Hopefully everyone has received the latest copy of The 503 Voice. This is a hugely important issue that everyone should read.

Page 1 starts out with a bang, covering the YES campaign. This is the campaign to pass Measures 66 and 67 at the special election in January. If you aren't familiar with this issue, you should be! The estimated $733 Million budget deficit that will be created if these measures fail will affect far more than just SEIU 503 members. It will affect critical services for the citizens of Oregon.  read more »

Just a quick note to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving.

The holiday season is always a busy one. And for many of us, we have a furlough day this Friday. All of which adds up to not much time to get everything done that you want to do.

So have a safe and happy holiday. And try to relax. You deserve it.

Welcome back. My plans for a great promotion for the site have certainly gone astray. I had hoped to be well under way by this point, but that just hasn't happened. I don't want to spoil the surprise, so I can't give any details. What I can say is that I'm looking to give it another try to celebrate the New Year.  read more »

The battle is on again! Big business and the wealthy want a free ride at our expense!

Last Tuesday, a series of signs went up all over, especially along the I-5 corridor between Portland and Salem. You may have seen them. They're the ones talling you to "Vote NO on Job Killing Taxes."

This is especially galling when you consider that some of the backers behind this initiative are the banks! Would those be the same banks that just got BILLIONS of dollars in Federal BAILOUT money? Why YES, they would!  read more »

There is an Excel spreadsheet that has been making its way around. The spreadsheet calculates the effect of furlough on your pay. I know that DHS posted it for their staff to see. It has also been sent out in e-mails to union members at least on a Local level. I don't honestly know who created it. (If you do, please let us know.)  read more »

It's hard to believe that one year ago I made my very first blog entry. Ever. Anywhere.

And what a strange year it has been. We went into a major recession, which we still haven't climbed out of. We had the worst bargaining session that anyone I've spoken to seems to remember. (As of when I'm writing this, the bargaining is still on-going for different folks.) And, of course, this site went live.  read more »

I had no idea what an impression I was making. This isn't the first time something like this has come up. But it certainly keeps growing.

I just found out that SEIU Local 503 staff have once again tried pumping someone I know for information about Eye On The 503. The story is that they're hearing from "people" that it's anti-union. No names mind you. And the staff haven't seen the site—or so they say.  read more »