UFCW 3000 Member Story: Coleen Dahlman

Coleen Dahlman

Coleen Dahlman holds a deep passion for helping her community.  At work, her passion drives her as a CT Tech—a trained imaging specialist doctors depend on to diagnose patients—in the Radiology Department for Kaiser Permanente Olympia Medical Center. Outside of work Coleen loves to quilt and donates her quilts to people in her community and coworkers.

A gorgeous quilt of an elephant by Coleen!

As you can see Coleen has some serious quilting skills and uses them to create works of art!

Coleen has been an important member of the Radiology Department for over two-and-a-half years. Recently, Coleen and her coworkers had problems with schedule changes that created unacceptable working conditions. Despite the objections from workers, including Coleen, management insisted on schedule changes and right away there were problems. Coleen started witnessing her coworkers not getting meal or rest breaks, prompting her to reach out to her union representative about what could be done.

Working with her rep, they set up a meeting at the clinic. Coleen recruited her affected coworkers and over a dozen coworkers attended to discuss the schedule issues. Through the discussion with their rep, it was concluded that the missed breaks were a violation of their union contract, and a grievance should be filed.

At the meeting with her coworkers about the schedule, Coleen decided to get trained as a shop steward for her department and talked to her union rep about attending a training in this month! Because of Coleen’s care for her community and her decision to get involved, workers' rights are protected, and our union is stronger for it.

Are you interested in becoming a shop steward? Sign up for one of our trainings or talk to your union rep to find out more!