SEIU Local 503 pickets in Uniontown. Photo by Mathias Lehman-Winters

Workers picketed in support of ongoing bargaining negotiations

 

Thirteen members of the Service Employees International Union 503 Astoria branch picketed in Uniontown Thursday in support of their bargaining team negotiating an updated contract. 

SEIU 503 is Oregon’s largest public union representing 72,000 workers doing more than 500 different types of jobs in primarily state and local government, nonprofit agencies and care facilities.

Picketers gathered at the Port of Astoria Administrative office at noon, before marching to The Owl’s Nest restaurant on West Marine Drive.

Morgan Tisdale, who has been an SEIU member for approximately eight months, and was previously a member of the Teamsters union, said he was picketing to ensure workers are treated with dignity.

“We are taking action because we want an equitable contact,” Tisdale said. “We are fighting for layoff protections, equitable workloads, cost of living increases … . We don’t think any of that is unreasonable.”

Steven Peterson, another picketer, said he has been employed by the state of Oregon Department of Human Services for 19 years.

“Around half of our workers at the Department of Human Services have income low enough that if they were a single wage earner in their household, they would be qualifying for the same benefits that we are approving for other Oregonians, (such as) food stamps, medicaid, etc.,” Peterson said. “We should have a living wage. This contract cycle we are still in, (still) bargaining for it, and that’s what this picket is about.”

Peterson said that one of the main reasons he was there is because management is trying to remove discrimination protections from state employee contracts.

“They have not budged on that, they will not accept anything else, they are really pushing for removing discrimination protections … we don’t want to lose protection from discrimination,” Peterson said.

The picket in Astoria was held in conjunction with 50 other pickets on Thursday across the state.