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Hot labor summer is turning into a long walkout fall. After successful strikes by Hollywood writers, United Parcel Service workers and others, unions across the country are picketing for better pay and benefits.
The same is true in Portland. Nurses at Oregon Health & Science University voted to strike, then won a new contract last week with wage increases of as much as 15%. Doctors, nurses and physician assistants at Legacy Health are working to unionize. Workers at Kaiser Permanente walked out for three days last week and plan to leave again next month if their demands aren’t met. Employees at Powell’s Books picketed on Labor Day; Portland Public Schools teachers could strike midmonth.
Given the depth of worker grievance right now, WW is starting an occasional series on labor actions around town. Today is the first installment, and it starts small, by the numbers.
WORKERS: Multnomah County dentists
UNION: American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 88
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 18
LABOR ACTION: Vote to strike
You may not know it, but Multnomah County has dentists on its payroll. They perform checkups, cleanings, fillings and even root canals on people who have Medicaid or are uninsured. Many of their patients are houseless and in dire need of oral care.
The county health department employs 20 dentists, and 18 of them are members of Local 88. They voted to strike late last month. Contract negotiations are underway, and the county wants them to see more patients for routine work, cutting into time needed for more dire emergencies, AFSCME Local 88 says.
The fight isn’t about money, says Lillian Harewood, dentist and union delegate. County dentists work four 10-hour days. On three of those days, each dentist sees 22 patients: 11 in one chair and 11 in another, with the dentist shuttling between chairs. One day each week, Harewood and her colleagues work just one chair each, focusing on 11 tougher cases.
“We keep that one-chair day for our most challenging patients,” Harewood says. Many are very anxious around dentists and require more time for even simple procedures, she says.
In the new contract, the county wants dentists to see 22 patients on all four days, Harewood says. If that becomes the norm, then union dentists want to see fewer than 11 in each chair, maybe eight, so they have more time to do referrals, transfer X-rays, and do other administrative work. If they don’t get that, then they want more money.
Harewood and her fellow union delegates are committed to landing a new contract through mediation, but if they don’t reach an agreement this week, they may strike as soon as next month.
“We are still negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement with the dentists and Local 88,” a county spokeswoman said in an email. “However difficult these conversations can be, they are also respectful, above-board and, ultimately productive. We are partners in public service, and we are confident this process will get us to the agreement that best serves our community.”