Roger Ware is a new
Council 75 Staff Representative in the union's Pendleton office. Ware, 42, is a
veteran Council 75 member and activist, and steps into a staff rep role
following 17 years as an Oregon Correctional Officer. He was first hired at
Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton in 1997, then transferred
to Shutter Creek Correctional Institution in North Bend in 2001.
Ware was an active
union member throughout his Corrections career. He served several terms a local
union officer, and was also a member of the Security unit bargaining team for
several contract negotiations. That experience led to other opportunities
within AFSCME. Ware has been on internal organizing tours within AFSCME's
correctional institutions around the state as well as filling in for AFSCME
Staff Representative and Corrections Coordinator Tim Woolery while he was on
vacation.
"The time I spent
filling in as a staff rep was what led me to the decision to come to AFSCME
full time," said Ware. "I enjoyed the job and felt that my years in and
knowledge of Corrections will help me in this position in the Pendleton office
representing the members at EOCI and Two Rivers Correctional Institution in
Umatilla."
Ware says he will be a
"hands-on" rep, and enjoys site visits as much as possible.
"I intend to establish
a visible presence at both EOCI and TRCI," he says.
An Oregon native, Ware
has lived here most of his life — "with the exception of the five years I
spent in the U.S. Army." He is married with three adult children. Two sons are
currently enlisted in the military — his oldest in the Coast Guard and
his youngest in the Air Force — while his daughter is a junior at Oregon
State.
Ware is in the process
of moving back to Pendleton from Coos Bay. Off work, he enjoys the outdoors. He
has horses and likes to spend time with his family horseback riding. He also
enjoys getting out to hunt and fish.