...Union Label shopping
(From Page 1)
living wage for musicians. For $16 to
$43, you can see AFM Local 99 mem-
bers in the Oregon Symphony perform
Comfort and Joy, a Dec. 23 matinee of
classical Christmas favorites.
9) BLADES. For the family hunter
or fisher, knives made by Gerber Leg-
endary Blades make a sharp-looking
gift, and they’re made in Southwest
Portland by members of Machinists
District Lodge W24. [Some Gerber
knives are imported, but if it says Made
in Portland on the blade, it’s union-
made.]
As Santa’s “elves”, including Ben Poe (above), decorated the windows of
Portland’s Main Post Office downtown on Nov. 30 with balloons and signs,
grinchly postal managers came out and tore them down. Despite high-fives
from postal customers lining up to kick-off the Christmas mailing season, the
“elves” were banished from the property.
‘No closures, no cuts’ message
greets holiday postal customers
As the Christmas mailing season
picks up, postal customers at Port-
land’s Main Post Office downtown
were greeted Nov. 30 by holiday-
themed balloons, streamers and signs
decorating the front windows —
“Save Santa’s Post Office!” “We Wish
You 6-Day Delivery and a Happy
New Year” and “Deck the Mails with
More Mail Carriers.” Postal “elves” in
Santa hats also were there agitating
about irregular, late, and after dark de-
livery in the Portland area.
“Santa’s worried that the lame
duck will cripple the postal eagle,”
smiled Jamie Partridge, a retired
member of the National Association
of Letter Carriers (NALC) Branch 82-
turned elf. “Just when little Virginias
all over the country are depending on
the post office to prove there is a
Santa, the lame-duck Congress is
preparing to gut the service.”
Retiring U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman
I-Conn.), announced recently that he’s
ready to eliminate Saturday delivery,
just as he entered secret negotiations
with U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.),
who insists on also eliminating door-
to-door mail delivery, while closing
half the mail processing plants and
Low Prices!
Mon-Fri 9-6, Sat 9:30-5:30, Sun 12-6
DECEMBER 7, 2012
post offices nationwide.
A five-year hiring freeze on career
positions has left 114 letter carrier va-
cancies in Portland, according to
Branch 82. The union is calling on
the United States Postal Service to re-
store service by filling those vacancies
and promoting transitional employees
to career positions. The shortage, the
union says, has resulted in irregular,
late, and after dark delivery.
“Santa’s helpers, the letter carriers,
need flashlights, headlamps, and even
Rudolph’s red nose to guide their de-
liveries these days,” Partridge joked.
Postal worker unions argue that a
2006 Congressional mandate which
forces the postal service to prefund re-
tiree health benefits 75 years in ad-
vance is sending the service into a
death spiral. Not only would the
postal service have been profitable
without the mandate, they say the
USPS has also overpaid tens of bil-
lions into two pension funds.
“Not the Internet, not private com-
petition, not labor costs, not the reces-
sion — Congress is responsible for
the postal mess” Partridge said. “Cor-
porate interests, working through their
friends in Congress want to under-
mine the USPS, bust the unions then
privatize it.”
“Issa is clearly the Scrooge of the
Year, while Lieberman is coming in a
close second,” Partridge said.
Portland Communities and Postal
Workers United sponsored the Nov.
30 job action. The group is comprised
of activists and retirees from NALC,
the American Postal Workers Union,
and the National Postal Mail Handlers
Union, as well as other community
groups.
10) AUTOMOTIVE. At In and Out
Auto Care in Gladstone, Oregon, a stan-
dard full-service oil change, $29.95, is
provided by members of Machinists
District Lodge W24. All-purpose gift
certificates for any amount fit neatly in
a stocking, and can be used for tune-
ups, maintenance, or repairs. Visit
inandoutautocare.com or call 503-786-
0700.
Last but not least …
HOLIDAY CARDS: Who knew?
American Greetings holiday cards are
U.S.-made by union Teamsters. What’s
more, you can buy them from a UFCW
member for $2.99 at Fred Meyer, and
have them delivered anywhere in the
United States for 45 cents by a member
of the National Association of Letter
Carriers. Drop by the post office or on-
line at usps.com for holiday-themed for-
ever stamps.
STOCKING SWEETS: Fill up
your stockings with Seattle-made Al-
mond Roca or San Francisco-made
Ghirardelli chocolates, both produced
by members of the Bakery, Confec-
tionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers.
GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP: When
you run out of room for out-of-town rel-
atives, the Portland metro area’s four
unionized hotels are surprisingly af-
fordable, and they support family wages
and benefits for members of UNITE
HERE Local 9: Downtown Hilton Ho-
tel and Executive Tower, The Benson
Hotel, Paramount, and the Vancouver
Hilton & Convention Center ($101 a
night)
‘Unionmade’ isn’t, so AFL-CIO
demands that it stop the fakery
What happens when a company ac-
knowledges its clothing is not union-
made but names itself “Unionmade”
anyway? Count on union members
proud of their reputation for quality
work to say, “Give it up.”
In a letter dated Nov. 29, the national
AFL-CIO demanded that the apparel
retailer Unionmade — which also has
a logo suspiciously like the historic
AFL-CIO “handshake” logo — stop its
trademark infringement and unfair
competition.
The federation told the company to
immediately stop using the logo (in-
cluding not selling items showing it and
removing the sign from stores and on-
line sites) and change the store name so
it “does not deceive the public into
thinking that they are purchasing items
that are actually made by union work-
ers….”
Hamilton Nolan at Gawker.com re-
cently covered Unionmade’s deceptive
presentation of its products. When
pushed, Nolan wrote, Unionmade ad-
mitted “some of the brands we carry are
union made, many are not.” In a Sep-
tember Huffington Post column, pro-
fessor Peter Dreier at Occidental Col-
lege described his discovery of the
not-union-made phenomenon and his
interview with Unionmade’s Todd Bar-
ket:
“So isn’t the store's name, Union-
made, a bit misleading?”
“It had nothing to do with unions,”
Barket said. “I’m surprised that people
took the name literally.”
The AFL-CIO’s cease and desist let-
ter to Barket spells out the problem with
the company’s name this way:
“The AFL-CIO finds your use of the
UNIONMADE mark highly mislead-
ing as the dictionary definition and un-
derstanding amongst the public is that
‘union-made’ means ‘produced by
workers belonging to a labor union.’ ”
...Talks at TriMet off to a bumpy start
(From Page 1)
provisions could be illegal. Five days
later an administrative law judge with
the Oregon Employment Relations
Board (ERB) ruled that TriMet had, in
fact, retaliated against the union when
it canceled raises and implemented re-
duced health insurance benefits in Jan-
uary 2011.
Historically, labor contracts are ex-
tended until a new deal is reached.
Such was the case with the 2009 con-
tract between ATU and TriMet. That all
changed after the union filed an unfair
labor practice (ULP) complaint alleging
that TriMet’s final contract offer was il-
legal because it contained language that
had never before been presented at the
bargaining table.
[In September 2011, ERB ruled in
favor of ATU and ordered TriMet to
submit a revised final offer. TriMet lost
on appeal. TriMet was ordered to re-
submit two more final offers before it
was accepted by ERB.]
Hansen called the judge’s retaliation
ruling of July 2012 a vindication. “This
decision may result in a complete gut-
ting of the recent interest arbitration de-
cision because the arbitrator awarded
the very proposal that was ruled illegal,”
he said.
In August, Local 757 filed a nine-
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
count ULP charge challenging the arbi-
trator’s binding award. In September
2012, TriMet filed a ULP charge
against the union for obstructing imple-
mentation of the binding arbitration
award.
A hearing is scheduled for Jan. 8,
2013.
To avoid further shenanigans, Local
757 wants all upcoming bargaining ses-
sions open to the public and to the me-
dia. TriMet’s initial response to the
union’s request was “no.” Hansen said
the transit agency changed its position
somewhat, informing him on Nov. 26
that TriMet would allow a few members
of the press to attend — but only those
TriMet considered “bona fide” media
“TriMet has no objection to bona
fide members of the press, unaffiliated
with either party, being allowed to at-
tend negotiation sessions and cover the
story,” Stedman wrote to Hansen.
“TriMet would not agree to bloggers or
affiliated members of the press.”
At the same time, TriMet also asked
for the names of all union-side partici-
pants so that they could be screened by
TriMet’s security personnel prior to bar-
gaining sessions.
In response, Hansen wrote: “Absent
an explanation and a very good reason,
the union cannot agree to have your se-
curity guard screen people who attend
this session. Additionally, the union also
will not agree that TriMet can decide
who is a ‘bona fide’ member of the
press.”
In a Nov. 28 press release, TriMet
spokeswoman Mary Fetsch said the
agency “is committed to transparency
and, as a part of negotiated ground
rules, will propose to invite members of
the press to attend, even though all pre-
vious negotiations with past contracts
have been closed sessions.”
Hansen said the union “made a com-
mitment to our members, riders, rider
advocacy groups, community stake-
holders, the media and citizens of the
community that they will have full ac-
cess to the process in these upcoming
negotiations. We intend to honor that
commitment.”
Meantime, TriMet informed the
ATU and its union workforce that until
a new contract is approved, the imposed
contract will not be extended and em-
ployees will not receive previously-
scheduled cost-of-living increases and
must pay increases in their health care
premiums.
Moreover, active and retired mem-
bers of Local 757 employed at TriMet
voted Nov. 30 to pay a special assess-
ment dedicated to contract negotiations.
The assessment, which ranges from $5
to $25 a month, begins Jan. 1, 2013.
PAGE 5