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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (May 4, 2012)
Inside Meeting Notices See Page 6 Volume 113 Number 9 May 4, 2012 Portland, Oregon P RIMARY E LECTION Endorsements of the N ORTHWEST O REGON L ABOR C OUNCIL Clackamas County County Chair: D AVE H UNT County Commissioner, Position 3: M ARTHA S CHRADER County Commissioner, Position 4: J AMIE D AMON Sheriff: C RAIG R OBERTS Columbia County Board of Commissioners, Position 1: E ARL F ISHER Board of Commissioners, Position 3: T ONY H YDE Metro Commissioner, Dist. 6: B OB S TACEY Multnomah County County Commissioner, Dist. 1: D EBORAH K AFOURY County Commissioner, Dist. 3: J UDY S HIPRACK County Commissioner, Dist. 4: D IANE M C K EEL District Attorney: R OD U NDERHILL University of Oregon administration backs off faculty union challenge United Academics is certified after Gov. Kitzhaber weighs in B Y STEFAN OSTRACH S PECIAL C ORRESPONDENT EUGENE — A new faculty union at the University of Oregon was certi- fied by the Oregon Employment Rela- tions Board April 27, shortly after the university’s administration dropped le- gal objections it had filed against the proposed bargaining unit, which in- cluded tenure-related faculty, non- tenure-track faculty, adjunct instruc- tors, and officers of research. The new union is United Academ- ics of the University of Oregon, an af- filiate of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, and the independ- ent American Association of University Professors. The union will include most faculty and research employees at the university. It is the largest bargaining unit to win union certification through the card-check provisions of Oregon’s pub- lic sector labor law. United Academics submitted cards to the ERB March 13 from a majority of the faculty designating it as their union. Lawyers for the university subsequently filed objections to the proposed bargain- ing unit that would have gutted the union. The university would have pre- ferred two bargaining units, one for tenured and tenure-related faculty and another unit of non-tenured faculty. ERB set hearing dates for early May, but the university’s administration and the union reached an agreement prior to the hearing. That deal was reached with help from Gov. John Kitzhaber. Duke Shepard, labor and human services policy adviser to the governor, told the Labor Press that Kitzhaber “communicated quite a bit” with the UO administration. Kitzhaber’s posi- tion was, Shepherd explained, “If a ma- jority wants a union they should be able to have it.” Shepard, a former political director at the Oregon AFL-CIO, personally communicated back and forth with both the union and the university. “We felt it was in everyone’s best interest to come to a swift resolution,” he said. Shepard conveyed Kitzhaber’s view that it would be “productive to start ne- gotiating a contract and not have a pro- (Turn to Page 3) Unions join rally against ‘War on Women’ Ballot Measure 26-125 (Library Levy renewal ) Support City of Portland City Commissioner Position 4: S TEVE N OVICK Washington County County Commissioner, District 1: D ICK S CHOUTEN (Authorized and paid for by the Northwest Oregon Labor Council, 3645 SE 32nd Ave., Portland, Oregon ) tracted fight over who is in and out [of the bargaining unit],” he said. “Our as- sessment was the case law is on the side of unionization of workers who want it.” The objections were resolved with an agreement that 49 employees were exempt from representation as man- agers and another 161 would be ex- cluded “at this time because they cur- rently have supervisory authority.” The union and administration also agreed on a process for resolving disputes about other supervisory or confidential posi- tions, consistent with state law. “We now have the official means to negotiate and collectively bargain for better working conditions, transparency, and accountability,” the union said in an e-mail to faculty members. “Among the many Research I universities in the Western U.S., our union will be the largest integrated bargaining unit — a significant achievement in an era where education is continually under threat.” In an e-mail to faculty, Interim Uni- versity of Oregon President Robert Berdahl said the university “acknowl- edged from the beginning that our fac- ulty has the right to organize. We did Women from throughout Oregon took part in the “Unite Against the War on Women” rally in Salem April 28. SALEM — Several hundred people, mostly women, gathered on the steps of the state Capitol for three hours April 28 as part of a national grassroots movement called United Against the War on Women. Similar rallies were sponsored in 46 states across the country. The rallies were held as a show of strength against recent threats to women’s rights on issues ranging from reproductive to economic and human rights. According to the Guttmacher In- stitute, 944 measures related to repro- ductive health have been introduced in 45 state legislatures so far this year. “Understand, you have the power to return equity, fairness, and balance to this government,” said Tom Chamber- lain, president of the Oregon AFL-CIO, and one of only two men invited to (Turn to Page 11)
