My message to oregon afscme members:
I’ll be honest—when I was appointed as Executive Director a year and a half ago, it was a surprise. There was a great deal of chaos in the organization. We had high turnover with staff, we weren’t adding membership as fast as we should have, and morale was low.
Even while I was going through chemotherapy, I hit the ground running to turn things around. We have stabilized the staff. And we are now the fastest growing union in Oregon and more members = more power.
And we are just getting started. We need to keep pushing to keep our union strong and powerful enough to keep bargaining better contracts and bringing more workers into the union.
Every Local is different and each needs a different level of support. I will bring my 19 years of experience working with every local in the state, as an attorney, and as political director and associate director to lead the fight on every front regardless of the challenges.
I love this Union and I pledge to continue fighting for you every single day.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
I was appointed Executive Director in 2023. In the short time since, I have pushed for much-needed growth and improvements at Oregon AFSCME. Here’s some of what has been accomplished under my leadership:
Increased membership and member power.
Oregon AFSCME now has more members than ever before and big wins under our belts. We have added nearly 3,000 new members and 7 new bargaining units. We had the two most successful strikes this union has ever had with better COLAs and contract wins.
7
NEW BARGAINING UNITS
3,000
NEW UNION MEMBERS
2
SUCCESSFUL STRIKES
largest growth in more than 20 years.
Since 2023, we’ve seen AFSCME’s largest growth in membership and bargaining units in 20 years, helping drive trends statewide. In 2024, Oregon’s union membership growth was the third highest in the nation.
“As of 2023, union members in Oregon number around a quarter-million, or about 14% of all workers. Helping drive union growth in Oregon has been Oregon AFSCME, which represents public sector employees and is one of the state’s largest labor organizations.”
—OREGON BUSINESS
Right-sized staff workload for increased member focus.
Members and member leaders have more support from an increased AFSCME staff and staff workloads are more reasonable, reducing burnout. We successfully negotiated a difficult and abrupt transition, working hand-in-hand with AFSCME staff to build a culture of transparency and respect.
Why me?
Because I understand the challenges members are facing and will fight hard for them to get the better pay, better benefits, and better workplaces they deserve.
I started at Oregon AFSCME nearly twenty years ago as a temporary employee, becoming Associate Director for years, before becoming Executive Director.
Over two decades I have worked with every local, from our smallest local government to our largest hospital. I have stood by members in some of their most difficult times and in their greatest victories.
During this time, I have had three kids, dialysis, a kidney transplant, cancer and chemo and AFSCME has supported me in the good and the bad.
I have worked for the betterment of our members and you have supported me through all those things. I can not imagine my life without the members and staff of this union.