Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 17, 2006)
Inside MEETING NO TICES See Page 6 V olume 107 Number 4 F ebruary 17, 2006 P ortland Portland School District continues to rankle unions Drawn-out bargaining and disrespect take a toll on employee morale. By DON McINTOSH Associate Editor Steve Goldschmidt, chief of Human Resources at Portland Public Schools (PPS), was regarded by workers as a union-buster who twice pushed teach- ers to the brink of strike, and led the out- sourcing of 300 custodians’ jobs. So when PPS newly-hired superin- tendent Vicki Phillips fired him in Feb- ruary 2005, union leaders celebrated — and hoped his departure would signify a new era of goodwill towards the dis- trict’s unions. A year later, they’re not sure much has changed. Goldschmidt lieutenant Gregg New- strand continued on as labor relations manager. And the district continued its “take-it-or-leave-it” negotiating posture, union leaders say. At the school district, a two-year union contract can take one year to ne- gotiate. And union workers routinely work without a contract: The old agree- ments expire without a new one in place, freezing wages, benefits and working conditions. “The district’s uncertain financial picture makes settlement of monetary issues tough,” said PPS spokesperson Bob Lawrence. Union leaders understand it’s a tight- budget era for local government, but haven’t felt they could trust PPS to treat them fairly. The district’s unionized employees are divided into four bargaining units, each with its own contract. • The biggest and best-paid unit con- sists of the district’s nearly 4,000 teach- ers, represented by the Portland Asso- ciation of Teachers, an affiliate of the Oregon Education Association, the state’s largest labor union. Their most recent contract, which expires June 30, 2006, included 3 and 2.75 percent wage increases. PPS teachers make $32,000 to $64,000 a year, depending on edu- cation and experience. • Then there’s the District Council of (Turn to Page 3) First Thursday Art Walk features union work Mark Stenberg (left), assistant training coordinator for Plumbers and Fitters Local 290, shows Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams a “refrigeration logo” at the First Thursday Art Walk at City Hall. The monthly event was created by Adams and Commissioner Randy Leonard 13 months ago as a way to open the doors of government to the public. Each month features different Portland artists. February showcased an assortment of art and history by members of several Portland area unions. “People don’t realize the artistic talent that union workers have in their everyday jobs,” Adams said. “It’s functional art.” The refrigeration logo was built by Local 290 apprentices in 2000. Each of the city commissioners and Mayor Tom Potter were there mingling with the crowd and enjoying the art, music and food. Washington taxpayers hit by $25 million in yearly health care cost-shifting OLYMPIA — In Olympia, Wash., where Paul Henry receives health care coverage working at a grocery store, he worries that large employers who don’t provide sufficient employer health care are creating a pattern that will undermine his own fam- ily’s health coverage. Henry also doesn’t like his tax dollars subsidizing those same companies, in- cluding Wal-Mart, whose workers are forced to rely on Medicaid or the state-subsidized Basic Health Plan. Speaking last month to a state Senate commit- tee hearing on a bill that would require the state’s largest employers to pay a certain percentage of total payroll on their employees’ health care costs, Henry said his employer-provided insurance gives him “peace of mind” in taking care of his family. A confidential state report obtained last month by the Seattle Times shows more than 3,100 Wal- Mart employees in the state — about 20 percent of its workforce — receive taxpayer-funded health care for themselves or their families. The 3,100- plus workers is nearly double the total for any other company in the state and more than half of the Wal-Mart employees who received federal Medicaid benefits were full-time workers. “When such large companies as Wal-Mart don’t provide affordable health care for their work- ers, it puts companies that pay good wages and of- fer decent benefits at a competitive disadvantage,” says Robby Stern, special assistant to the president of the Washington State Labor Council. “It’s inhumane to let people go without health insurance,” said Stern, who also testified before the Washington State committee. Stern and other Washington activists are seeking to build on recent success in Maryland, where the State Legislature on Jan. 12 passed a bill to ensure large employers pay their fair share. To ensure the largest corporations stop shifting health care insurance costs onto workers, taxpayers and other businesses, the AFL-CIO is spearhead- ing a Fair Share Health Care campaign with work- ing families, their unions and community allies mobilizing around Fair Share legislation in dozens of states. Fair Share legislation has been introduced in Florida, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Wisconsin in the 2006 sessions and is in the pipeline in more than 20 other states. On Jan. 23, the Oregon AFL-CIO filed a ballot initiative to put Fair Share Health Care on Novem- ber’s ballot. In Oregon and Washington State, more than 1.5 million children and adults are uninsured. In Washington State, more than 200 union members from AFL-CIO unions, the United Food and Commercial Workers of the Change to Win la- bor federation, and other unions attended the Fair Share Health Care hearings and lobbied lawmak- ers. On Feb. 13 supporters were in Olympia for a mass lobbying day. In general, Fair Share Health Care legislation requires large corporations to spend a certain per- centage of their payroll to provide health care ben- efits for their employees or pay into a state health care fund. Fair Share will reduce the price taxpay- ers pay to cover employers’ employee expenses, ease the financial strain states face in growing Medicaid costs and help level the playing field be- tween companies that provide good jobs and ben- efits and those that don’t. “Most large employers do provide health care. The idea here is to hold the ones who don’t ac- countable so they are not undermining the struc- ture of those who do,” says Rep. Eileen Cody (D), who sponsored the Fair Share bill in Washington. Several Washington business owners also testi- fied in favor of the Fair Share Health Care legisla- tion, including Craig Cole, chief executive officer (Turn to Page 5)
