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)