Contractor fires pro-union Bend bus driver
BEND — A popular bus driver
who was instrumental in organizing a
union at Bend Area Transit (BAT) was
fired from his job April 11.
Russ Evans was terminated by Para-
transit Services — an out-of-state con-
tractor that runs Bend’s transit system
— just nine days after he had appeared
before the Bend City Council to ask for
political help in getting the company to
recognize the union.
On Jan. 29, BAT employees voted
19-15 to join Amalgamated Transit
Union (ATU) Local 757 in an election
supervised by the National Labor Rela-
tions Board (NLRB). There are 40
drivers in the bargaining unit.
It was a bruising election campaign,
with the company conducting manda-
tory anti-union meetings and sending
letters to workers’ homes. Shortly after
the union filed for the election in late
2006, the company responded by send-
ing employees a four-page letter outlin-
ing its opposition. Pro-union workers
were excluded from the mandatory
meetings, where workers reportedly
were told that they might lose their jobs
if they voted the union in.
Paratransit Services then challenged
the election outcome. An NLRB hear-
ings officer overruled the challenge and
certified the union. But the company
still is refusing to recognize Local 757
and will not bargain a contract.
At a Bend City Council meeting
April 4, commissioners voted 4-3 to
RUSS EVANS
write a letter to Paratransit Services en-
couraging the contractor to recognize
the union.
“On behalf of the Bend City Coun-
cil, I am writing to encourage Paratran-
sit Services to drop its efforts to appeal
the decision of the NLRB regarding the
establishment of a union among the
Paratransit workers in Bend,” wrote
Mayor Bruce Abernethy in a letter
dated April 19. “A majority of the City
Council encourages Paratransit to ac-
cept the ruling of the NLRB and termi-
nate any efforts to appeal ...”
Evans, an elected leader of the BAT
unit of Local 757 and a shop steward,
was fired after driving an unfamiliar
route at the direction of Paratransit Op-
erations Supervisor Ronnie Burnett.
Burnett, who has previously singled
out other pro-union drivers for discipli-
nary action, rode on board the bus with
Evans and took notes.
BAT employees who support the
union contend that Evans was targeted
by Paratransit management in retalia-
tion for his leadership in the union, be-
cause he spoke at the City Council
meeting, and because he testified at the
State Legislature in support of a bill
that would ban anti-union tactics by
employers (similar to those used by
Paratransit) in union campaigns.
“We believe it’s retaliation, pure and
simple,” said Jon Hunt, president of
ATU Local 757. The union has filed an
unfair labor practice complaint with the
NLRB.
Evans acknowledges that he made
some errors in judgment while driving
on April 11 (he apparently missed a
stop and turned around). But he and
other drivers say that he did nothing il-
legal, nor anything that damaged BAT
property or compromised the safety of
any passengers.
“I made a couple of poor choices
under intense pressure,” Evans said.
Hunt told the NW Labor Press that
other drivers have had accidents where
they were at fault, and made consider-
ably worse errors than Evans did —
without being fired — or disciplined.
In Evans’ case, Paratransit Manager
Kathy Ostrom and Burnett took the ex-
tra step of filing their charges with the
company’s corporate office in Bremer-
ton, Wash., rather than simply dealing
with it on a local basis. Burnett’s report
repeatedly claimed that Evans “deliber-
ately” and “willfully” broke the law, as
well as company rules.
Evans strongly disputes those
claims, noting that he “loves his job,”
and has had a perfect driving record
since being hired five months ago.
He has asked why Burnett chose to
remain absolutely silent on the route
rather than speaking up, if Burnett
thought safety was being compro-
mised. Evans pointed out that Burnett,
as a supervisor, could have offered
warning, direction or advice in the
spirit of the “teamwork” Paratransit
Services continually promotes.
Paratransit has spent an estimated
$25,000 appealing the union election.
Paratransit Services receives between
$95,000 and $101,000 a month from
the city to run BAT, according to the
city Finance Department.
A SOLIDARITY RALLY for
Evans and the BAT bus drivers will be
held from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday,
May 12 at Juniper Park in Bend. State
Sen. Ben Westlund is tentatively sched-
uled to attend, along with Bend City
Councilor Linda Johnson, Oregon AFL-
CIO President Tom Chamberlain and
ATU Local 757 President Jon Hunt.
Rally participants are encouraged to
take BAT to the Hawthorne Street bus
terminal and walk the two blocks to Ju-
niper Park.
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MAY 4, 2007
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
PDC staffers
vote to join
AFSCME
Non-supervisory staffers at the Port-
land Development Commission voted
May 1 to join the American Federation
of State, County and Municipal Em-
ployees.
The election was conducted by the
Oregon Employment Relations Board
for the 132 eligible employees. The
vote to unionize was xx to xx.
PDC is the quasi-independent devel-
opment arm of the City of Portland. Its
executive director is Bruce Warner, a
former Oregon Department of Trans-
portation bureaucrat who was ap-
pointed to the post a year-and-a-half
ago by Mayor Tom Potter.
said AFSCME Organizing Director
Sue Lee-Allen.
PDC’s annual budget of more than
$200 million is funded by tax dollars.
NOLC supports
two challengers
for School Board
The Northwest Oregon Labor
Council has endorsed two challengers
running for school board seats at Port-
land Public Schools.
The council supports neighborhood
activist Ruth Adkins in Zone 1 and so-
cial worker Michele Schultz in Zone
2. Adkins is running against incum-
bent Doug Morgan, while Schultz is
challenging incumbent David Wynde.
Schultz holds a master’s degree in
social work from Boston College. She
has two children at Winterhaven K-8
school in inner Southeast Portland.
She is a past PTA president and an ac-
tive volunteer.
“We’ve been through a lot of tur-
moil,” she told the NOLC Executive
Board. “I got mad enough to run for
office.”
Shultz said she was “appalled”
when school custodial jobs were con-
tracted out. “What was touted as a
money-saver will end up costing the
district a lot of money,” she said.
Adkins, founder of the Neighbor-
hood Schools Alliance group, also op-
poses contracting out and is happy to
see the regular custodians coming
back.
A graduate of Yale University who
works as a market research analyst,
Adkins lives in the Hillsdale neighbor-
hood of Southwest Portland and has
three children in the Portland School
District.
Adkins said citizens in the commu-
nity, teachers and other school em-
ployees are feeling disenfranchised.
“They feel they’re not being heard in a
lot of the decision-making,” she said.
Both candidates say they want to
involve the community more and im-
prove communications of the board.
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