The voting period will take place Saturday, October 1 through Friday, October 7. Watch your email for an electronic ballot. Need to update your info? Visit the SMART Center or call (503) 756-6466.
Find more information and the duties for each position in the Local 88 Policies and Local 88 Constitution.
Candidates were invited to provide a statement. Read what each candidate had to say below.
Vice President Candidate Statements
My name is Manuel Arellano, I am an immigrant to this country from Perú and English is not my first language. I work as a Bilingual Spanish Library Assistant at the Rockwood Library. Last month, President Baker invited me to consider running for Vice President of our Local and I took up the challenge. My commitment with the Union Movement and Local 88 is solid and strong. I am happy to represent AFSCME workers. I have represented my coworkers during the painful Layoffs that took place in 2020. I have worked alongside great people as a cohesive group and we have achieved many victories over the last few years. There is still so much to do, there are so many goals to reach. I am very confident that we will improve our employment conditions.
As a member of the Bargaining Team I noticed many inequities for people like me. Barriers are put in place, even in our union, for people with Black and brown skin; people whose first language is other than English; and people with disabilities. I have the passion and drive to create a more inclusive membership.
Qualifications:
- Union Steward since 2010
- Co-Lead Steward since 2020
- Member of the Executive Board, start 2022
- Participated in Unions since 1988 as a Steward for fellow students of the Universidad de San Martín de Porres – Facultad de Derecho (Law School) in Lima.
Summary of Accomplishments:
- Successfully recalled all the employees affected by the layoffs during the pandemic to their original classifications, in some cases promotional opportunities.
- Co-Lead Local 88 Team in the creation of Minimum Staffing guidelines that managers now have to use to ensure my union family are working in adequately staffed buildings.
- Effectively prepared the first ever Bargaining Update in Spanish for Local 88
- Preserved Spanish KSA library jobs during lay-off in 2020
Goals for this year:
- Support the Local 88 President
- Improve safety and security in all departments.
- Bilingual pay for county workers in all corners of local 88.
- Work in close coordination with the Presidency and will conduct the Political Action Committee.
- Bring new views of diversity, equity to the table.
- Invite Leaders and Stewards of Color from all Departments to shape our committees.
Finally, I will tirelessly pursue our collective demands. We will bring our voice to management together. Our time is now! We are stronger together!. We will Lead with Race starting from our Union….SI SE PUEDE!
In Solidarity,
Manuel Arellano
My name is Maya Noble, I’m Black and use she/her/hers pronouns. I am excited to be nominated for the AFSCME Local 88 Vice Chair position. I’ve worked at Multnomah County for almost 8 years and have been a proud Union member from the start. I come from strong Union roots, my mom was the first non-white President of her Local IBEW and I was very close to all the celebrations of being the first and also the immense struggles of being the first. My first job at Multnomah County was a Community Health Worker at Healthy Birth Initiatives and they set the bar high. Shout out!! Since then I’ve moved to Youth Care Coordination and now in the Office of Diversity and Equity coordinating ERG’s. In all these roles my focus is on equity and reducing disparities due to race and other marginalized identities. I’m a long standing member of Employees of Color (EOC) ERG and helped to create the QTPOC ERG. I mention all of that to let you know that I am deeply connected to my co-workers and community and I hear first hand the struggles we endure everyday to continue to show up and do this work.
Being nominated for Vice Chair is an honor and if I’m elected I will listen to members and fight for safe workplaces, fair wages, time to recover from trauma endured at our jobs, emergency leave, and more. My Local 88 organizing experience is being part of the telework bargaining team, the current contract bargaining team, and bringing forth issues that impact members like not being fairly compensated for the use of their bilingual skills. While most of my work experience is with Multnomah County, my lived experience is connected to CCC and TPI. My life and the lives of countless others are changed by the work you do and I commit to fighting alongside you. Regardless if I’m elected or not, my goal is to continue to bring the issue forward and to fight for all members’; safety, trust, and belonging not as a slogan or recruitment tool, but to actually experience it.
I’m open to questions, comments, and to listen please email me at mayamichelle@msn.com if you would like to set up a time to meet.
In Solidarity,
Maya Noble
Our local stands at a crossroads of ideas and practices while the nation sees the biggest labor uprising in generations. I believe we can build a strong union that empowers members to fight for improved working conditions, wins better contracts, and builds a stronger Local 88.
The organizing model of unionism, that puts the power directly into the hands of workers, is at the core of my vision for our union. We can go beyond fighting to maintain the gains of previous generations of labor victories and look to a labor future that sees the next generation have vastly better working conditions than we do today. Our union has slowly been trying to shift practices to embrace the proactive organizing model, but we need a full cabinet that is motivated and ready to take on the challenges of that shift.
These aren’t just ideas, but things I put into practice with a track record to prove it. I have consistently shown up for our union and its members.
- Member from day one
- Steward from day one
- Consistently volunteer to get things done
- Participant on many of our committees
- Has served on our local and council EBoard
- Has served our PAC in interviewing political candidates and deciding endorsements
- Has served as a bargaining delegate twice
- Has attended multiple labor conferences, trainings, and events representing our local
- Has championed multiple projects to improve our local
- Actively involved in ensuring engagement with our nonprofit sublocals
As your Vice President I will be accountable to members, a reliable resource for our president, and proud to represent AFSCME Local 88!
Trustee Candidate Statements
My name is Rosa Garcia A. I have been a member of Local 88 since I started at Multnomah County in May 2021. I became a steward in February 2022 and have made an effort to familiarize myself with the culture and processes of Local 88, while looking at it from the perspective of someone with a financial background. I started working at Multnomah County at the Joint Office of Homeless Services as a contract specialist. The Joint Office is constantly under scrutiny from the community and especially news outlets like Willamette Week and The Oregonian. Being that the work done by the Joint Office is so public, ensuring that the information tracked and updated is accurate and thorough is not only important, but necessary.
As someone who works in business and finance, I understand the importance of being transparent when it comes to financial reporting, ensuring that payments are made in a timely manner, and I commit to uphold the reporting and sharing of Local 88 finances to the membership, executive board, and all Local 88 officers.
Accuracy and compliance is my goal as a trustee because I believe that our membership deserves nothing less. As a program manager in the past, I was responsible for program portfolios that were worth upwards of $5 million. It was my responsibility to track all the inflows and outflows of cash as well as to report monthly to the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) what the status of the program budgets was. Currently, I work as a Budget Analyst with the Health Department and am tasked with ensuring that we are tracking all the spending within the different departments of the Health Department as a whole. Being detail oriented while also maintaining a big picture view is important when it comes to auditing, and I am optimistic that I will do a great job for the members of Local 88. I am excited to do my best for the union as a whole.
Solidarity, union siblings. My name is Jeanne Ramsten and I am asking you to reelect me as trustee. I have served our local as both your treasurer and as a trustee and bring to the job vast experience, dedication and a deep love for the union movement and the power that it brings to the people.
We are about to elect a new vice-president, still bargaining a new contract for our Multnomah County members, and will be electing a new board next year. I want to be there to build a strong board and an engaged membership. Our current treasurer is stepping it with his offer to have interested members shadow him as he does his treasurer duties. I also will be available at our meetings to help explain the AFSCME International financial standards code.
Through the years with Local 88, I have been there when workers need a voice. I was there in Seattle for the 1999 WTO Labor march. With the ILWU when the Powell’s Bookstore employees were forming their union. With the Postal Workers and the Letter Carriers. There is an excitement in the air that so many workers today are risking their jobs to empower one another.
I will always be there to listen to the stories of how we got here, and to the stories of our current membership for where we are going in the future. Please let me serve you for three more years of safeguarding how our dues are allocated. Solidarity forever, ‘cause the Union makes us strong.
