Portland, OR — In observance of National Correctional Officers’ and Employees’ Week (May 2-6), we honor thousands of Oregon AFSCME members who keep our communities safe while putting their lives on the line every day. We are proud of the extraordinary service provided by the 3,250 correctional employees represented by Oregon AFSCME and the 85,000 corrections employees across the United States who are affiliated with AFSCME International’s AFSCME Corrections United (ACU).
“Our sisters and brothers in ACU are the men and women who work tirelessly to ensure the safety of our communities,” said Ken Allen, retired AFSCME Council 75 executive director. They risk their lives to ensure the safety of ours. We honor them this week for watching our backs every day.”
Despite the heroism and selfless acts of our officers and support staff, powerful interests undervalue the difficult jobs we do. They are working harder than ever to require we do more with less. Pushing an agenda to lower wages, cut benefits, and outsource our jobs so a handful get richer.
Oregon AFSCME is fighting back. Over the past eight years we have won significantly higher wage increases for our members in DOC, than DOC employees are winning in neighboring states. Recently, we also won a grievance arbitration worth approximately $750,000 for some Department of Corrections AFSCME Security employees who had been shortchanged after making sacrifices during hard times.
“We thank all of our public safety officers for their courage and sacrifice. We stand together in the fight for their safety and dignity on the job,” added Allen.
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