Oregon AFSCME beat back a challenge from an independent union June 15, when ballots were counted to see who would represent a 1,669-member bargaining unit in the Oregon Department of Corrections. The result was 663 for remaining in AFSCME, 480 for joining the Association of Oregon Corrections Employees (AOCE), and 4 for no union at all.

“Most people recognized the strength AFSCME has in the Legislature and in the labor movement in general,” said Tim Woolery, who was hired as an Oregon AFSCME staff representative in August after 18 years as a corrections officer at Santiam Correctional Institution.

Woolery said he was initially worried about the AOCE challenge, but it became clear before the election that AFSCME had majority support everywhere except the Snake River Correctional Facility in Ontario, Oregon.

Now that AOCE’s challenge has been resolved, AFSCME can return to the bargaining table. Negotiations halted for three months while the state determined which union the employees wanted.

Woolery said members want to catch up after a wage freeze several years ago, and preserve health benefits. They also want new contract language that would allow them to schedule vacations between their “weekends,” whenever those occur at the 24-hour facilities.

Because under state law this unit isn’t allowed to strike, if the two sides can’t reach agreement, the contract is subject to arbitration — each side submits its final offer, and an arbitrator chooses one or the other as a total package.

AFSCME represents a separate corrections unit of about 1,300 workers who are allowed to strike. They’ve been in bargaining, and have so far rejected wage offers of 2 percent a year. AOCE also represents about 750 corrections workers at several state prisons.

All three of the Corrections Department contracts expired June 30.