-represented jobs at the Oregon National Primate Research Center (HB 3978)

  • Secured funding to continue and expand the Community Health Worker pilot program serving the lowest-paid local 328 workers

  • Renewed the local’s participation in the LCSA Holiday Toy Drive for labor families in need and in the annual NOLC Labor Day celebration

Our Continued Goals

Increasing outreach to our members!

  • Restore regular, consistent communication with our members: frequent blog posts, monthly email digests, social-media posts, president’s email messages, robust member meetings, and more

  • Achieved! And we continue to find ways to get word out to our members so they remain up-to-date on the latest happenings at their Local.

  • Continue to improve plans to better involve remote workers across the country in our union

  • Achieved! We’ve gotten membership meetings on the web and into the 21st Century so that all members regardless of their work location can be included.

  • Schedule targeted outreach meetings in specific departments and certain positions (e.g., EVS, Pharmacy, Food and Nutrition, ITG, research support, CNAs, front-line workers) to find out how they’re doing and how we can help

  • Achieved! Our slate has been consistently engaging with department-level outreach meetings for this term and we look forward to more so we can continue this incredibly important work

Working on issues that matter to the members!

  • Focus on topics and initiatives for the betterment of all members, including Appendix A issues while we are bargaining changes to that section

  • Achieved! We have been tireless in our advocacy for the membership and several on our slate, as bargaining team members, are currently negotiating much needed improvements to Appendix A for our Salaried siblings.

  • Do regular contract education and member empowerment via designated time during membership meetings by our Steward Leaders

  • Achieved! Stewards from all over our Local have been tapped to educate members on their rights and protections and we are excited to continue this effort with our Ten Minute Contract Moments, where an experienced Steward will talk about a portion of our contract and answer member questions.

  • Plan events and programs to build social connections (member-appreciation events, 328 Day, Labor Day Picnic)

  • Achieved! The Labor Day Picnic is coming soon and we hope it will be just as successful as the other events we’ve planned during this term, see you there!

  • Ensure that education/training programs, scholarships, and leadership opportunities are shared more widely

  • Achieved! We are proud to say that members are now more engaged in our union activities and opportunities than ever before

Taking a member-driven approach

  • Ramp up recruitment to ensure all of our board seats are filled, giving more members a voice

  • Achieved! We’re proud that our slate was able to identify and encourage member-leaders as vacancies appeared in our Board, we are equally proud that this election has more candidates running for office than any previous in recent memory

  • Profile outstanding member-leaders in our communications, to show how individuals can make a difference in our union and the workplace

  • Achieved! Whether it is through training, mentoring, labor wins or legislative victories, we’ve made sure that the membership hears about how each of us can make a difference in our Local, our workplace and our world

  • Ensure that member-leaders are setting priorities and policies, with guidance (rather than directives) from staff and others

  • Achieved! Our Policy Committee and Board have been hard at work updating and improving policies, ensuring a baseline of process that ensures standards are understood and met

  • Offer members a way to request a topic be added to a board-meeting agenda, and follow-up on the outcome of the discussion

  • Achieved! We created digital forms to get member topic discussions for our Board and will now be providing in-person and tabling-led options so members can bring topics to the Board’s attention.

Building power for bargaining and beyond

  • Start talking about and building interest in our 2025 contract negotiations now

  • Achieved! Just a cursory glance at our Local’s Blog updates for our current negotiation cycle will show you how engaged the membership is in getting a fair and well-deserved contract. We look forward to keeping this momentum going for the future 2028 contract

  • Continue to build relationships and share support with the other unions at OHSU

  • Achieved! We have built and maintained excellent relationships with our cousin-unions: ONA/AURN, RWU, HOU, GRU and HWU. We’ve also had member-leaders sit in and advise RWU as the research workers negotiate their first contract with OHSU, a critical moment in their union

  • Educate our members on how they can shape union policies and priorities  at the state and national levels by becoming convention delegates

  • Achieved! As with the increased interest in bargaining team participation, our union has seen huge engagement with our delegate councils and conventions

  • Engage in ongoing recruitment of members who might be interested in joining the next bargaining team

  • Achieved! We have seen incredible engagement and turnout for elections. Thirty-eight members ran as candidates for our 2025-2028 bargaining team, a huge increase from previous years

Improving organization and training

  • Hold well-planned monthly member meetings, with reminders, robust agendas, and open discussion

  • Achieved! We’ve seen increased engagement and discourse as a result of these improved meetings and we look forward to making them more inclusive and available to members in the coming term

  • Stay on top of upcoming events, deadlines, issues, and important information to share with one another and our members

  • Achieved! This kind of work requires constant process improvement, we believe the transition to Hub has been a huge improvement in communicating to our membership and providing an intuitive, centralized space for us to access important information and resources

  • Be more transparent and communicative with the executive board and the membership

  • Achieved! With our transition to the Hub from eZone and now an initiative to improve internal Board communications, we are continuing to provide transparency to members on the goings on of the Board

  • Improve onboarding and mentorship of new member leaders to ensure they feel supported and have the tools necessary to make a contribution to our union’s work

  • Achieved! We remain committed to mentoring the next generation of leaders as shown by our own slate which contains many who have been contributing to the union in their own ways who now wish to step into a leadership role

  • Build a strong support structure (including more trainings) for our Steward Program, to enable the growth necessary to represent our growing bargaining unit

  • Achieved! Our slate has created and led extensive trainings, including a Shadow Steward program allowing new stewards to get on-the-ground experience with a more experienced mentor so they can more confidently and knowledgeably represent our members’ interest

Focusing on solidarity with workers at OHSU and beyond

  • Build class solidarity and focus on issues and programs that unite us as workers

  • Achieved! We’ve made huge legislative strides this term, such as SB916 which allows striking workers to receive unemployment benefits during their strike. We are also working on creating Weingarten Rights posters in multiple languages so we can empower all members to understand and use their rights

  • Ensure that all of our members feel they have a place in our union, including those who don’t work at a desk and those who telework (across the state and the country) 

  • Achieved! And we remain committed to ensuring that every member of our Local can make their voices heard. We believe our hybrid meeting options, tabling plans and direct department contacts will ensure that all members regardless of work location can participate and feel included.

  • Honor all voices, recognizing that our membership holds a wide variety of ideologies, and uphold the right for everyone to honorably engage in open discussion of important issues

  • Achieved! We are always excited to hear from our membership and remain committed to honoring every voice that wishes to engage in improving our union

  • Encourage members to educate one another through the Steward Program

  • Achieved! Our slate has made huge strides in improving the training and education of our Stewards. Our new Shadow Steward mentoring program has seen promising engagement and has already paid immense dividends for members seeking representaion.