Inside
MEETING NO TICES
See
Page 6
V olume 108
Number 12
J une 15, 2007
P ortland
Carpenters Unions’ drywall workers strike
Some 1,300 members of Exterior
and Interior Specialists Local 2154 in
Portland, and Carpenters Local 1715
in Vancouver, 1065 in Salem, and
1273 in Eugene went on strike June 1.
The major issue is money.
The Locals are affiliated with the
Pacific Northwest Regional Council
of Carpenters and represent drywall
hangers, acoustic ceiling and lather
specialists in Oregon and SW Wash-
ington. They negotiate a master agree-
ment with Associated Wall & Ceiling
Contractors of Oregon and SW Wash-
ington Inc. The association represents
11 drywall and ceiling contractors in
the area. Another 69 independent con-
tractors typically sign off on whatever
the association agrees to.
Since the strike began, 11 contrac-
tors have signed interim agreements
with the Carpenters. Only one of the
11 is from the contractors association
— Pacific Construction Systems. PCS
is one of the largest drywall contrac-
tors in the Pacific Northwest. Its
largest project in Oregon is the Peace
Health Hospital in Eugene. Contrac-
tors signed to interim agreements are
dispatching employees to work.
The drywallers are seeking a settle-
ment similar to that in Washington
State, where the Wall and Ceiling
Contractors Association agreed to a
new pact that increases compensation
6 percent in each of the next two
Members of the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters’Exterior and Interior Specialists Local 2154 walk
a picket line and blow noisemakers at a construction site in downtown Portland June 8. Drywall hangers and ceiling
installers walked out June 1 in a dispute over increases in wages and benefits.
years. Union members ratified the
contract last month on a vote of 407-
256.
According to Doug Tweedy, execu-
tive secretary treasurer of the Pacific
Northwest Regional Council of Car-
penters, the last offer submitted in
Portland was a 4.3 percent raise each
year for two years — only 70.4 per-
cent of the increase ratified in Seattle.
Currently, drywall hangers and
ceiling specialists in Oregon and
Southwest Washington have a wage
and benefit package totalling $40.82
an hour. Of that, $29.33 goes to
wages.
For the same work in Western
Washington, craftsmen and women
now receive $43.79 an hour, with
$32.53 of that paid in wages. They
will get a 6 percent raise next June.
“The sheetrock is just as heavy in
Portland as it is in Seattle,” said Erik
Franklin, spokesman for the Regional
Council of Carpenters. Franklin said
raises in the last drywall contract were
eaten up by medical inflation.
In addition to the wall and ceiling
contract in Washington, other non-
drywall locals affiliated with the Car-
penters ratified a new three-year deal
with Associated General Contractors
of Washington that increases wages
and benefits $7.20 an hour over the
life of the agreement.
(Turn to Page 9)
Major bargaining under way this summer in Oregon
For more than 45,000 Oregon workers, it’s contract season. At
least 42,000 workers have union contracts expiring on a single day
— June 30.
F REIGHTLINER — At Freightliner, about 900 members of four
unions are facing a June 30 expiration of their three-year contract.
The four unions — Machinists Local 1005 (about 670 members),
Painters Local 1094 (about 100), Teamsters Local 305 (about
100), and Service Employees Local 49 (24) — bargain separately
over work rules, and then together over wages and benefits.
They’ve been in contract bargaining since mid-May, and the two
sides expected to exchange economic proposals the week of June
18-22. The current Machinist contract gave workers $2.50 an hour
in wage increases and 40 cents an hour in pension contribution in-
creases over its three-year term. But those increases failed to make
up for the $3 an hour workers gave up in 2001 when the company
was losing money, and the current contract passed by just three
votes in 2004. Though Machinists have authorized a strike if they
don’t get a new contract by June 30, unions at two Freightliner
plants in North Carolina extended their contract past expiration
while bargaining continued. To avert a strike, it’s possible a similar
deal could be reached in Portland.
G ROCERY WORKERS — A unit of about 1,100 grocery and re-
tail workers represented by United Food and Commercial Workers
Local 555 in Lane County has been in bargaining over a new five-
year contract since March. The unit’s last contract expired Feb. 14.
Jeff McDonald, Local 555 secretary-treasurer, says there has been
progress toward an agreement with the Big Three — Fred Meyer,
Safeway and Super Value (Albertsons) — and the two sides are
still negotiating. Thus far, the employers have agreed to reduce the
monthly employee contributions for health insurance, and improve
dental benefits. But the employer group is also asking for dozens
of economic and contractual concessions. As detailed on a union
Website, groceryworkersunited555.org, the proposals include the
right to pay as little as minimum wage in certain cases; the current
contract requires that entry-level employees make at least 10 cents
above minimum. By mutual agreement, the expired contract con-
tinues in force while bargaining continues. During the previous
negotiations, it took until November, nine months after expiration,
to seal a new deal, at which point employees got retroactive pay
increases. UFCW will face the same employers in bargaining for
the much bigger Portland-area contract next year.
P UBLIC EMPLOYEES — June 30 is the end of the State of Ore-
gon fiscal year, and most state worker union contracts are synchro-
nized to expire then. The contracts run in two-year increments to
coincide with the state’s biennial budget. That means Service Em-
ployees International Union (SEIU) Local 503 is in bargaining for
90 percent of the 44,000 workers it represents. Local 503 has two
large units of state employees — the Department of Administra-
tive Services unit (about 18,000 employees) and the Oregon Uni-
versity System unit (3,600 employees). The two units bargain sep-
arately over work rules and together on wages and benefits.
DAS is the central administrative agency of state government;
among other things, it handles labor relations for the state’s 32 ex-
ecutive branch agencies. The OUS unit consists of state university
support staff.
For both units, SEIU wants continuation of fully-paid health in-
surance premiums for full-time workers, and no increase in
monthly premiums for part-time workers. The union is also pro-
posing a 4 percent wage increase each July 1, or inflation,
whichever is greater, up to 6 percent.
The DAS offer is 2 percent raises Jan. 1 of 2008 and 2009, and
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