Focusing on Our Members

Our union needs to meaningfully engage our membership and show members they can shape our priorities and direction. We will do this by increasing outreach to all members, working on issues that matter to our members, and taking a member-driven approach.

Increasing outreach to all 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

• Develop a plan to better involve remote workers across the country in our union

• Hold regular office hours to ensure all members have a chance to be heard, regardless of job classification, shift, or work location

• 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

Working on issues that matter to our members

• Focus on topics and initiatives for the betterment of all members, not personal priorities or pet projects

• Do regular contract education, even when we’re not bargaining

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

• Plan events and programs to build social connections (contests, member-appreciation events, holiday party, 328 Day)

Taking a member-driven approach

• Open new avenues for member feedback (contact forms, informal surveys, meetings) to find out what their workplace concerns are and what they’d like our union to focus on

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

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

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

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

Strengthening Our Union

Our union needs to build and maintain strength to ensure OHSU recognizes our membership’s power at all times. We plan to do this by building power for bargaining and beyond, improving organization and planning, and focusing on solidarity and unity with workers at OHSU and throughout Oregon.

Building power for bargaining and beyond

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

• Highlight important grievance and arbitration wins on regular basis

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

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

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

Improving organization and planning

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

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

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

• 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

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

Focusing on solidarity and unity with workers at OHSU and throughout Oregon

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

• 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)

• Prioritize union and workplace issues that enhance our members’ lives instead of external disputes that don’t

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

• Encourage members to educate one another through the steward program