JAN, 21, 2011:NWLP
1/18/11
10:35 AM
Page 5
ATU dispute with TriMet persists; conciliator called in
Members of Amalgamated Transit Union
(ATU) Local 757 employed at TriMet are planning
an informational picket Wednesday, Jan, 26, from
8 to 9 a.m. at the Portland Building, 1120 SW 5th
Avenue, Portland. TriMet’s board of directors is
scheduled to meet at that location starting at 9 a.m.
Drivers and mechanics have been embroiled in
a lengthy labor dispute with the transit agency
since Nov. 30, 2009. That’s the day the union con-
tract covering 2,000 bus and rail operators, me-
chanics, and support staff expired. State law pro-
hibits transit workers from striking. Contract
disputes are settled by binding arbitration. As the
two sides waited for the arbitration process to play
out, TriMet maintained the terms of the previous
contract, covering all scheduled wage and insur-
ance increases. That all changed Jan. 1, 2011,
when the transit agency halted cost-of-living wage
increases and started taking money out of work-
ers’ paychecks to cover a portion of their health in-
surance costs.
Tri-Met General Manager Neil McFarlane had
forewarned workers of the change in a letter to
them last September.
Shortly after that announcement, ATU Local
757 President Jon Hunt filed an unfair labor prac-
tice (ULP) complaint with the Oregon Employ-
ment Relations Board, accusing TriMet of retalia-
tion. [After bargaining over the required 150-day
time period, an impasse was declared between the
two sides on July 13, 2010. When the sides sub-
mitted their “last best and final” offers to the arbi-
trator, TriMet’s proposal contained issues that were
never raised at the bargaining table. The union filed
an unfair labor practice complaint, charging the
agency with bad-faith bargaining. The
ULP delayed the arbitration
process.]
ATU held informational pickets
outside TriMet board meetings in
November and December, and
protested at McFarlane’s home
Dec. 8.
Hunt has told the board,
and anyone who will listen,
that TriMet would be
breaking the law by mak-
ing changes to the con-
tract without union mem-
ber agreement.
Union members also
testified at board meet-
ings to illustrate how the
changes would impact
them financially.
At one board meet-
ing, director Lynn
Lehrbach (an officer
of Teamsters Joint
Council No. 37) made a
motion that TriMet not
implement the costs on
workers and retirees
while awaiting the arbi-
trator’s decision. The motion
failed to get a second.
“As I pleaded with the board
to take time to discuss this issue
and reflect on the stories
they had heard, board mem-
ber Tiffany Sweitzer walked out on us,” Hunt
said.
The union then reached out to the governor,
congressmen, and U.S. senators, all of whom
have sent letters or made phone calls to McFar-
lane encouraging him to return to the bargaining
table to resolve the dispute as quickly as pos-
sible.
Before leaving office, Gov. Ted Ku-
longoski asked state conciliator Robert
Nightingale to “clear his schedule” in
order to assist the sides in resolving
the dispute. A meeting has been
set for Friday, Jan. 28.
“We have been put in a very
difficult position by McFarlane
and the TriMet board, who seem-
ingly do not care about the laws in
the State of Oregon, the wishes of
the state’s top government officials,
adhering to past practice, employee
relations or health and welfare of
their own employees, retirees, and
their families,” Hunt said.
Hunt is asking union members,
their families and friends to join him
at the rally Jan. 26. He said a large
crowd will help send a loud message
to McFarlane and the TriMet board to
reach an agreement.
ATU’s Pepper, the greed-fighting
possum, walks an informational picket
line prior to a TriMet board meeting.
Below are TriMet board members and their
contact information.
R ICHARD V AN B EVEREN (P RESIDENT )
503-642-9898
comments@reedvillecafe.com
T IFFANY S WEITZER
503-227-6677
tiffanys@hoytliving.com
S TEVE C LARK
503-546-0714
clarks@trimet.org
C ONSUELO S ARAGOZA
503-988-3674
Consuelo.c.saragoza@co.multnomah.or.us
D R . T. A LLEN B ETHEL
503-288-7241
bethel@trimet.org
L YNN L EHRBACH
503-251-2337
CJM@Teamsters37.com
H AKEEM O LANREWAJU
503-215-2503
hakeem.olanrewaju@providence.org
G ENERAL M GR . N EIL M C F ARLANE
503-962-4831
...Evergreen Airlines pilots authorize strike
(From Page 2)
Retired
Carpenter
staying busy
Carpenters Local 247 retiree
Merle Ehlinger shows off
walking canes he made using
old handsaws. Ehlinger, 76, is
a 55-year member of the
union who regularly attends
the monthly Carpenters
Retirees meetings, along with
more than a dozen other
retirees. The group meets the
second Monday each month
at 11 a.m. at Izzy’s Grill, 1307
NE 102nd Ave # T, Portland.
John Jackson is chair of the
retirees group.
JANUARY 21, 2011
tion, becoming ALPA Local 118.
ALPA, the world’s largest pilot
union, represents nearly 53,000 pilots
at 38 airlines in the United States and
Canada. But bargaining similarly failed
to achieve liftoff under ALPA.
In April 2010, the union submitted
a tentative two-year agreement to
members that was largely a continua-
tion of previous terms, without raises
or improvements. That agreement was
a compromise, after management —
citing the company’s heavy debt load
— demanded concessions. ALPA held
a ratification vote on the agreement in
August 2010: 92 percent of members
took part in the vote, and the result was
96 percent against the agreement.
In October, the ALPA executive
council at Evergreen passed a resolu-
tion declaring a lack of confidence in
airline upper management and flight
operations management. An ALPA
press statement said Evergreen pilots
are near their limit of frustration and
dissatisfaction with management.
ALPA held the strike authorization
vote, and ballots were counted Jan. 7.
The vote was 97 percent in favor of
strike authorization, with more than 86
percent of the company’s pilots and
flight engineers participating in the
polling.
“We certainly want a contract, not a
strike,” said flight engineer William
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Fink, ALPA’s Evergreen unit chairman,
in a press statement. “That has been our
goal since day one more than six years
ago — but the new agreement must
provide our members with industry-
standard wages, work rules, and bene-
fits. We deserve no less.”
The parties are tentatively scheduled
to go back to the negotiating table in
February. ALPA can request arbitration
from the NMB at any time. If the NMB
agrees, either party can reject arbitra-
tion. In that event, a 30-day cooling-off
period would commence, after which
crewmembers could legally strike at
Evergreen.
...Unions
promote
fire safety
(From Page 1)
290 training center staff to present the
player with $100 and be honored them-
selves. On Jan. 8, apprentice Seathl Oll-
gaard presented $100 to Winterhawk
Sven Bartschi.
“This ceremony is another great way
for the public to see who we really are
as people and to educate them about the
exciting innovations our trade is devel-
oping,” Scheuermann said.
The promotional campaign appears
to be working. Former Winterhawk
Shane Halifax is a first-year apprentice
plumber. He played broomball, and was
brought in for the ceremonial puck drop
prior to the Portland-Seattle game,
which the Winterhawks won, 2-1.
Former Winterhawk player and
first-year plumber apprentice Shane
Halifax hoists broomball trophy that
Local 290 retained by virtue of their
1-0 victory last year. Local 290 and
Local 43 have been facing off in
broomball for the last decade.
PAGE 5