Oregon School Employees Association

A Tribute to John Brown
OSEA leader, life member and a founder of the American Association of Classified School Employees, John Brown passes away.

OSEA members and staff are mourning the passing of John Brown, a former OSEA president, executive director and field representative for twenty five before retiring in 1990. John passed away at the Salem Hospital on Nov. 17 after a brief illness. John was 88 years old.

John Brown first heard of OSEA when he worked for the Salem Keizer School District back in the early 1950s. At the time, he worked in the warehouse as a delivery man. Brown attended a union organizing meeting for classified employees. After that meeting, John helped organize what became Salem Keizer Chapter 7.

That one meeting was the start of a 47 year long journey that took a classified school employee from a school district warehouse to a union state office where he was the leader and administrator for this union, OSEA.

“OSEA is a part of John’s legacy,” said Martin, “On behalf of the OSEA Board of Directors and our members I send our deepest sympathies to John’s wife Norma and daughter Kathy.”

Click here to view a photo slideshow of John's life.
Click here to share your thoughts and memories of John
Brown.

At the Oregon AFL-CIO Convention in Bend, October 25-27, OSEA members experienced what it is like to be actively involved in the Oregon labor movement as they joined over 300 ironworkers, letter carriers, electrical workers, fire fighters, cement masons, communication workers and many more in voting on Oregon AFL-CIO resolutions.

“It is exciting learning about how this all works,” shared Gale Barlow, Three Rivers Chapter 22.

During his opening speech to the delegation, Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain spoke of the big events that occurred in the past two years and stated, “The merger with OSEA took us from 89,000 in 2006 to 115,000!”

OSEA joined the Oregon AFL-CIO upon affiliating with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) in February 2008. Today, OSEA—with 20,113 votes—combined with AFT-Oregon created the largest voting block at the convention.

During the convention, the Oregon AFL-CIO also presented their new media campaign and logo, which states “Oregon AFL-CIO; A strong voice for Oregon’s middle class.”

Click here to view photos of the event.

OSEA joins other organizations, unions and citizens in promoting November 2-6, 2009, as Head Start Awareness Week.

A poster, created by OSEA Communications Specialist I Jayna Bergerson, was sent to every chapter president, Oregon legislator and Head Start agency in Oregon. The poster delivers the honest message that, for many of Oregon’s children, Head Start is the first step in their educational journey and the first step in making their dreams come true. Thanks to dedicated Head Start staff and administrators, that first step is something worth celebrating!

Head Start helps over 8,000 children in Oregon get the health care and education they need to succeed. OSEA is proud to promote Head Start. It is a program that has earned a reputation as one of the best federal/state programs ever established. It is a reputation that has been created by the hard work and dedication of Head Start staff.

Click here to view an image of the poster.

Copyright © 2008 The Oregon School Employees Association, 4735 Liberty Rd S, Salem, OR 97302. All rights reserved. All photographs, illustrations, and text cannot be used without permission. Contact Jayna at jayna@osea.org or Kathy at kathy@osea.org for more information.