Northwest labor press., January 15, 2010, Page 3, Image 3

Jan. 15, 2010:NWLP
1/12/10
10:23 AM
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Local 21
Motion
December 2009
Union certifications and decertifications in Oregon and Southwest
Washington, as reported by the National Labor Relations Board and
the Oregon Employment Relations Board
Recognition elections
No union elections were reported in December 2009 by the National
Labor Relations Board or the Oregon Employment Relations Board for
Oregon and Southwest Washington.
Requests for recognition election
Name of employer
Name of union
Location
Number of employees
Oregon Housing & Associated Services (decertification)
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757
Canby
23
Budget Car Rental (NE Airport Way)
Teamsters Local 305
Portland
33
Ashland Parks and Recreation Department
Ashland Parks and Recreation Employee Association
Ashland
24
Labor Temple Cafe & Bar (decertification)
UNITE HERE Local 9
Astoria
7
Willamette Graystone (decertification)
Teamsters Local 962
Roseburg
Umpqua Dairy Products (decertification)
Teamsters Local 962
Roseburg
134
After 18 months, Portland Public
School teachers still without contract
Bargaining has been under way 18
months for a new contract covering
3,200 teachers, counselors, and librar-
ians at Portland Public Schools (PPS),
Oregon’s largest school district.
The previous Portland Association
of Teachers (PAT) contract expired
June 30, 2008, but under the state’s
public employee collective bargaining
law, contract terms are automatically
extended. A state mediator has been
working since September to help the
two sides reach agreement on a new
three-year deal that would be retroac-
tive to July 2008. As yet, neither side
has declared impasse, which would
set a timetable for the district to im-
pose its last offer or the union to give
strike notice.
Union staffperson Nancy Arlington
characterized negotiations as “dys-
functional,” with board members and
human resources staff cycling in and
out of the district bargaining team. In
one recent bargaining session, Arling-
ton said it appeared the employer rep-
resentatives hadn’t read the current
contract — they demanded something
that’s already in it.
Sticking points in negotiations in-
clude health care, wages, workload,
and layoff language.
The health care dispute is about
what to do with any savings if PPS
joins a statewide insurance pool for
school districts. PPS teachers get full-
family health coverage through a
jointly-run trust, but the trust could be
terminated in May 2010 if the pool
can provide comparable benefits at a
lower cost. The current contract states
that savings from such a move would
be added to teacher salaries. This was
a clause the union added to the con-
tract in 2003 in exchange for union
members agreeing to reduce benefit
value by about $100 per employee per
month and start paying 7 percent of
their health insurance costs.
Today they contribute $96.66 a
month, while the employer con-
tributes $1,104 a month. The District
proposes to eliminate the contract
clause that says savings from joining
the pool should go back to raises;
PAT’s counter-offer is to use the sav-
ings and Trust reserves to reduce pre-
mium increases.
Meanwhile, teacher pay at PPS
ranges from $34,492 to $68,884 with
a 12-step salary schedule that takes
education and years of experience into
account; 51 percent of PAT members
are at the top salary step for their edu-
cation level, and the majority have a
bachelors degree plus 60 post-gradu-
ate credits, the equivalent of a masters
degree. In current negotiations, PAT is
asking for 2 percent raises in the first
and third years, and in year two, a 2
percent raise for those at the top step.
That’s less than other PPS employees,
and teachers in nearby districts, have
received. PPS’ counter-offer is 2 per-
cent, 0 percent, and a 0 to 2.5 percent
raise in the third year that would be
tied to the Consumer Price Index
(CPI). Arlington said that third-year
raise offer is disingenuous because it’s
based on the CPI for 2009, which is
expected to be 0 percent, and PPS is-
n’t proposing to use the CPI for 2007
and 2008 for the first two raises, be-
cause it would generate raises of 3.5
and 3.3 percent. In short, teachers
would fall behind inflation under the
PPS proposal.
“The district has been talking about
shared sacrifice,” says PAT president
Rebecca Levison. “Our teachers feel
like we’ve already sacrificed.” PAT
members agreed to work 10 days
without pay in 2003 to help the dis-
trict weather the last budget crisis,
something no other district union
group did.
PPS also proposes that teachers
lengthen student contact time by 15
minutes a day. And the district wants
to change layoff language in a way
that would disadvantage experienced
teachers who switch subjects. PAT re-
jects those proposals.
To show that members are unified
in backing their bargaining team, PAT
has held several large and well-at-
tended rallies at school board meet-
ings: About 1,500 frustrated and an-
gry teachers and supporters came out
at a Nov. 10 board meeting, and about
1,000 shut down a Dec. 14 Board
meeting, at which Portland Jobs With
Justice presented PPS Board its public
sector “Grinch of the Year” award.
“[Our members] have been asked
to do more with less, and they con-
tinue to step up,” Arlington said, “but
they dont’ feel respected or valued by
the school board.”
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JANUARY 15, 2010
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