Bend transit contractor drops appeal of ATU union election
BEND — A May 12 Solidarity
Rally for city bus drivers trying to form
a union turned into a victory celebra-
tion after their employer — Paratransit
Services — announced it was dropping
its appeal of a union election and rein-
stating a pro-union employee it fired
shortly after the election.
Local Motion
April 2007
Union election activity in Oregon and SW Washington,
according to the National Labor Relations Board
and the Oregon Employment Relations Board
Elections held
Union
Location
No
Union
Freightliner (Pre-Delivery Inspection)
4/3
Machinists District Lodge 24 Portland
12
2
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the NW
4/10
SEIU Local 49
Portland
9
0
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the NW
4/10
SEIU Local 49
Portland
8
1
Providence Home Services Division
4/19
Oregon Nurses Association
Portland
85
28
First Student
4/19
OR School Empl. Assoc.
Molalla
25
11
Oregon Housing & Associated Services/WHEELS
4/27
ATU Local 757
Salem
11
6
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan
4/27
SEIU Local 49
Portland
17
4
Beaverton
3
4
Haggen’s
4/13
Bakers Local 114
tion results with the National Labor Re-
lations Board. An NLRB hearings offi-
cer overruled the challenge and certified
the union. But Paratransit appealed to
the full NLRB in Washington, D.C.
Waiting for a ruling there might have
taken years.
Bus operators and the union ap-
pealed to the Bend City Council, which
on April 19 sent a letter to Paratransit
president David Baker asking him to
drop the appeal and recognize ATU.
The Central Oregon chapter of Jobs
with Justice, working with area unions
and community supporters, planned the
May 12 Solidarity Rally featuring State
Sen. Ben Westlund, Bend City Coun-
cilor Linda Johnson, Oregon AFL-CIO
President Tom Chamberlain and others.
The unions also got Gov. Ted Kulon-
goski, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and Ore-
gon Labor Commissioner Dan Gardner
involved.
With pressure mounting, Baker, in
an advertisement published in the Bend
Bulletin May 8, announced that the
company was dropping the appeal.
Jon Hunt, president of ATU Local
757, said the night before the solidarity
rally he negotiated reinstatement for
Evans with full back pay and seniority.
Hunt credited the “incredible soli-
darity” of labor and community groups
for the turnaround.
...Immigration reform a touchy issue for labor
Results:
Company
Date
Union
On Jan. 29, Bend Area Transit em-
ployees voted 19-15 to join Amalga-
mated Transit Union Local 757. Para-
transit Services, a non-profit corp-
oration based in Bremerton, Wash.,
contracts with the city to provide bus
service. The company has transit con-
tracts with various unions in several
other states.
It was a hard-fought campaign, with
Paratransit Services using all the typical
anti-union strategies such as captive-au-
dience meetings with employees and
letters to homes. A month after the elec-
tion, Russ Evans, a newly-elected shop
steward, was fired.
The company challenged the elec-
(From Page 1)
dents of some kind, and just under a
third are illegal immigrants. Illegal im-
migrants number about 12 million, and
make up about 5 percent of the U.S.
workforce.
With the population of illegal immi-
grants growing about 500,000 a year,
Congress is under tremendous pressure
to do something. Most Americans say
they don’t have a problem with legal
immigration, and U.S. embassies issue
about 400,000 legal permanent resident
visas a year. But Americans say they
are bothered by illegal immigration —
in an early-April poll by the Los Ange-
les Times and Bloomberg News, 54
percent said they believe illegal immi-
gration harms the economy.
For the union movement, immigra-
tion can be a touchy issue, said Bob
Bussel, director and associate profes-
sor of the Labor Education and Re-
search Center at the University of Ore-
gon. Some unions, like the licensed
construction trades, aren’t affected
much by illegal immigration, but oth-
ers, particularly Carpenters, Laborers,
Sheet Metal Workers, and Painters,
compete against contractors who pay
workers in cash, under the table.
And how to respond to that has pro-
voked fierce debate at membership
meetings in recent months.
“At the rank-and-file level,” Bussel
said, “there is real heat about it.” Union
leaders, for their part, are trying to be
pragmatic, Bussel said: “They’re say-
ing, ‘these folks are working in our in-
dustries; if we don’t bring them in and
build relationships, they’re going to un-
dercut union standards.’”
THE UNION PLUS ® MORTGAGE PROGRAM
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Elections requested
Company
Union
SEIU Local 49
Associated Field Representatives vs. OPEIU Local 11
Location
# of employees
Portland
6
Portland
Community Tissue Services
10
Office & Professional Employees International Union Local 11
Newberg
Newberg Police Department
29
Office & Professional Employees International Union Local 11
Oregon Housing & Associated Services
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of NW
Service Employees International Union Local 49
Salem
15
Portland
30
Stayton
Santiam Canyon Communications Center
12
American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees
First Student
Oregon School Employees Association
City of Eagle Point (police )
Teamsters Local 223
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Teamsters Local 223 vs. Yamhill County Employees Association
PAGE 4
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NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
MAY 18. 2007