Help Olivia get her job back at Central City Concern and Stop the Call Center!
Today I was terminated from my job as a Health Assistant at a low income health clinic and refused my full paycheck upon dismissal, offered yesterday only an incomplete paycheck for my paid leave. This union-busting, retaliatory dismissal comes on the heels of us demanding an end to the Call Center move for the clinics! I was the only union steward of color at the Old Town Clinic and the only Health Assistant union steward. I had no escalatory disciplinary history and was abruptly terminated for private discussions with union members I counseled against our employer.
I was refused a steward at my initial hearing and had to fight bitterly to be allowed a rep at all.
Who I am: A mother, a Salvadoran refugee, a long-term resident of Portland, a queer woman married to a trans woman, a union steward (the only steward of color at the clinic), an elected member of my union local’s executive board, an organizer, the last standing connection between our local and the Labor Committee to Defend Immigrants since my wife (and author of our local’s anti-deportation resolution to be considered at our union’s international convention in August) was terminated in March for antiracism and is awaiting to hear back if the union will take her case towards arbitration or not. She has struggled to find openings even for low wage entry level work. Now are both unemployed while raising an infant baby during the worst economic downturn we’ve ever seen.
We both worked to provide services to the homeless but our organization is committing to waves of mass layoffs at the exact moment homelessness and adult+childhood poverty are at an all time historic high. Now we face the prospect of homelessness ourselves.
If you want your healthcare managed by AI and call centers, look away. If you hate union-busting and want to know who is speaking to you about your private health information, share and sign.
Please share, even if you are not in Portland. If you care about immigrants, if you care about mothers, if you care about workers rights, if you care about boots on the ground stopping AI and ending racism in the workplace, please sign and bring attention to this and let people know what we need.
Portland and our homeless, houseless, and impoverished communities deserve real healthcare, not robotic, dissociated garbage. My family will be homeless and other workers will be next.
If you want to donate to our struggle, we are at:
$writeswrongs on Cash App and Venmo
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