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