AFL-CIO calls for Hilton boycott
The Oregon AFL-CIO has agreed to
support a boycott of the downtown
Portland Hilton Hotel & Executive
Tower, and at its Dec. 11 quarterly
meeting, called on affiliated unions to
support the boycott.
UNITE HERE Local 9, which rep-
resents workers at the hotel, is battling
management in contract negotiations,
and is asking supporters not to patron-
ize the hotel until a new union contract
is signed. UNITE HERE, while a
member of the Change to Win labor
federation, is also affiliated with Ore-
gon AFL-CIO under a Solidarity Char-
ter agreement.
As one of only three unionized ho-
tels in Portland, the Hilton has been a
favored spot for unions to hold events.
The Oregon AFL-CIO resolution
had immediate impact. Gary Gillespie,
delegate from Oregon AFSCME, said
several dozen AFSCME officials are
visiting Portland in March; they would
have stayed at the Hilton, Gillespie
said, but now will stay elsewhere.
Local 9 boycott coordinator Eryn
Slack said the union would prefer sup-
porters patronize another unionized ho-
tel if possible, but if not, that even a
nonunion hotel would be preferable to
the downtown Portland Hilton for the
duration of the boycott.
...AFSCME will pursue MESD lawsuits
(From Page 1)
However, those workers will not be re-
quired to actually return to work until
their first regularly scheduled shift on
or after Jan. 2, 2008.
Additionally, Loving said AFSCME
will not drop two lawsuits and an un-
fair labor practice complaint filed dur-
ing the strike.
A federal lawsuit filed Dec. 12 in
U.S. District Court seeks injunctive re-
lief and damages from MESD for al-
legedly violating union members’
rights of free speech under both the
U.S. and Oregon constitutions by issu-
ing threats and directives intended to
limit the union’s lawful picketing and
hand-billing activities.
A second lawsuit filed in Dec. 13 in
Multnomah County Circuit Court
charges MESD with willfully violating
Oregon’s open meetings law. The suit
contends that MESD canceled its regu-
larly scheduled Nov. 20 public meeting
at 7 p.m. because it knew union mem-
bers planned to attend the session and
speak out against the board’s plan to
implement its final contract offer. On
Nov. 17, the district sent an e-mail to
constituents that the Nov. 20 meeting
would be canceled, but that there would
be an Executive Session held via tele-
phone on Nov. 19. Ultimately the board
met again by teleconference on 9 a.m.
Nov. 20, at which time it voted to im-
plement its final offer.
“MESD has violated the law in sev-
eral areas,” Loving said. “Oregon’s
open meetings law requires the district
to give adequate public notice and con-
duct operations ‘in the sunshine’ of
public scrutiny. In addition, if a gov-
erning body is aware that a certain
group of persons have a special inter-
est in a particular action, those persons
must be notified.”
Loving said the union was never
notified of the changes in the meetings,
that the e-mail notice of the time
changes did not meet the general re-
quirements of public notification, and
that the district did not make any place
available for anyone from the public to
listen to the teleconferences as is re-
quired by law.
The ULP complaint focuses on
MESD’s refusal to bargain in good
faith, as required by law.
Sheet Metal to merge with UTU
The 150,000-member Sheet Metal
Workers International Association
(SMWIA) and 85,000-member United
Transportation Union (UTU) are com-
bining to form a new union — SMART
( International Association of Sheet
Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation
Workers). The merger is effective Jan.
1, but there are no plans to merge locals.
SMWIA members are mostly in
construction and manufacturing, with
some in shipyards. UTU are mostly in
rail, with some in transit and airline.
SMWIA members are unionized under
the legal framework of the National La-
bor Relations Act, while UTU members
are under the Railway Labor Act.
SMWIA General President Mike
Sullivan will be general president of
SMART.
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Plan: A blueprint
for holiday spirit
Wishing Happy
Holidays to one
and all.
Phone: 503-685-9400
www.pacwestcom.com
Influencing decisions and creating winning results.
DECEMBER 21, 2007
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
PAGE 5
