Northwest labor press., September 21, 2007, Page 11, Image 11

Let me say this about that
...Matt Meehan
(From Page 2)
cently, the ILWU modernized its name to the gender-neutral International Long-
shore and Warehouse Union.
IN 1944 with World War II raging, Meehan shipped out on a Merchant Ma-
rine freighter as a member of the Marine Cooks and Stewards Union so he could
get to the Hawaiian Islands in wartime. After he got there, Meehan laid the
groundwork for the ILWU to successfully organize workers in the Hawaiian
dock, sugar and pineapple industries.
MEEHAN RESIGNED as the ILWU’s secretary-treasurer in 1948 and be-
came a Portland-based international representative for the union. One of his of-
fice secretaries in Portland was Julia Ruuttila, an activist in labor and leftist
causes who covered Oregon for the ILWU’s Dispatcher newspaper. Meehan re-
tired from the union in 1957 to become arbitrator of disputes between the ILWU
and the Pacific Maritime Association. He retired from that job in 1963 but con-
tinued to serve as a relief arbitrator until 1971.
Meehan died on Feb. 24, 1977 at the age of 80. He was living alone in a log
cabin home in the community of Wemme near Mount Hood. His wife Juanita
had lived there with him until her death in 1973. Meehan’s well-attended fu-
neral was held on Feb. 28 at St. Mary’s Catholic Cathedral in Northwest Port-
land. More than 40 active and retired union members served as pallbearers and
honorary pallbearers. He was buried at Mt. Calvary Cemetery.
MOURNERS at Meehan’s funeral included Harry Bridges, who was in his
final months as union president. Bridges told the crowd: “Matt and I went
through a lot together in the early days. We were two union organizers, two
working stiffs. Neither of us had much education. We never had any disagree-
ments on what we were fighting to advance, the interests of the class to which we
belonged; but sometimes we had disagreements on the best way to do it.”
Recalling that there were many critics in business circles when Meehan went
to organize workers in Hawaii, Bridges added, “It’s hard to find one today who
will not admit that the movement which we represent has been of great benefit
to all people in Hawaii, the same as is true of the rest of the nation.”
AT THE Multnomah County Labor Council meeting in the Portland Labor
Center on the night of Feb. 28, 1977, delegates stood for a moment of silence in
memory of Meehan.
Matt Meehan’s name is herewith placed on the Labor Honor Roll, which was
started by the NW Labor Press to posthumously salute unionists of years past for
their contributions to the labor movement. The Labor Hall of Fame gives recog-
nition to retired union members while they are still living. It is sponsored by the
NW Oregon Labor Retirees Council.
MATT MEEHAN
★★★
FEDERAL LEGISLATION to provide a $1,000 monthly pension to U.S.
Merchant Marine veterans of World War II passed by a wide margin in the U.S.
House of Representatives. The progress report on House Resolution 23 came
from Christ Vokos, president of the Columbia-Willamette League of U.S. Mer-
chant Marine Veterans of World War II, and William Fast, a League member.
Vokos is a retired secretary-treasurer of Portland Bakers Local 364, and Fast is
a retired port agent for the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association and a former
president of the Multnomah County Labor Council. The legislation now awaits
action by the U.S. Senate of Senate Bill 961, which is the number of the bill in
the upper chamber.
SEPTEMBER 21, 2007
... D isabled worker programs act
as a wedge for privatization
(From Page 3)
probably not disabled, at least within
the meaning of the law. Many had
been working at private-sector jobs
when they were hired by PHC — jobs
they’d gotten in a competitive labor
market without any accommodation
under the Americans with Disabilities
Act. Several had been laid off because
of factory closure and had “depres-
sion” listed as their disability. Ten had
been hired by PHC initially as non-
disabled, and were later reclassified as
disabled.
In the Portland Public Schools
case, it wasn’t that PHC had hundreds
of disabled clients that it needed to
find a contract for. Rather, PHC had a
contract that it needed to find hun-
dreds of disabled clients for. The PPS
contract increased PHC employment
by over 300, to 1,100.
“Were you in special education
when you went to school?” PHC re-
cruitment materials asked potential
hires. “Do you experience long-term
depression, have an anxiety disorder,
or take a prescription drug to help you
cope with life’s struggles?” “With
documentation you may be eligible
for PHC’s employment and training.”
Mary Botkin, longtime lobbyist for
American Federation of State, County
and Municipal Employees Oregon
Council 75, doesn’t think that’s what
state lawmakers had in mind when
they passed the Products of Disabled
Individuals Law.
“I am sympathetic to legitimate
programs that provide work for long-
term disabled individuals who need
assistance. I think the definition of
what is considered a disability needs
to be revisited,” Botkin said.
Earlier this year, Botkin joined
forces with her longtime colleague
Mari Anne Gest, a contract lobbyist
working for the Oregon School Em-
ployees Association, which has a his-
tory of opposing efforts to outsource
public worker jobs.
In 2004, PHC’s experience at Port-
land Public Schools earned it “runner-
up” status in “Outsourcing Journal’s”
annual Outsourcing Excellence
Awards.
“We’re seeing the writing on the
wall,” Gest said. “They’re putting
union workers and family-waged jobs
out of business,” Gest said, “and
they’re certainly not paying family-
wage jobs to the disabled.”
Botkin and Gest found an unlikely
ally in the National Federation of In-
dependent Business, a conservative
small-business group that is normally
on the opposite side of organized la-
bor.
NFIB’s one-time state board mem-
ber Jerry Egger has made reforming
the QRF program a long-time per-
sonal crusade. Egger, who owns the
Salem mailing services company
Mid-Valley Presort, says his company
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
isn’t able to compete for any state con-
tracts because he’s pre-empted by a
QRF competitor that gets no-bid con-
tracts.
But Eggers says what burns him up
more than the lost business is his con-
viction that a law intended to help the
truly disabled is being abused. Egger
said his competitors have disabled
workers operating $60,000 inserter
machines and $700,000 mail sorting
machines.
“At what point do you classify
someone as not being able to compete
when they’re on a riding lawnmower
riding around school grounds?” Egger
asks.
At the Eugene airport, a QRF got a
contract to provide security, displacing
a security firm that employed former
police officers.
At Powder River Correctional Fa-
cility, a QRF used inmates with sub-
stance abuse problems to refill printer
ink cartridges for state agencies, re-
sulting in job loss for a small
nonunion business in Baker City.
Botkin, Gest, and Egger found
their champion in Witt, the Clatskanie
House rep. Witt, former secretary-
treasurer of the Oregon AFL-CIO, in-
troduced two bills meant to rein in
QRFs. One would tighten up the defi-
nition of disabled. The other would
create an independent board to over-
see the QRF industry. As many as 45
non-profits are officially recognized as
QRFs.
“When you have $50 million worth
of non-compete contracts that are
awarding the public’s money,” Witt
said, “it begs for both sunshine and
public accountability.”
At an April 6 hearing on the bills,
Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom
Chamberlain said the state labor fed-
eration supports the intent of the law.
“But as the law is being carried out
now, family-wage jobs are often lost
to individuals recruited by QRFs who
are paid a lower wage with less bene-
fits, and who are able to compete in
the workplace,” Chamberlain said.
QRFs also has defenders, Witt dis-
covered. Former state representative
Gary Hansen, now a lobbyist for
PHC, testified against the bills.
[Hansen is a member of Plumbers and
Fitters Local 290 with longtime ties to
labor.] Also testifying were freshman
State Rep. Sara Gelser, the mother of
a disabled child, and Service Employ-
ees (SEIU) Local 49 political director
Felisa Hagin. Local 49 represents
PHC workers, and union officials
there describe PHC as a good union
employer, paying wages above the
area janitorial agreement. [About 35
PHC groundskeepers are also union,
members of Laborers Local 483.]
The Oregon Rehabilitation Associ-
ation, the QRF industry group,
brought 150 disabled workers to tes-
tify and rally outside the Capitol.
There’s nothing broken, argued
QRF defenders, so why try to fix it?
Several state employees in the Depart-
ment of Administrative Services pro-
vide effective oversight of the QRF
program. The disabled have few
enough options as it is.
Witt was able to get a watered
down version of his commission bill
passed out of his own committee. But
that was the end of it. It went to the
Joint Ways and Means Committee,
and there it died without a hearing.
“I put my heart and soul into this
issue,” says Gest, who won’t be re-
turning next session as an OSEA lob-
byist. “It was almost like a fight with
corporate America, but they’re non-
profits.”
The class-action lawsuit against
PHC was dismissed by Multnomah
County Circuit Court Judge Edward
Jones in April 2005 before a jury got
to hear it. Jones sided with PHC,
which had argued that “the union —
not PHC — was the sole cause of
plaintiffs’ lost jobs.” Whether or not
PHC knowingly misrepresented itself
in its bid to Portland Public Schools
didn’t matter, Jones ruled. Before the
custodians were fired by the district,
their union (a different local of SEIU
than the one representing PHC em-
ployees) had a chance to match PHC’s
bid by agreeing to a $5 million com-
pensation cut. Union leaders thought
the district would compromise. “That
error in judgment cost the plaintiffs
their jobs,” Jones wrote.
Williamson and his clients ap-
pealed the dismissal to the Oregon
Court of Appeals, which heard the
case last October, but hasn’t decided
yet whether the case can go forward.
Meanwhile, in a separate lawsuit,
the Oregon Supreme Court ruled in
October 2005 that it was illegal for
Portland Public Schools to fire the
custodians. The district offered them
recall, and about 140 accepted. That
meant the district had to hire 175 more
using its normal civil service proce-
dures. In making the hires, the district
considered employment history, an in-
person interview, a physical exam
showing ability to do the job, and a
graded exam testing reading and
math. Three-fourths of the 175 custo-
dians the district hired through that
competitive process had already been
been cleaning the schools — as em-
ployees of PHC.
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now and December 2008. There are two off-
street parking spaces. We can provide a desk or
two if needed. It’s centrally located in SE
Portland. Call Madelyn at 503-238-6666.
PAGE 11