OHSU Response to Richmond Rally and Demands Falls Far Short
On Wednesday, March 9, our union, in partnership with concerned community organizations, held a rally in support of Local 328 members who have faced an ongoing and long-term culture of racism at the Richmond Clinic. A list of demands was created by the impacted members, which was emailed to OHSU executives on Monday, March 14; OHSU was given two weeks to meet a five-item subset of those demands:
To remove three specific members of management from culture-change work.
To send an RFP to eight specific workplace-change organizations.
To issue a verbal apology in which the specific harm inflicted is acknowledged.
To pay a 5% work-out-of-class differential to trusted colleagues and those who support culture-change work.
To provide to AFSCME Local 328 the entire, unredacted Pia Bloom report.
To our union, this set of demands seemed to be easily achievable but important in their impact on current clinic conditions, while providing an opportunity for OHSU’s leadership to show they finally grasp the severity of the problem at the Richmond Clinic.
Unfortunately, OHSU’s response sent to Richmond workers on Wednesday, March 23, ignored, for all intents and purposes, the demands of the workers who continue to be harmed by management's inability or unwillingness to address the deep seated problems at Richmond Clinic. Instead of listening to the voices of their employees and choosing to partner with them to change a toxic culture, OHSU’s leadership is essentially telling the employees what should and will be done, despite that approach not working for more than a year now.
OHSU’s response contained language that will be familiar to those of us who’ve heard similar responses from leadership in the face of similar complaints:
OHSU wants to “acknowledge the concerns” and “begin to rebuild trust.”
The clinic “commits to action and accountability.”
Committee work “is being reorganized and realigned to better reflect the work needed.”
The Richmond “training plan will include a platform for listening, shared learnings and reflection.”
Does any of this make you confident that anything will change at the Richmond Clinic? Does any of it sound like managers at Richmond have taken any responsibility for their actions? Does any of it sound like leadership has been working on the problems for a year already?
OHSU’s vague commitments to do better are no longer enough for employees, especially in the wake of the Covington investigation. Local 328 has informed OHSU that its response is inadequate and fails to meet our union’s and our members’ clearly communicated demands and that, as a result, our union will continue to plan and carry out direct actions until positive changes are made at the Richmond Clinic.
Stay tuned for more information about the next Richmond Clinic direct action. Your coworkers thank you for your support!