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Inside MEETING NOTICES See Page 6 Volume 109 Number 3 February 1, 2008 Portland SEIU’s Andy Stern attends protest rally Portland Public Schools sticks to draconian offers The honeymoon is over. Unions at Portland Public Schools (PPS) had high hopes last October that a new su- perintendent, Carole Smith, might steer the district away from years of harsh labor relations stances toward the least- paid workers . By now it’s clear that hasn’t hap- pened. In drawn-out bargaining with three separate unions, the district hasn’t shifted much from the proposals it had before Smith was appointed: for some, savage wage cuts of up to one quarter; for others, wage increases that will ac- count for just half the rate of inflation. And district labor negotiators are insist- ing that union employees pay the same monthly cost as much higher-paid non- represented administrators. In other words, $11-an-hour cafeteria workers, $14-an-hour custodians, $15-an-hour school bus drivers, and $16-an-hour secretaries could pay the same couple hundred dollars per month that $100,000-a-year principals and central office higher-ups pay. Unions are taking to the streets in protest, and appealing to the school SEIU President Andy Stern addresses nearly 200 Portland Public School custodians, nutrition workers and their allies during a rally Jan. 28. Union membership on the rise Oregon adds 16,000; Washington 30,000 The unionized share of the labor market went up a bit nationwide in 2007, and in Oregon and Washington, according to the most recent annual re- port by the U.S. Department of La- bor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Nationally, 12.1 percent of em- ployed wage and salary workers were members of a union in 2007, com- pared to 12 percent in 2006. Since the work force grew in number, that meant 311,000 more workers were union members, bringing total U.S. union membership to 15.7 million. According to an analysis by the Center for Economic and Policy Re- search (CEPR), a nonpartisan think tank, that one-tenth-of-a-percent in- crease is small, and may reflect statis- tical variation rather than an actual in- crease in the union membership share. Still, CEPR said, the uptick is striking because it is the first time since the BLS began collecting annual union membership rates in 1983 that the union share has increased. In Oregon, union membership rose to 14.3 percent in 2007, from 13.8 per- cent in 2006, BLS reported. That meant 227,000 union members, 16,000 more than in 2006. And Wash- ington union membership was the na- tion’s fourth highest, overtaking New Jersey, which was number four the previous year. Washington union membership was 20.2 percent in 2007, a slight increase from 19.8 percent in 2006. Total union membership in Washington rose 30,000 in 2007, to 579,000. The estimates are based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, a nationwide monthly survey of a statistical sample of about 60,000 households. The union membership data comes from one-quarter of the sample and is reported as a percentage of wage and salary workers; unem- ployed and self-employed workers are excluded. According to the BLS report, unionization was highest among pub- lic-sector workers, black men and older workers. Public-sector workers had a union membership rate (35.9 percent) nearly five times that of private sector em- ployees (7.5 percent). Within the pub- lic sector, local government workers had the highest union membership rate, 41.8 percent. And among occupa- tional categories, education occupa- tions had among the highest unioniza- tion of any, at 37.2 percent. Within the private sector, the indus- tries with the highest unionization rates were transportation and utilities (22.1 percent), telecommunications (19.7 percent), and construction (13.9 (Turn to Page 4) board to change course. For an hour before the Jan. 28 PPS school board meeting, a crowd of about 200 rallied outside district’s 501 North Dixon Street headquarters to fo- cus attention on the district’s plans for about 500 custodians and cafeteria workers — who are part of 43,000- member Service Employees Interna- tional Union (SEIU) Local 503. Earlier in the day, the SEIU bargain- ing team walked out of mediation after getting the district’s latest offer, which was worse than the previous one. Un- der the latest PPS proposal, the high- est-paid custodians — head custodians overseeing half a dozen subordinates at the district’s biggest high schools — would have their pay cut $4.11 an hour, from $23.62 to $19.51. Head custodi- ans at smaller schools, many with 10 or 20 years of experience at the district, would go from $18.80 an hour to $14.92 — a $3.88-an-hour pay cut. Rank-and-file custodial helpers — who make up the bulk of the district’s 300- strong bare-bones custodial crew — would go from $14 an hour to $11.43, a $2.57-an-hour cut. And starting wages would drop from $13.25 to $11.15 an hour. Meanwhile, the district’s mostly part-time cafeteria workers, paid wages of $12.70 an hour, are being offered a 1.5 percent annual increase. Inflation has been about 3 percent a year for the last five years, so cafeteria workers could expect to lose purchasing power each year. And that’s before the in- creased monthly premiums for health care. The district is proposing to raise its health insurance contribution cap — for all workers — from $779 to $800. The district also proposed to split the bargaining unit in two: cafeteria workers would have one contract, and custodians another. SEIU said no to that. SEIU’s next mediated negotiating session is scheduled for Feb. 5. SEIU’s rally drew powerful sup- porters, including Oregon Senate Ma- jority Leader (and Oregon Secretary of State candidate) Kate Brown; Oregon House Speaker (and U.S. Senate candi- date) Jeff Merkely, plus Steve Novick, his rival for the Democratic U.S. Sen- ate nomination; Oregon State Sen. (and candidate for State Treasurer) Ben Westlund; Oregon House Speaker Pro Tem Diane Rosenbaum; and at least four other candidates for Oregon Attor- ney General, Portland City Council, and Oregon House. Portland Association of Teachers President Jeff Miller was also there to show support. In March, the teachers will start their own negotiations with the district. And SEIU’s top brass was in atten- dance, including Local 503 Executive Director (and international vice presi- dent) Leslie Frane, her counterpart Al- ice Dale from SEIU Local 49, and SEIU’s national president Andy Stern. Stern, who was in Portland as a (Turn to Page 10) Welcome, Laborers #320 The Northwest Labor Press would like to welcome Laborers Local 320 as its newest subscribing union. The Portland-based local repre- sents approximately 1,100 workers in heavy and highway construction (roads, bridges, tunnels), at industrial plants, as well as in the public sector. Its jurisdiction is widespread, extend- ing from Portland South to the San- tiam River in Marion County in Salem; East to Arlington covering Sherman, Wasco, and part of Gilliam counties; and West to the North Coast in Tillamook and Clatsop counties, said Business Manager/Secretary- Treasurer Dave Tischer. Local 320 members can find their official Meeting Notice on Page 6, and the free Bargain Counter classified ads section on Page 10 of this issue. To submit a free classified ad, e-mail it to Michael492@comcast.net or mail it P.O. Box 13150, Portland, OR 97213. The Labor Press covers union-re- lated stories in Oregon and Southwest Washington and on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
