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MEETING NO TICES
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Page 6
V olume 108
Number 19
October 5, 2007
P ortland
Offer employees only cost-of-living increases
Metro councilors vote themselves 16% raises
Union workers at Metro got an eye-opener
Sept. 27.
In contract negotiations, Metro told Ameri-
can Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees (AFSCME) Local 3580 that raises
of more than 2.7 percent weren’t affordable.
But then Sept. 27 their bosses — the elected
Metro councilors — voted unanimously to give
themselves a 16 percent raise while union
members carrying signs looked on. For Metro
Council President David Bragdon, the raise was
$15,332, bringing his salary to $111,132. The
other six councilors are part time, and make one
third that amount.
“We’re not too happy about that,” said Local
3580 president Amy Wilson.
Union protest pickets went up Sept. 30 at the
Oregon Zoo, a Metro facility. Metro is a re-
gional government that oversees the urban
growth boundary and owns and operates the
Oregon Zoo, Oregon Convention Center, and
solid waste transfer stations. About 280 Metro
employees belong to AFSCME. Laborers Local
483, which represents some zoo employees, is
also in bargaining with Metro and took part in
the picket.
AFSCME and Metro disagree over wages,
health coverage and long-term disability cover-
age. Metro’s latest proposal would extend the
probationary period for new employees to a
year from its current six months and eliminate
long-term disability coverage and an employee
assistance program of mental health coverage
for work-related issues.
Metro proposed a 2.7 percent raise in the
first year of the four-year contract, followed by
annual raises that equal the increase in the Con-
sumer Price Index, but with a maximum of 2.75
percent. And Metro wants to cap its contribu-
tion to health insurance (which was $727 a
month last year) at a rate that would rise 10 per-
cent a year; any increase over that amount
would be split 50-50 with employees.
As of press time, AFSCME had scheduled
an Oct. 2 strike vote; if the two sides declare
impasse, the union could strike after a 30-day
cooling off period, possibly in early November.
A state mediator was scheduled to meet Oct. 4.
“Negotiations are supposed to be about give
and take, but Metro seems to believe we should
do all of the giving and they get to do all of the
taking,” said AFSCME spokesman Don Loving.
A contingent of over 60 people demonstrated outside the Oregon Zoo in Portland Sept. 30
Members of AFSCME Local 3580 and Laborers Local 483 are trying to renew contracts that
expired July 1.
Conversion to renewable energy generating union jobs
By DON MCINTOSH
Associate Editor
A worldwide shift toward renew-
able energy is under way, fueled by
rising gas prices and growing concern
about global warming. And far from
the job-killer that people once feared,
the conversion is generating good-pay-
ing construction, manufacturing and
utility jobs. Skilled union workers, in
many cases, are part of the cutting
edge.
“The Northwest is blessed with a
generous endowment of all the renew-
ables,” said Rachel Shimshak, director
of Renewable Northwest Project,
which promotes development of wind,
solar, and geothermal for producing
electricity.
Those three, plus “wave” energy
from the ocean, are the “new renew-
ables.” Add them to the old renewables
— hydroelectric and biomass — and
the region is sure to remain tops in the
nation for clean energy.
Oregon, for example, gets about 47
percent of its electricity from renew-
able sources, compared to six percent
Brian Crise, solar
specialist at the
NECA-IBEW
Electrical Training
Center in Portland,
has helped train
over 400 men and
women in how to
install photovoltaic
panels.
for the United States as a whole. Most
of that — 43 percent — is hydroelec-
tric, but about 4 percent is biomass.
Just 1 percent is wind and geothermal.
But investment in new renewables
is ramping up tremendously now in
Oregon, driven for the most part by
government mandates and tax incen-
tives.
This year, the Oregon Legislature
increased the state’s Business Energy
Tax Credit from 35 percent to 50 per-
cent, doubled the maximum to $20
million, and changed the rules to allow
companies to take both the state credit
and a similar 30 percent federal tax
credit. That means when a business in-
stalls a renewable energy system in
Oregon, the state and federal govern-
ments will pay out 80 percent of the
cost over a five-year period. Expect to
see an explosion of renewables in Ore-
gon. An 80 percent subsidy makes it
pretty affordable to put a photovoltaic
panel on a roof or a methane digester
next to a feedlot.
Multnomah County is about to
make creative use of the tax credit. At
the instigation of Commissioner Jeff
Cogen, the county is seeking bids for
investors to lease a parking lot and and
four county building rooftops, install
photovoltaic panels, and sell the elec-
tricity back to the County at the same
rate it’s currently paying. Proposals are
due Nov. 12.
Starting next January, 1.5 percent of
the budget of all state or local govern-
ment construction or remodeling proj-
ects in Oregon will have to go toward
solar technology, thanks to another bill
introduced this year by State Rep. (and
union Carpenter) Paul Holvey (D-Eu-
gene.)
There’s no guarantee the installa-
tion will be done by union workers,
but the International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers (IBEW) has been
working to get ahead of the curve.
Since 2002, the NECA-IBEW Electri-
cal Training Center on Northeast Air-
port Way in Portland has trained over
400 journeymen in how to properly in-
stall photovoltaic panels. It’s a popular
subject at the training center. A class in
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