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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (March 1, 2013)
Merkley, Wyden challenge plan to end Saturday mail delivery Members of Laborers Local 320 stage a successful one-day strike Feb. 12 at the CertainTeed asphalt roof shingle factory in Portland. Laborers Local 320 settles contract at CertainTeed after one-day strike Shinglemaker improves offer after walkout Building material manufacturer CertainTeed reached agreement on a new union contract at its Portland asphalt roof shingle factory — after a one-day strike by 45 members of Laborers Lo- cal 320. Before the Feb. 12 strike, the company, a sub- sidiary of French multinational Saint-Gobain, was insisting that workers drop the union-affili- ated health insurance trust and instead enroll in a company-sponsored self-insured plan. The union plan has a $200 annual deductible, while the company plan carries a $2,500 deductible; even after a proposed $800 annual contribution to an employee health savings account, that would have made health care much less affordable. Wages at the factory range from about $16 an hour for new hires to as high as $33.40 for expe- rienced mechanics, and the average is about $21 an hour. Also, eight years ago, explains Local 320 Business Manager Dave Tischer, CertainTeed ended contributions to the traditional defined benefit pension plan, and asked employees to en- roll in its 401(k) plan instead, with an under- PAGE 12 standing that the company would later match em- ployee contributions. But in bargaining this year, company negotiators balked at offering the match. When the previous three-year contract ex- pired, the union gave 10-day strike notice, and the company reacted: It began to ship product out to a Seattle warehouse in preparation for a strike. The strike halted that. Workers walked out at 10 a.m., and main- tained pickets outside the factory at 6350 NW Front Ave. Tischer said participation was 100 percent. Pickets drew honks of support from passersby on busy Front Av- enue, and at 5:20 p.m., labor and management shook hands on a new company of- fer, with even better terms than the union’s proposal had contained before the strike. Ratification was unanimous. Wages will increase 7.5 percent over the course of the new five-year contract. The company will match work- ers’ 401(k) contributions up to 4 percent of salary. And they get to keep the union-af- filiated health plan. WASHINGTON, D.C. — Oregon’s U.S. Sena- tors Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden joined 22 other senators in challenging the postmaster general’s au- thority to discontinue Saturday mail delivery later this year without congressional approval. In a letter to Postmaster General Patrick Dona- hoe, the senators acknowledge the financial chal- lenges the Postal Service is facing and urged him to work with Congress to address the problems through bipartisan reform, such as the Senate legis- lation passed last year. They also pointed out that a shift to five-day service could lead to further declines in mail vol- ume and revenues, worsening the U.S. Postal Ser- vice’s overall condition. Merkley and Wyden were joined by Senators Tom Udall, Tom Harkin, Al Franken, Carl Levin, Debbie Stabenow, Mark Begich, Martin Heinrich, Jon Tester, Sherrod Brown, Max Baucus, Bernie Sanders, Jeanne Shaheen, Mazie Hirono, Joe Manchin, Jack Reed, Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, Sheldon Whitehouse, Michael Bennet, Mark Udall, Brian Schatz and Heidi Heitkamp in the letter to the postmaster. They noted that recently the Postal Service itself has recognized it lacks the power to terminate six- day service. “As recently as last year, the Postal Service did not believe it had the authority to end six-day de- livery without legislative action by Congress. For example, in the USPS’s ‘Plan for Profitability,’ re- NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS leased on February 6, 2012, savings for five-day de- livery were categorized under the heading of ‘leg- islative initiatives,’ ” they wrote. “Furthermore, you personally delivered testi- mony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on September 6, 2011 where you noted that ‘Congress must act … [to] allow the Postal Service the authority to deter- mine delivery frequency.’” They also pointed out the move is a violation of existing law under the Continuing Appropriations Resolution of 2012. “[W]e believe your proposal does not comply with the existing statutory re- quirement to continue six-day delivery and rural de- livery mail services at no less than the 1983 levels.” Such a move would impact 70,000 jobs and neg- atively affect the rural communities they represent. “With the national unemployment rate at 7.8 percent, moving to five-day delivery will hurt mid- dle class families,” they said. Save Our Postal Service rally March 17 in Portland A Save Our Postal Service national day of ac- tion will take place on St. Patrick’s Day, Sunday, March 17 — the anniversary of the great postal strike of 1970. In Portland, supporters will gather at Pioneer Square starting at 2 p.m. For more in- formation, go to www.savethepostoffice.com. MARCH 1, 2013
