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.