L ABOR
What’s
Happening
Eastern Oregon
profs drop strike
plans, okay deal
LA GRANDE — Faculty at East-
ern Oregon University (EOU) voted
June 13 to approve a no-raise eco-
nomic package. The deal will take
them to the end of their first union
contract with the lowest wages of
any public university in Oregon.
“This is certainly no contract to
celebrate,” said history professor
Greg Monahan, the president of As-
sociated Academic Professionals,
Local 6200 of American Federation
of Teachers-Oregon.
EOU in La Grande has 3,500 stu-
dents and is the only four-year uni-
versity in Eastern Oregon. In Febru-
ary 2003, a group of about 120
teaching faculty and librarians
unionized by a six-vote margin, and
it’s been tough going since. It wasn’t
until June 2005 that their first union
contract was signed. That was more
than two years after they voted to
unionize, and 11 months after fac-
ulty reaffirmed the union 75-36 in a
union decertification election re-
quested by anti-union faculty.
The first contract contained work-
place rights, pay raises and a pay
scale consisting of steps tied to expe-
rience. [Health and pension benefits
weren’t part of the deal because all
employees in the state system of
higher education get the same.] The
contract ran from July 2003 to June
2007, with wages and other eco-
nomic issues to be negotiated later
for the second half of that period.
Public employee collective bar-
gaining law doesn’t allow union
contracts to require that all employ-
ees in a unit be dues-paying mem-
bers, but two-thirds of EOU faculty
belong.
In contract bargaining for the sec-
ond two-year period, Monahan said
the union tried without success to
win further raises. Faculty com-
plained that they are the poorest paid
AND
in the state university system. At
EOU, professor pay starts at $35,791
and goes up 1 percent for each year
of service; full professors with 10
years experience earn in the low 50s.
Members voted 90 percent to au-
thorize the bargaining committee to
call a strike. It was the first time
they’d used such a threat. There has
never been a strike by university fac-
ulty in Oregon.
But the EOU administration did-
n’t budge. Members will still get the
step increases listed in the original
agreement, but no other raises.
“We were dead last in the priority
list,” Monahan said. “By the time we
managed to get a contract, they re-
ally were out of money.”
Monahan said faculty backed off
plans to strike in fall term because it
could hurt the university and
threaten enrollment, with no guaran-
tee of a better outcome.
The contract expires June 30,
2007, which means bargaining will
begin again in April 2007.
Monahan said next time faculty
won’t settle for the same.
Labor Day picnic
planned at Bend
by labor groups
BEND — Union members in Cen-
tral Oregon will host a “Labor Day
Unity Picnic” starting at noon Mon-
day, Sept. 4, at Pioneer Park.
Union members and family and
friends of labor are invited to enjoy
free hamburgers, hot dogs, vegetarian
choices, raw veggies, chips, dips, soft
drinks and more. Participants are
asked to bring a potluck dessert to
share.
Entertainment will include live
music, games for kids and political
speeches.
The event is sponsored by the Cen-
tral Oregon Labor Council, AFL-
CIO, the American Federation of
State, County and Municipal Em-
ployees, the Central Oregon Building
Trades Council, United Food and
Commercial Workers Local 555, the
Oregon School Employees Associa-
tion, Service Employees Local 503,
Central Oregon Jobs with Justice,
and el Programa de Ayuda.
Zachary
Zabinsky
• Social Security
• SSI - Disability Claims
Personal Attention To Every Case
Working For Disability Rights
Since 1983
NEWS FR OM AR OUND THE
P A C I F I C N O R T H W E S T
Six decades with the Machinists Union
Machinists District Lodge 24 honored longtime members at the 33rd annual dinner June 24 at the Milwaukie Elks
Lodge. Recognized for 60 or more years in the union were Joe Hamm, John Hunter, Don Knispel, Norman Nicholson
and Fred Williams, Local Lodge 63; James Grolbert, Ralph Holmes, Charles Janac, John Klinker, George Lively, Al
Lokan, Nelson Smith, Fred Thompson Jr., Ralph Whitlock and Frank Wusz of Local Lodge 1005; and L.G. Hunsaker
of Local Lodge 1311. Hamm and Nelson have 68 years with the union.
Parking is limited at Pioneer Park.
Additional parking is available at
Bend Parks & Rec, 200 NW Pacific
Park Lane.
For more information, call
Kathryn Wood at 541-385-8471.
Oregon AFL-CIO
Summer School
slated July 28-30
EUGENE — The Oregon AFL-
CIO Summer School is slated Friday
through Sunday, July 28-30, at the
Erb Memorial Union on the campus
of the University of Oregon.
The annual event is co-hosted by
the Labor Education and Research
Center of the UofO.
The summer school opens with a
dinner at 6 p.m. on Friday, July 28,
followed by the opening session fea-
turing Oregon AFL-CIO President
Tom Chamberlain.
Workshops will be held through-
out the day on Saturday, July 29, fo-
cusing on union building, grievance
handling, employment law, labor
K
history and more.
On Saturday evening a picnic will
be held on the lawn at the university,
followed by a social hour, a silent
auction and “solidarity karaoke.”
On Sunday morning, 25 union
members will graduate from
LERC’s Union Leadership Educa-
tion and Development (U-LEAD)
certificate program during a gradua-
tion breakfast ceremony.
For more information about the
summer school or to register, call
LERC at 541-346-5054 or visit its
Website at http://uoregon.edu/~lerc/.
Woodworkers
notch organizing
win in Bend
BEND — Organizers in the
Woodworkers division of the Ma-
chinists Union scored an election
victory last month in Bend that holds
the prospect of bringing in additional
members as the manufacturing facil-
ity goes forward with plans to ex-
pand production. Workers at Beko
Membrane Technology, who make
filters for dry air and air compres-
sors, voted 6 to 1 for IAM represen-
tation in a National Labor Relations
Board election. A steady diet of in-
creased work and frozen benefits at
the facility fed the drive for change
and a greater say in the workplace,
union officials said.
Labor Day picnic at
Oaks Park on tap
The Northwest Oregon Labor Coun-
cil once again will host a Labor Day
picnic.
Oaks Park in Southeast Portland has
been booked fro Monday, Sept. 4.
Unions are reserving space for what is
the largest Labor Day bash in Oregon.
The Labor Council will sell food
scrip for 25 cents each. Three scrip will
get you a hot dog and chips, two scrip a
soda pop, and four scrip a beer.
A deluxe ride bracelet costs $8.25
and is good from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. This
year the roller rink will be open for
those with ride bracelets.
For more information, or to pur-
chase scrip, call 503-235-9444.
ramers/metro
mailing service
3201 N.W. YEON
PORTLAND, OREGON 97210
(503) 274-1638 FAX (503) 227-1245
THE ONLY UNION MAILER
NO FEE WITHOUT RECOVERY
IN OREGON
621 SW Morrison, Portland
Visit our Web site at www.kramersmailing.com
223-8517
PAGE 4
P OLITICAL
MEMBERS OF TEAMSTERS LOCAL 223
— Eric Brending, Owner —
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
JULY 7, 2006