Contact Us Email: takeback5017@yahoo.com
Disclaimer Take Back 5017 and this website are in no way affiliated with, sanctioned, or approved by the American Federation of Teachers, OFHNP, Local 5017, or any combination thereof.
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July 30th, 2009
My neighbor, a trade unionist, just handed me a copy of “Democracy is Power–Rebuilding Unions from the Bottom Up” by Mike Parker and Martha Gruelle. Already want to start underlining things as they relate to Local 5017.
“Union democracy–defined as rank-and-file power–is the essential ingredient for restoring the power of the labor movement.”
“There’s a missing element in much of today’s debate about rebuilding labor: the power that comes from members running their own unions. ”
“…the goal of our movement is not just bigger unions. It’s for working people to function as human beings….Our larger goal is for workers to exert power collectively in the workplace and society–and for that you need much more than bigger unions. You need powerful workers.”
Flo
July 27th, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009; Doubletree Hotel. Hearing will commence at 9:00 a.m. and continue until 1:00 p.m. and then restart at 6:30 p.m. and end at 9:00 p.m. or until conclusion.
A hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday, July 28 to hear testimony regarding the emergency administratorship ordered for OFNHP.
This is a fact-finding and not an adversarial proceeding. The purpose of the hearing is to present evidence and testimony to the three person AFT Investigative Committee so that it can prepare a report and recommendations to the full AFT Executive Council.
The hearing will take place on Tuesday, July 28, 2009 at the Doubletree Hotel located at 1000 NE Multnomah Street, Portland. The hearing will commence at 9:00 a.m. and continue until 1:00 p.m. and then restart at 6:30 p.m. and end at 9:00 p.m. or until conclusion. At the end of the presentations of each session, members who have not participated in the hearing will have up to three minutes each to make statements.
All testimony will be provided under oath and a transcript and videotape of the hearings will be made. OFNHP members will be allowed to attend the hearing. Non-members and the press will not be admitted to the hearing.
Click here to view the Notice of Hearing and Grounds for Establishing an Administratorship
To see AFT President Randi Weingarten’s letter to OFNHP members go to: http://vault.ofnhp.org/weingartenletter072409.pdf Note especially this line in the letter: “there are no charges or accusations that any union funds were misappropriated for personal gain by any of the suspended officers. Our initial review of the local’s books does not find any illegal activity and the union’s finances overall appear to be in good order.”
July 16th, 2009
Below is the latest communication from American Federation of Teachers National.
In a statement issued July 16, 2009 Kathy Geroux RN, the former president of the Local executive council said: “We are going to make every effort to comply with the stipulations of the letter.”
July 15, 2009
Dear Ms. Geroux and Mr. Wong:
I write in order to clear up any possible misunderstanding resulting from the
placement of OFNHP into emergency administratorship. As you know, on July 7,
2009, the AFT placed OFNHP under emergency administratorship pursuant to
Article VI, Section 15(c) of the AFT Constitution and, in doing so, relieved the
officers of Local 5017 of their positions. As stated in the July 7 letter from the AFT to
you and the rest of the Executive Board, this means that you and the other officers
no longer have any authority to act on behalf of the local or represent its
membership. Instead, the appointed administrator is responsible for speaking on
behalf of the local and its members until the hearing required under Article VI,
Sections 15(b) and (c) takes place and next steps for the local are determined by the
AFT Executive Council. You should be aware that the organization and its
members retain the use of the OFNHP name and local number, and individual
officers or former officers have no ownership of this trade name and identifier. As
such, you and all other members of the Executive Board who were relieved of office
do not have the authority to use of OFNHP name and the identifier AFT Local 5017.
It has come to our attention that on July 10, 2009, you jointly issued a press release
on behalf of the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, AFT Local
5017 (”OFNHP”). This release accurately states that the local was placed under
trusteeship and its officers suspended by the AFT on July 7, but contains several
inaccuracies in addition to purporting to speak on behalf of OFNHP and its
members. In addition, a newly created website titled “Take Back Local 5017,” found
at www.takeback50l7.org, also claims to communicate on behalf of OFNHP and its
members, and contains an inflammatory “letter of support” with several material
factual inaccuracies as well as posting the July 10 press release.
As you may be aware, the Lanham Act of 1946, codified at 15 U.S.C. §1051 etseq., as
well as the common law of trademarks, protects the exclusive rights of the first
party which uses a trademark, including service marks and membership marks, in
commerce against infringing use by other parties. The name Oregon Federation of
Nurses and Health Professionals and the corresponding designation as Local 5017
has been in use continuously since the original charter was issued by the AFT in
1979. Both the name OFNHP and the designation Local 5017 are apparent on
membership materials, promotional literature, and publications and press releases
produced at the national, state, and local level, to name a few. In addition, the
name “Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, Local #5017″ has
been registered as a nonprofit organization with the Oregon Secretary of State’s
Corporation Division.
Under the Lanham Act and the corresponding case law, the test for infringement of
a service mark or trademark is whether there is likelihood of confusion. This test is
the same whether the mark is federally registered or unregistered. A federal claim
under the Lanham Act for infringement on an unregistered mark is triggered by use
by an unauthorized party which is “likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake,
or to deceive as to the affiliation, connection, or association” with the senior user.
15 U.S.C. §1125(a).
Additionally, under Oregon law, if there is a likelihood of injury to a business’s
reputation or a likelihood of dilution of the distinctive quality of a trade name,
regardless of whether confusion by the public or competition between the parties
actually exists, then a court will grant injunctive relief. Or. Rev. Stat. §647.005(2),
(3), (7), (8), (9); Or. Rev. Stat. §647.015. Oregon law regarding protection of
trademarks is specifically written to provide a system of protection that is
substantially consistent with federal trademark law. Or. Rev. Stat. §647.115(3).
Similarly, Oregon law provides for registration of the insignia and business name of
organizations, including labor unions such as ONFHP. Or. Rev. Stat. §649.101 et
seq. In Oregon, trade names and trademarks are generally protected under the
same principles, and as with federal trademark law, the primary question a court
will look at when deciding whether to grant injunctive relief is whether a likelihood
of confusion exists. See, e.g., Classic Instruments v. VDO-Argo Instruments, Inc.,
700 P. 2d 677, 684 (Or. App. 1985), citingMcCarthy, Trademarks, §4.4; Western
Bank v. Western Bancorporation, 617 P.2d 258, 260 (Or. App. 1980).
Moreover, at common law, actual use creates rights and priority over others when
deciding which party has priority for use of a particular mark. In other words, at
common law, ownership of trademark rights in the United States is obtained by the
actual use of a symbol to identify goods and services of one seller and distinguish
them from those offered by others. OFNHP has been using its name and local
number continuously for the past 30+ years; accordingly, Local 5017 and its
members have priority in the trade name OFNHP Local 5017.
As stated above, the organization retains the rights to use of its name and local
number as a registered trade name; authority to use these identifiers does not
transfer to former officers. As such, your use of the OFNHP name and local
number is unauthorized and, additionally, is extremely likely to cause confusion
among the organization’ s members as well as in the general public. Therefore, we
call upon you to immediately cease and desist all use of the name Oregon
Federation ofNurses and Health Professionals, AFTLoca15017 and any derivatives
thereof, including cessation of the use of the Local 5017 identifer in both the
content and domain name ofyour website. We also require immediate placement
of a disclaimer on all of your materials, including your website, stating that your
organization is in no way affiliated with, sanctioned , or approved by the American
Federation of Teachers, OFNHP, Local 5017, or any combination thereof.
If you do not comply with our requests , we will be forced to consider legal relief,
potentially including an injunction barring you from using the registered name
OFNHP Local 5017and enjoining any further acts of unauthorized trade name use.
If we are forced to seek such an injunction , we will also have no choice but to seek
damages under the Lanham Act as well as corresponding Oregon law and the
common law of trademarks. We also plan to exercise our rights under the Uniform
Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, which permits trademark holders to file
complaints against holders of domain names that infringe upon trademark rights
and provides for arbitration by the World Intellectual Property Organization. As
such, we believe it is in your best interests to comply with our requests, and we
trust you will promptly comply with this cease and desist letter.
Please contact me at (202) 393-7472 if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
David J. Stro
AFT General Counsel
cc: Randi Weingarten
Antonia Cortese
Lorretta Johnson
Mark Richard
Gary Stevenson
July 15th, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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OFNHP Local 5017 Relations with AFT National
Portland OR–At 9am Tuesday July 7, approximately 20 representatives from American Federation of Teachers Healthcare national offices arrived at Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals Local 5017 and put the health care union under trusteeship, suspending the officers of the executive board including President Kathy Geroux.
Local 5017’s three thousand members are part of AFT’s Healthcare Division. In June, the Portland local’s executive board began to discuss the possibility of Local 5017 disaffiliating from the national organization, an issue that has arisen more than once over the last fifteen years. A membership meeting was scheduled for the evening of July 7.
“The purpose of the membership meeting was to provide a democratic forum for discussion of whether we should refer the question of disaffiliation to our members for a vote,” said Theo Harper, Local 5017 executive board member. Instead, the meeting was led by the new trustees of the local and the agenda focused on the trusteeship.
AFT Healthcare National issued a statement that said the Executive Board misappropriated funds and violated the bylaws of the local constitution. The executive board members have not seen the formal charges. The board believes that the allegations refer to Local 5017 funds which were spent on expenses related to the July 7 membership meeting. Room rental and other meeting expenses were paid for out of a budget line item specifically for membership meetings. While membership meetings are not ordinarily scheduled in July, as specified in the local bylaws, the constitution also says that special meetings can be called.
The Executive Board is working on a resolution that is acceptable to both parties. AFT National President Randi Weingarten has committed to meeting with Local 5017 President Kathy Geroux in Portland on July 20.
“We believe that everyone on the executive board will be vindicated of all the charges made,” said Kathy Geroux. “We are looking forward to leading our local again after this misunderstanding is cleared up.”
July 13th, 2009
This letter of support just came in.
The only effective unionism depends on engaged rank & file leadership, and an internal culture of accountability running up & down through the organization, and from member to member. Only with those kinds of relationships do you get the substance of democracy and the power of solidarity. The kind of strong-arm tactics you are facing from AFT national rip out the heart and guts out of true unionism.
I have known fighting AFT local teacher unions and unionists who stood up for themselves and their students. What national is doing to you betrays them and the best that AFT sometimes is.
Nurses and other health workers are on the front lines of one of the great human rights struggles of our day, the right to health and health care. It is a damned shame that “your” national union should be attacking you over another fundamental human right, the right to organize freely and democratically.
You are your union, not the office, not the computers, not the “official” website, not the “Trustees” breaking trust. You have the democratic right to affiliate your local union with whatever national union organization you choose. You won’t be alone in your efforts to take back the formal parts of Local 5017, and then deliberate among yourselves about what’s next. Lots of us will stand with you and lend what aid we can.
Solidarity, a luta continua, an injury to one is an injury to all.
Chris Lowe
(healthcare, public health & peace activist
member, Jobs with Justice
Former member AFT 3751, PSU adjuncts)
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