Inside
Meeting Notices
See
Page 6
Volume 113
Number 23
December 7, 2012
Portland, Oregon
ATU talks at TriMet
off to a bumpy start
Unions help
make spirits
bright in Salem
(PHOTO RIGHT) Richard Swyers of AFSCME Local 2067 joins Santa’s elves in dancing to Christmas
tunes performed by Norman Sylvester and Friends during a holiday party Dec. 1 sponsored by the
Marion-Polk-Yamhill Counties Central Labor Council. An estimated 400 kids and parents sang holiday
songs, watched a movie, and met Santa Claus at The Elsinore Theatre in Salem. Afterward, everyone
received a goody bag. The labor council funds the annual event — now in its 72nd year — through
donations from more than 14 union affiliates and unionized businesses in the community. Santa is played
by Jack Rusen of Albany Steelworkers Local 6163; Sylvester is a member of Musicians Local 99; and Swyers
works for Salem’s Public Works Department.
Bargaining for a new union contract
at TriMet reached an impasse before
talks even started.
Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU)
Local 757 and TriMet have been wran-
gling for several weeks over whether or
not negotiations should be open to the
public and to the media. The union
wants them open. TriMet does not.
The dispute stalled talks that were
scheduled to begin Nov. 30 — the day
the current contract expired. The sides
are asking the courts to decide the mat-
ter.
“We look forward to quickly resolv-
ing this issue and moving forward with
negotiations,” said ATU President
Bruce Hansen. “Once that occurs, ne-
gotiations can begin.”
However, in a Nov. 30 press release,
TriMet said ATU was a “no show” to
the first round of bargaining. The
agency said it sent its contract proposal
to the union “so it could start the 150-
day clock for negotiations as required
by state statute.”
The union was stunned. In a letter to
TriMet’s director of labor relations,
Randy Stedman, Hansen wrote: “It is
surprising to learn that the TriMet man-
agement team chose to arrive ... for a
meeting that the parties knew in ad-
vance would not be taking place.”
The union said the “bargaining clock
has not been triggered” because both
parties have not met to exchange pro-
posals, which state law requires.
Some 2,000 bus and light rail opera-
tors and mechanics represented by Lo-
cal 757 are working under the terms of
a contract imposed in binding arbitra-
tion last July — four-and-a-half months
before it expired. State law bars Oregon
public transit workers from striking; in-
stead, if contract bargaining reaches im-
passe, union and management present
their final offers to an arbitrator, who
picks one side’s offer in its entirety.
State arbitrator David Gaba picked
TriMet’s offer. However, when making
the announcement, Gaba said some
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UNION LABEL: The ultimate hard-to-find gift
Remember Charles Dickens and the
ghost of Christmas future? One hun-
dred sixty-nine years after A Christmas
Carol was published, today’s Tiny Tims
will have a grim future indeed if they
wait for a change of heart from today’s
Ebenezer Scrooges. We need the Bob
Cratchetts of the world to unionize and
win back health care, paid time off and
a living wage. In that spirit, we propose
the following early New Year’s Resolu-
tion — Buy nothing from sweatshops,
and look for the union label. Of course
the union label can be hard to find these
days. So we’ve done the looking and
come up with 10 gift ideas for goods
and services brought to you by local
union members.
1) BLANKETS. The gift of warmth
starts with wool. Beautiful Pendleton
Woolen Mills blankets, like the queen-
size mineral-umber Yakima camp blan-
ket, $124, are quality-made by mem-
bers of Service Employees International
Union (SEIU) at mills in Pendleton,
indestructible, but let’s just say you
could go through three $100 pairs of
sweatshop-made boots at other manu-
facturers or you could buy one $300
pair of built-to-last Danner boots and
support a fellow union member. Get
them at Danner’s Portland outlet store,
12021 NE Airport Way, or at Al’s
Shoe’s and Boots — a long-time sup-
porter of the NW Labor Press — at
5811 NE 82nd Ave. [Danner does im-
port some boots, so check the label: If
it’s U.S.-made, it’s union-made.]
Oregon, and Washougal, Washington.
And they last a lifetime. Buy them at
Pendleton outlet stores, retailers like
Made In Oregon, and online at pendle-
ton-usa.com.
2) BOOTS. Danner hiking and
hunting boots — made in Portland by
members of United Food and Commer-
cial Workers (UFCW) Local 555 — are
serious business. We won’t say they’re
3) BOOKS. Forget Amazon.com,
notorious for its nonunion sweatshop
warehouses. At Powell’s Books, the na-
tion’s largest independent book store,
workers are represented by Interna-
tional Longshore and Warehouse Union
(ILWU) Local 5. Books, gifts, and gift
cards are available at six Portland-area
locations and online at powells.com.
4) WINE. Year after year, Chateau
St. Michelle produces top-ranked wines
as judged by Wine Spectator and Wine
& Spirits magazine. And they’re made
by members of United Farm Workers
and Teamsters Local 117 in Washing-
ton’s Columbia Valley wine region.
[Tip: It tastes best and costs least when
purchased at unionized retailers like
Fred Meyer or Safeway.]
5) CHOCOLATE. See’s Candies
gift boxes are available in all price-
ranges, and are made in California by
members of Bakery, Confectionery, To-
bacco and Grain Millers. A 25-piece as-
sortment runs just $19.40. We’re hop-
ing to receive the egg nog or white mint
truffles this year!
6) DINNERWARE. Fiesta dinner-
ware is colorful, timeless, and proudly
U.S.-made in Newell, West Virginia, by
members of Glass, Molders, Pottery,
Plastic and Allied Workers (GMP) Lo-
cal 419.
7) COOKWARE. There’s quality
American steel in All-Clad pots and
pans, union-made by members of the
United Steelworkers (USW) Local
3403 in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.
8) MUSIC. Visualize a union mem-
ber. Do you see the trombone? At most
major symphony orchestras, American
Federation of Musicians helps ensure a
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