Adult Foster Care Accord
Tentative Agreement with State Averts Arbitration
After 13 months of difficult negotiations our SEIU Local 503 Adult Foster Home Bargaining Team has reached a tentative agreement with the state on a new contract only two days before scheduled arbitration.
“We believe that we stood our ground on several key issues and the state blinked!” the team wrote to AFH care providers.
The team, chaired by Patty Jones and Gary Lane and including Kathleen Howard, Scott Hollingsworth, Leah Silaev, Debbie Schreiner, Regina Valentine, Esther Preston, Lana Eszler, and Dixie Ellard unanimously recommends ratification.
Bargainers said the agreement protects prior gains, secures improvements on issues relating to respect and quality resident care as well as increased transparency from the state, and will allow members to focus on legislative and administrative responses to avoid any unintended consequences of recent legislation designed to protect residents.
Key elements of the settlement deal with union representation rights, timely pay, advance written notice of changes to service plans and pay, clarity on the amount paid for services provided, and parity for relative foster care providers in the pre-placement planning process.
In addition, the contract
* establishes a new complaint resolution process for SEIU providers to address inconsistencies in program delivery and violations of Oregon Administrative Rules with a mechanism to track and respond to provider complaints;
* establishes joint union-management committees to address issues such as training, criminal background checks, RN delegation, and abuse and neglect findings; and
* guarantees Adult Foster Home providers a seat at the table in the rule-making process.
A complete and detailed summary of the proposed contract changes will be mailed to every Adult Foster Home provider along with a ratification ballot. In addition, regional meetings will be held around the state to review the contract terms and answer questions.
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