We are in the midst of Hispanic Heritage Month in the United States, which is celebrated between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15.
“I’m proud of how much progress our union has made in recent years on diversity and inclusion issues,” says Oregon AFSCME President Jeff Klatke. “We have been working with some of our largest employers to improve their hiring, training, retention and promotional policies to include more communities of color.”
Klatke notes that last year, our union was a partner with PCUN, the Oregon-based farmworkers and treeplanters union, on Ballot Measure 88. Measure 88 would have provided a path for undocumented workers to obtain an Oregon driver’s license. Although the measure itself failed, there were corollary gains and AFSCME and PCUN’s partnership strengthened the bond between the two organizations.
“Through our joint efforts on the measure, we were successful in increasing both our voter turnout and our voter registration,” said Ramon Ramirez, President of PCUN. “We collaborated on many actions and we’ve developed a really close partnership with AFSCME.”
Causa Oregon Executive Director Andrea Miller echoed Ramirez’s sentiments.
“We can do so much more together,” she said. “Your union’s work on Measure 88 was vital, and we are combining efforts on more and more things. This is a very important partnership.”
Watch a short video about the AFSCME-PCUN Measure 88 partnership.
Adriana Rodriguez works at a Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Clinic in Beaverton, where she is a Local 3670 Vice President. Rodriguez says AFSCME’s work on Measure 88 sent a clear message that our union supports its Latino members.
“It made us see that AFSCME is really paying attention to its membership and sees the growing demographic of Latino members in the union,” said Rodriguez. “To me, this is about integrating both employees and the community.”
Rodriguez estimates that well over half of Local 3670’s membership is Latino, but doesn’t expect to be treated any differently.
“We have the same goal of having a good place to work and wanting to be treated fairly at our jobs — regardless of color, religion and such,” she said. “But I do see a bigger picture, in that our union can help unite the community. It’s not only about labor issues.”
Gloria Gonzalez is a Council 75 Staff Representative who works closely with the Latino members of Local 132 (Child Care Providers). Many of those members speak limited English, which can be a barrier when it comes to bureaucratic government red tape. Gonzalez says those providers universally believe our union is important in giving them a voice in the process.
“Through AFSCME, they feel they are being heard in the rule-making process, which can be difficult enough for people fluent in English,” said Gonzalez. “They feel represented in Salem at the Legislature and with all of the regulatory agencies involved in child care. Our union is very important to them.”
While proud of the progress, Klatke emphasizes we are far from finished.
“There is lots more work to be done on immigrant rights and Oregon AFSCME is ready and willing to be part of that work,” says Klatke. “Hispanic Heritage Month gives us an opportunity to reflect on our collective progress, celebrate with our friends in the Hispanic community but also acknowledge we have a long way to go.”
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