By Dora Totoian • Of The News-Register • 

County employees rally over treatment during COVID-19

Paige Barton, a council representative for Oregon AFSCME, rallied with employees at the courthouse on Thursday. Marcus Larson/News-Register
Paige Barton, a council representative for Oregon AFSCME, rallied with employees at the courthouse on Thursday. Marcus Larson/News-Register

About 25 Yamhill County employees rallied at the courthouse on Thursday, saying they had not received necessary protections and respect amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The workers, members of the Yamhill County Employee Association, say they should be given hazard pay that recognizes the risks they take working during the pandemic.

“The county seems to be defensive about how generous their benefits are instead of really seeing what the problem is,” said Paige Barton, a council representative for Oregon AFSCME, an employee union with chapters across the county.

“We of course think that the benefits could be improved, but in this situation especially, there are serious problems that are very obvious to us that the county has been unwilling to even meet with us about,” Barton said.

Zena Doherty, a crisis assessment team worker at the health department, said employees on her team must still visit hospitals and people’s homes as part of their duties during COVID-19. She also said their job descriptions have been changed to include office cleaning duties that should be contracted out to other workers.

 “It’s not because we want extra money - we deserve it,” she said.

Commissioner Casey Kulla spoke with union members at the rally and said he looks forward to advocating for them before the Board of Commissioners, which he chairs.

Several employees said in April that county officials were not taking the pandemic seriously and were making work-from-home requirements difficult and punitive, unlike neighboring Oregon counties facing the same challenges.

At that time, County Administrator Ken Huffer disagreed with the employees’ assessment.

“We’re taking this very seriously,” Huffer said. “If anything, we’ve moved very quickly to move a lot of positions to be able to work via telework, which is brand new to the county.”

The county board on Thursday extended by 30 days the work-at-home program and the COVID-19 paid administrative leave policy, part of the county's emergency declaration.

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