NOV. 6, 2009:NWLP
11/3/09
10:21 AM
Page 8
Oregon ‘Geek Squad’ workers in
fight for right to join IBEW #48
AFSCME members volunteer on ‘MUD’
Karen Williams and Rick Rother, members of AFSCME Local 3336,
volunteered at the Portland Habitat For Humanity’s ReStore outlet store Oct.
16 — the first of several mandatory unpaid days (dubbed MUD) that state
workers face due to economic circumstances. Williams coordinated two shifts
of colleagues who helped stock shelves and sort materials at the ReStore. A
second Local 3336 crew helped clean out invasive species at Whitaker Ponds
Park for the Columbia Slough Watershed Council. Most state employees will
be taking either 10, 12 or 14 mandatory unpaid days between now and June
30, 2011. “We’ll be doing more in the future, and I would encourage other
AFSCME state and local unions to do the same,” Williams said. “We’ve had
a lot of fun, and we’ve done good work for good causes. If we’re going to have
a forced day off, we may as well make good use of it.” Local 3336 represents
workers at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.
Recall vote held in Clatsop County
ASTORIA — Clatsop County Com-
missioner Jeff Hazen survived an Oct.
27 recall vote 1,250 to 978. A second
commissioner, Ann Samuelson, lost by
a count of 1,013 to 1,009. The four-vote
difference triggers an automatic re-
count.
Clatsop County has 20 days to cer-
tify the vote and will then conduct a re-
count by hand Nov. 10.
Union Sportsmen’s
Alliance to hold
clay shoot Nov. 12
SEATTLE —The Union Sports-
men’s Alliance (USA) will host a first-
ever clay shoot in the Puget Sound area
Saturday, Nov. 12 at Sumner Sports-
men’s Association in Puyallup, WA.
The USA is a program of the
Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Part-
nership and its AFL-CIO trade union
partners, providing outdoor benefits to
union members. By hosting various
shooting events, the USA hopes to
bring together union members from dif-
ferent trades in friendly competition
and raise funds for the program.
All proceeds from the event, which
is being organized by Machinists Dis-
trict Lodge 751, support the USA and
TRCP.
The shoot begins at 9:30 a.m., with
registration open at 8 a.m. Registration
is $175 and includes ammunition, tar-
gets, a hat, and lunch, followed by a raf-
fle featuring wildlife prints, a firearm,
knives, outdoor gear and much more.
For more information, call Tim
Bindl at 608-397-1023 or by e-mail at
tbindl@trcp.org.
PAGE 8
The recall campaign was launched
against the commissioners because they
support a union-built $650 million liq-
uefied natural gas (LNG) terminal pro-
posed at Bradwood Landing, site of a
shuttered lumber mill 20 miles east of
Astoria on the Columbia River.
The Columbia Pacific Building and
Construction Trades Council and the
Oregon AFL-CIO support the project.
Several unions helped the commission-
ers fight the recall.
A third commissioner and LNG sup-
porter Patricia Roberts is facing a recall
vote later this year.
Q
Terry Reigle, a union organizer with
International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers (IBEW) Local 48, says he
knew it would be a challenge to help
Geek Squad home theater installers
unionize. In America, workers have the
legal right to unionize, but exercising
that right can be tough when the em-
ployer has resources and a determina-
tion to resist.
Geek Squad, owned by big-box re-
tailer Best Buy, is best known as a rov-
ing crew of computer fixers. But the op-
eration has other divisions, including
home theater. In late July, a Geek Squad
home theater installer called the union
and told Reigle his Oregon co-workers
were interested in unionizing.
“This is as close as I’m going to get
to a Walmart,” Reigle said, referring to
the big-box retailer that is legendary for
its opposition to unions.
Geek Squad workers’ interest in the
union isn’t about pay, Reigle said. It’s
about having a say. Workers have
pushed the company to help them get
licensed, without success. They are
promised raises, but sometimes fail to
receive them. Pay rates are arbitrary and
up to managers. Workers negotiate
compensation on their own, and are in
the dark about each other’s wages.
Schedules can be changed on short no-
tice with no say-so.
No U.S. workers at Geek Squad —
or Best Buy — are union-represented.
Communications Workers of America
launched an exploratory union cam-
paign last year via e-mail, but that does-
n’t appear to have gone anywhere.
In early August, a dozen Geek
Squad home theater installers drove
from as far as Bend to meet Reigle in
Salem. That was half of the unit of
workers in Geek Squad’s home theater
division; they work with the dozen Best
Buy stores in Oregon and Southwest
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NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Washington, and report to a single man-
ager in Gresham. In a matter of weeks,
the overwhelming majority had signed
cards requesting union representation.
On Sept. 8, they filed a petition with
the National Labor Relations Board
(NLRB) requesting a union election.
But Best Buy wasn’t going to let that
happen without a fight.
Best Buy, headquartered in suburban
Minneapolis, has over 1,000 U.S.
stores. The company had $45 billion in
revenues and $1 billion in profit in its
most recent fiscal year. To respond to
union interest by this group of 24 work-
ers, Best Buy hired the top-tier union-
busting law firm Jackson Lewis.
On Jackson Lewis’advice, Best Buy
filed legal objections to the union-pro-
posed definition of the bargaining unit.
It’s a maneuver that can delay the elec-
tion and dilute union support. Best Buy
argued that 14 Geek Squad computer
technicians should also be in the bar-
gaining unit; the union disagreed. The
home theater installers didn’t really
work with or know the computer tech-
nicians, Reigle said, and in any case it
was the home theater installers who had
expressed interest in the union.
The company e-mailed the computer
workers and told them that the union
was trying to exclude them. And it be-
gan holding joint meetings with the
home theater installers and computer
techs, which rarely happened before.
After a two-day hearing, the NLRB
agreed with Best Buy that the bargain-
ing unit would have to include the com-
puter techs. An election date was set for
Nov. 5 (after this issue went to press).
Best Buy began to hold weekly
meetings to persuade workers to vote
“no.” To counter those mandatory-at-
tendance sessions, Reigle began hold-
ing his own voluntary weekly meetings
— to answer questions and help the
pro-union workers stay strong.
How much might this scenario have
run differently if the Employee Free
Choice Act were law? The Employee
Free Choice Act would penalize em-
ployer anti-union abuses, speed up the
unionization process, and guarantee an
outcome — a union contract in a few
months time. As Best Buy noted in its
2009 annual report, the Employee Free
Choice Act “could make it easier for
unions to be formed, and employers of
newly unionized employees may face
mandatory, binding arbitration of labor
scheduling, costs and standards, which
could increase the costs of doing busi-
ness.”
In accordance with U.S. labor law,
Best Buy gave the union the names and
addresses of the computer workers Oct.
14, three weeks before the election.
Reigle said that if card-signers stand
firm and vote, they would win.
NW Oregon Labor Council to host
veterans forum in Portland Nov. 11
As part of Labor History Month in
Oregon, the Northwest Oregon Labor
Council will sponsor a Veteran’s Day
forum to honor those who served in the
military.
“Veteran Workers Tell Their Story:
Our Living History,” will be held from
2 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 11, at the
Multnomah County Central Library,
801 SW 10th Avenue, Portland. The
event is free and open to the public.
Space is limited and seating is available
on a first-come, first served basis. In ad-
dition to scheduled speakers, the pro-
gram will including readings from the
recently published, “Voices of Vets: A
Bridge Back to the World.”
Labor History Month was enacted in
1991 by the Oregon Legislature.
“This is an opportunity to recognize
and honor Oregon’s veterans by listen-
ing to their experiences in the service
and back home on the job. We will hear
about current experiences returning to
the workforce. We encourage family
members attending to share stories and
memories,” said NOLC History Com-
mittee Chair Jim Cook.
For more information or to schedule
an opportunity to speak, call Cook at
503 703-1693 or the NOLC office at
503 235-9444.
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