UA #290 obtains $3.60 an hour raise over next 3 years
Plumbers and Fitters Local 290
have come to terms on an economic
package covering the last three years
of their six-year collective bargaining
agreement with the Plumbing and Me-
chanical Contractors Association.
In March, members of the union
unanimously rejected the contractor
association’s proposal for a $4.01 an
hour cut over the remaining three
years of the pact. Conversely, the
union was seeking a $6.15 increase.
Under terms of the contract ratified
in 2003 (which called for a wage re-
opener in 2006), all disputes would be
settled by the national Industrial Rela-
tions Council for the Plumbing and
Pipefitting Industry. The council con-
sists of four business managers from
UA locals and four signatory contrac-
tors.
The council met last month in Sa-
vannah, Georgia, where it ruled unani-
mously for an increase of $3.60 an
hour over the remaining three years of
the Local 290 contract.
Plumbers and fitters received a 65
cent raise June 1, and will get another
35 cents on Oct. 1, 2006; 65 cents on
April 1, 2007; 60 cents on Oct. 1,
2007; 75 cents on April 1, 2008 and 60
cents on Oct. 1, 2008.
Local 290 members will meet each
February to decide how to distribute
the annual increase.
As of June 1, 2006, the total hourly
wage and benefit package for plumbers
and fitters was $49.28. By Oct. 1,
2008, that will increase to $52.53.
BENNETT HARTMAN
MORRIS & KAPLAN, LLP
Attorneys at Law
NLRB rulings could curb union organizing
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The
National Labor Relations Board will
soon issue rulings on three cases that
could handicap labor’s ability to or-
ganize health care workers and others.
Two cases concern the supervisory
status of nurses at Oakwood Health-
care Inc., Taylor, Mich., and Golden
Crest Healthcare Center, Hibbing,
Oregon Lottery
workers vote to
stay nonunion
SALEM — A majority of workers at
the Oregon Lottery are betting they'll be
better off on their own — without a
union.
In mail-in ballots counted May 23,
127 Lottery workers voted in favor of
joining the largest state employees
union, Service Employees International
Union Local 503, while 165 voted
against. Turnout was 96 percent.
Leslie Frane, the union's executive
director, said the result was an example
of time and delay working against work-
ers who want to organize.
SEIU said a narrow majority of
workers had signed union authorization
cards as of mid-November, but Lottery
director Dale Penn held off on union
recognition, saying some card-signers
had changed their minds.
Pro-union workers decided to press
ahead, and filed for a union election
March 14. In the two months that
elapsed before ballots were counted, a
committee of anti-union employees
formed, which ran an energetic cam-
paign. As many as two dozen workers
who had signed union authorization
cards ended up changing their mind and
voting no.
Minn., the Wall Street Journal re-
ported May 25. A third case concerns
production and maintenance employ-
ees, including load supervisors who
work in the shipping department load-
ing trucks at Croft Metals Inc., Mc-
Comb, Miss.
The AFL-CIO expects that in the
next few months the NLRB will
broaden the definition of supervisors
to include more workers, effectively
Retired American Postal Workers
Union Secretary-Treasurer Robert L.
Tunstall died May 12 at his home in
Gresham, Oregon. Tunstall, who had
diabetes, was 64.
Tunstall’s service with the APWU
began in 1963 at the Portland Post Of-
fice, when he was “fresh out of the Ma-
rine Corps.”
In 1974, Tunstall was elected presi-
dent of the Portland-area Local. He also
held elected positions as national repre-
sentative (1976-1978), national vice
president/business agent for the Seattle
Region (1978-1985), assistant director,
Clerk Division (1985 to 1992), and di-
rector, Clerk Division (1992-1998). In
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limiting how many employees unions
can organize. The AFL-CIO says the
future of several hundred thousand
workers — including tens of thou-
sands of unionized nurses with as-
signing duties — is at stake, the Jour-
nal said.
All five members of the NLRB
were appointed by President George
Bush.
• U NSAFE P RODUCTS
• B ICYCLE AND M OTORCYCLE A CCIDENTS
1998 and again in 2001, he was elected
secretary-treasurer. He retired in early
2004.
Tunstall is survived by his wife of 42
years, Rae Ann Tunstall, son Brett Tun-
stall, daughter Brooke Payne, father
Harold C. Tunstall, brothers Ron and
James Tunstall, grandson Matthew
Martinez and granddaughter Leah
Payne.
A Celebration of Life memorial
service was held on May 20.
Donations in his memory may be
made to the Adventist Health Hospice,
5835 NE 122nd Ave, Suite 135, Port-
land, OR 97230.
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PAGE 7