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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 18, 2008)
At City of Portland Laborers Union gets health insurance for seasonal crew gressive council,” Beetle said. A newly-signed union contract Seasonal maintenance workers are contains a major breakthrough for among the lowest-paid City workers, several hundred City of Portland sea- and bargain separately from other sonal maintenance workers. Thanks groups. to bargaining and be- Local 483 hind-the-scenes polit- campaigned to ical work by Laborers ‘Health care is a basic unionize them Local 483, the work- human need. But one 2000, in ers will now get that’s not attainable to in part to protect health insurance cov- City employees earning existing mem- erage when they re- bers — in turn to work for a sec- seasonal worker wages Portland Parks ond year at the City. without the assistance & Recreation Portland may be and the Port- the only city in the of the City.’ land Water country to offer Bureau — health benefits to sea- sonal employees, Local 483 Business who were concerned about increased use of temporary, seasonal workers. Manager Richard Beetle and City of The City hires 250 to 300 seasonal Portland Human Resources Director workers in any given year, Beetle Yvonne Deckard told Portland City said. Most are hired in the spring and Council Jan. 9 — before the council summer by the Bureau of Parks & voted to ratify the contract. The sea- Recreation to mow grass, pick up sonal workers typically work less leaves, and clean restrooms. About 20 than half the year for the City. And help with street maintenance at the the Bureau of Human Resources (BHR) couldn’t find any insurer to of- Bureau of Maintenance. And about 10 do routine fire hydrant mainte- fer a policy for such a group. nance for the Water Bureau. Beetle said it took one-on-one ap- Typically, about half will return to peals to City Council members before work for the City again the following BHR would relent; before, manage- year. ment negotiators had said it was im- The union has no objection to the possible. Then Mayor Tom Potter City using such temps for work that is said, basically, “make it happen” and truly seasonal, Beetle said, but it BHR came up with a plan to self-in- sure. “This shows that we do have a pro- wants to take away economic incen- tives to use seasonals to do work that could be done by full-time, year- round employees. Bringing season- als’ wages and benefits closer to those permanent employees does that — and of course is also a tremendous boon to the seasonal workers them- selves. The new contract has a four-year term and is retroactive to July 1, 2007, when the old contract expired. Under the new contract, employees in their second year of work can register for health benefits starting May 2008, get insurance by July 1, and then re- main insured for the duration of their employment that season. Workers pay 10 percent of the premium cost, which currently is $460 a month for worker-only coverage, $660 a month for a worker and a spouse, and $1,080 for full-family coverage. Beetle said cost estimates to the city for insuring the group range from $400,000 to $1 million a year. The new agreement also raises wages by the cost-of-living index, with a minimum of 2 percent a year and a maximum of 5 percent. The workers currently make between $10 and $11 an hour. And the contract raises the boot al- lowance from $50 to $120, every other year. Giving a sense of what ne- gotiations were like, Beetle said the City spent two months arguing over the boot allowance. It’s still a substandard contract in some respects, Beetle said. There’s only a very limited grievance proce- dure, and unlike most union workers, the seasonals under this contract are an “at-will” workforce, meaning they can be fired for any cause or no cause. The City also was able to lengthen the amount of time seasonals can work, thanks to a change to the City Charter that voters approved in May 2007. Previously they were limited to 860 hours in any calendar year, or about five months at 40 hours a week. Now they’ll be limited to 1,200 hours, about seven months. Local 483 op- posed Measure 26-90, fearing it would open the door to greater use of temps. But the way it worked out, Beetle said, increasing the hour limit made offering health benefits more feasible. “Health care is a basic human need,” Beetle told council members Jan. 9, but one that’s “not attainable to City employees earning seasonal worker wages without the assistance of the City.” The new contract won praise from commissioners and was approved by unanimous vote. Zachary Zabinsky • Social Security • SSI - Disability Claims Personal Attention To Every Case Working For Disability Rights Since 1983 NO FEE WITHOUT RECOVERY 621 SW Morrison, Portland 223-8517 Established in 1900 at Portland, Oregon as a voice of the labor movement. 4275 NE Halsey St., P.O. Box 13150, Portland, Ore. 97213 Telephone: (503) 288-3311 E-mail: Michael492@comcast.net Editor: Michael Gutwig Staff: Don McIntosh, Cheri Rice Published on a semi-monthly basis on the first and third Fridays of each month by the Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non- profit corporation owned by 20 unions and councils including the Oregon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in Ore- gon and SW Washington. Subscriptions $13.75 per year for union members. Group rates available to trade union organizations. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT PORTLAND, OREGON. CHANGE OF ADDRESS NOTICE: Three weeks are required for a change of address. When ordering a change, please give your old and new addresses and the name and number of your local union. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS, P.O. BOX 13150-0150, PORTLAND, OR 97213 Start the New Year off right. 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