...Pressure on at Dosha
(From Page 1)
‘We have these Valentines to deliver…’
Above, a group of about 80 activists with Portland Jobs
with Justice drop by for an unannounced visit to Portland
City Hall Feb. 7, demanding a halt to proposed city worker
layoffs and to fines levied against a homeless encampment.
The visit was one of seven stops made by two busloads of
union supporters during a six-hour roving protest.
At City Hall, “have a heart” was the message delivered to
City Commissioner Nick Fish. Fish agreed to an impromptu
meeting, and responded, basically, that he has a heart; it’s his
pocketbook that’s shriveled up. But Fish told the activists
he’s all ears when it comes to suggestions on how to avoid
the cuts. [A day earlier, ABC News released poll results
showing that 72 percent of Americans support raising taxes
on incomes over $1 million. No word on when that proposal
will come to City Hall.]
Other stops:
• The First Student school bus yard for the Gresham-Bar-
low School District — school bus drivers there are still try-
ing to get a first contract more than 18 months after they
voted to join Oregon School Employees Association.
• The Neighbors United worker center in Gresham, a
community organizing space developed by the group We
Are Oregon.
• University Station post office, for a rally to save the
postal service.
• Legacy Health System HQ, for a short protest against
400 layoffs.
• Aveda Institute Portland and Dosha Salon Spa at NW
23rd and Glisan, to demand a contract for a group of hair
stylists, nail techs, and massage therapists. [See Page 1]
The afternoon of protest was part of Portland JwJ’s “Port-
land Rising” campaign, which calls for good jobs and no
cuts. It was the group’s second bus-borne day of action; the
first took place June 30, 2011.
where she says employees are paid and
treated better than at Dosha.
Christ says Dosha HR manager Tri-
cia McMackin — the same manager
who fired her in September — called
Jan. 26 to offer $500 to $1,000 if she’d
drop her case at the NLRB. If she didn’t
accept the offer, McMackin told her,
going to court could take up to a year to
finalize.
“I said, ‘No, I want what the NLRB
has determined is rightfully mine: my
job back plus back pay,” Christ said.
To help publicize wrongdoing by
Dosha, CWA reached out to other
unions for support. On Feb. 7, local
central labor councils mobilized
leafleters in other cities, while in the
Portland area, the Oregon AFL-CIO
dispatched about 40 unionists for three
hours of leafleting outside all five
Dosha locations. Leafleters included
staff and members of CWA, American
Federation of Teachers-Oregon, the
Oregon School Employees Associa-
tion, the Oregon Nurses Association,
AFSCME, Machinists, and Working
America. They also collected 100 sig-
natures on support petitions.
The day’s most heated interaction
wasn’t at one of the Dosha salons, how-
ever, but at Aveda Institute Portland,
where a group of about 80 protesters
encountered Dosha co-owner Ray Mo-
tameni and several managers. For a
noisy 10 minutes, the school — many
of whose graduates go on to work at
Dosha — was invaded by supporters of
Portland Jobs with Justice who were
shuttling around the Portland area on
buses for an afternoon of protests.
At one point, Elder – the Local 7901
president – addressed students via bull-
horn. Several students yelled back that
Aveda is not the same as Dosha, while
others yelled “let her speak.” The prob-
lem, Elder tried to explain, was that the
students may graduate $10,000 in debt
only to make starting wages at Dosha
of not much over minimum wage.
CWA is seeking wage increases in its
negotiations with Dosha.
Moments into the beauty school
takeover, Aveda Institute Portland man-
agers called police, and a squad of five
officers arrived as demonstrators were
re-boarding their buses. Managers
spoke emotionally about “scare tac-
tics,” declared that the union should
confine itself to the bargaining table,
and said they wanted to press charges
for trespassing. Protesters, meanwhile,
denied that they’d heard any order to
leave in the din of chanting and yelling.
In the end, no arrests were made.
Elder says Dosha has implemented
several union proposals so far, includ-
ing a safety committee, biohazard train-
ing procedures, and hepatitis B vacci-
nations. And Dosha agreed to
reimburse employees for bank fees they
incurred after a rash of bounced pay-
checks in September. Elder said Dosha
paychecks bounced for at least 20
workers, and then at least 7 workers
two weeks later. Ironically, direct de-
posit of paychecks was one of the first
union proposals in bargaining, to which
Dosha did not agree.
In December, the NLRB dismissed
a separate charge in which CWA said it
was unlawful for Dosha to change its
health care plan without the agreement
of the workers. CWA is appealing the
dismissal of the charge.
[Visit nwlaborpress.org for video
and images of the protest.]
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