Inside Meeting Notices See Page 6 Volume 113 Number 3 Feb. 3, 2012 Portland, Oregon Union to TriMet: Cut managers, not drivers ATU under siege as labor ally Lynn Lehrbach slated for replacement on the TriMet board By DON McINTOSH Associate Editor The union that represents bus and train operators and other TriMet work- ers picketed the transit agency’s Jan. 25 Board meeting — after TriMet called its own employees pay and benefits “out-of-line” in a Dec. 15 e-mail to the public. TriMet forecast a $12-17 million budget shortfall in the e-mail, and asked for public input on fare increases and service cuts, explaining that those measures were necessary because the “union leadership” had “refused to con- sider reasonable changes to wage in- creases and benefits.” But Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 757 President Jon Hunt dismissed those projections at the Board meeting, saying TriMet’s “oh, we are so broke” campaign is “merely a ruse to point fingers at TriMet union workers who TriMet claims are over- paid.” Hunt told the Board that TriMet can avoid the proposed fare hikes and serv- ice cuts by adopting other money-sav- ing measures. TriMet could save up to $5 million a year by thinning manage- ment ranks down to the levels they were five years ago, Hunt said, and an- other $7 million a year by canceling contracted-out paratransit service and doing the work in-house. Currently, TriMet pays a contractor — United Kingdom-headquartered First Transit — to run its paratransit service, known as TriMet Lift. TriMet Lift provides point-to-point transporta- tion, by reservation, to elderly and dis- abled people who are unable to ride regular bus and rail transit. Hunt said his cost estimate was based on a 2008 study the union and TriMet commis- sioned. Hunt’s statement got no response from the Board or from TriMet General Manager Neil McFarlane. But TriMet spokesperson Mary Fetsch disputes Union membership grows in Oregon WASHINGTON, D.C. — Union membership in Oregon grew last year, adding 25,000 new members, accord- ing to new U.S. Bureau of Labor Statis- tics (BLS) data released Jan. 27. That brings the total union membership in the state to 270,000, or 17.1 of the workforce. At the same time, the state of Wash- ington lost union members, going from 552,000 in 2010 to 517,000 in 2011. The Evergreen State’s union density also dropped from 19.4 percent of the workforce to 19 percent. Nationwide, union membership in- creased by 49,000 from 2010 to 2011, the BLS reported. An increase of 110,000 in the private sector was par- tially offset by a decline of 61,000 in the public sector, making the rate of union membership essentially un- changed at 11.8 percent, with some 14.8 million U.S. workers union mem- bers. In 1983, the first year for which comparable union data are available, the union membership rate was 20.1 per- cent and there were 17.7 million union workers. Public-sector union density in- creased from 36.2 percent to 37 percent through November 2011. Private-sector union membership remains at 6.9 per- cent. The largest increases in union membership were in construction, health care services, retail trade, pri- mary metals and fabricated metal prod- ucts, hospitals, transportation and ware- housing. The data show that among full-time wage and salary workers, the median weekly earnings of union members were $938, compared to $729 for (Turn to Page 8) Jon Hunt (right), president of ATU Local 757, chats with TriMet Board member Lynn Lehrbach at a rally prior to a Jan. 25 transit agency board meeting. Lehrbach, a Teamsters official — and Local 757’s strongest ally — is slated for replacement after serving one term on the governor-appointed TriMet Board of Directors. both claims. Drawing from data in the same study, Fetsch says bringing Lift in-house would increase costs $7.5 million. And Fetsch says TriMet’s ratio of nonunion to union workers is lower in the current fiscal year than three years prior — in the Operations Divi- sion. Hunt’s Board testimony was a rare face-to-face with General Manager McFarlane. Local 757 picketed McFar- lane’s West Hills home Nov. 19. Hunt says McFarlane has refused to meet with him, instead referring him to Randy Stedman, who was hired Nov. 14 as TriMet executive director of La- bor Relations and Human Resources. Stedman’s background is as a labor relations consultant. He takes credit on his web site for defeating a union or- ganizing campaign. In 2011 he repre- sented Mt. Hood Community College, where he won concessions from faculty after a near-strike. Local 757 has picketed and testified at the TriMet Board for months, but hasn’t persuaded the Board to intervene in its long-running contract dispute. And now the union may be about to lose its one reliable Board ally, Lynn Lehrbach. Lehrbach — political direc- tor for Teamsters Joint Council No. 37 and first vice president of the North- west Oregon Labor Council — was ap- pointed by former governor Ted Ku- longoski to a term that expired Jan. 5. (Turn to Page 9) Gov. Gregoire brokers deal that ends year-long dispute at Port of Longview LONGVIEW, Wash. — A whirlwind week of nego- tiations Jan. 23-27 appears to have ended a year-long dis- pute between the International Longshore and Ware- house Union (ILWU) and EGT at the Port of Longview’s new $200 million grain export facility. On Monday, Jan. 23, Washington Gov. Chris Gre- goire announced that she had brokered a deal between the two parties that settled pending legal issues, unfair labor practice charges, and fines. That announcement came a few hours before an administrative law judge was set to open hearings on unfair labor practice charges filed by the National Labor Relations Board against the ILWU for illegal picketing and other activities. During the course of the year, ILWU blocked trains from delivering grain and members clashed with police, leading to sev- eral hundred arrests. In August, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting members of ILWU from mass picketing at the facility. “I asked EGT and ILWU to come together in a good faith effort to overcome their differences,” Gregoire said in a press release. “Both parties should be commended for their willingness to work together and compromise. This framework reflects considerable effort to put the in- terests of the Longview community and the entire Co- lumbia River basin first. I am confident an agreement can be reached that will satisfy both parties and allow the new grain terminal to become fully operational.” The following day, Jan. 24, members of ILWU Local 21 ratified the settlement agreement. Then, on Friday, Jan. 27, Port of Longview’s board of commissioners ap- proved the settlement agreement before approving an amendment to its lease with EGT. The ILWU protests centered on a decision by EGT to use an outside union contractor instead of ILWU mem- bers to staff the grain terminal. ILWU filed a lawsuit, ar- guing that its contract with the Port required EGT to hire longshore workers. The sides were awaiting a federal judge’s ruling when the governor said a settlement had been reached. Gregoire’s announcement came as a surprise to Op- erating Engineers Local 701, which represents workers at General Construction — the contractor hired by EGT to staff the grain terminal. Local 701 asserts that ILWU (Turn to Page 5)