City agrees not to contract out Rec Center work in Portland
Laborers Local 483 just had a win in
its more-than-decade-long struggle with
the City of Portland over contracting
out in the Bureau of Parks and Recre-
ation. On Feb. 14, City officials signed
an agreement committing to not con-
tract out at Portland Parks and Recre-
ation once the current staffing contract
expires March 22, 2014.
The dispute’s tortured history sug-
gests that union tenacity sometimes
pays off. Parks and Rec is one of sev-
eral City bureaus where workers are
represented by Local 483, but since at
least the late 1990s, the City has hired
some recreation center employees indi-
rectly through a contractor. At Mt. Scott
and Southwest community centers the
contracted employees work alongside
union-represented City employees and
do the same work — but with lower
wages and benefits, and no union. Con-
tracted workers staff the front desk,
teach pre-school and swimming classes,
and serve as lifeguards, roller rink at-
tendants, and personal trainers.
“People would assume they were
City employees,” says Local 483
spokesperson Megan Hise. Instead,
they’re employees of Brooks Staffing,
which gets a 26 percent “mark-up” un-
der its contract, after paying worker
wages that average $11.91 an hour.
In 2001, Local 483 tried to unionize
the contracted workers, but the state
board that oversees public employee
union elections went back and forth,
first ruling that the workers could sim-
ply be added to the existing Portland
Parks and Recreation bargaining unit,
and then ruling that they weren’t public
employees at all, but employees of a
private contractor.
Local 483 next tried to address con-
tracting out through the Portland Parks
and Rec labor-management committee.
But the recommendations of an ad hoc
“alternate staffing subcommittee” — to
halt contracting out — weren’t heeded.
So on July 30, 2011, Local 483 filed
a grievance, alleging that the City was
in violation of its union contract. A
clause in the contract bars the City from
contracting out bargaining unit work —
unless the City can demonstrate that do-
ing so produces cost savings, and the
savings can’t come from lower wages
and benefits.
Last year, the grievance went before
an arbitrator, and a hearing on the mer-
its of the case was scheduled for Feb. 25
and 26, 2013. Facing the possibility that
it could owe two years’ back pay at the
overtime rate, the City settled the griev-
ance voluntarily before the hearing. The
settlement — signed by City HR direc-
tor Anna Kanwit, Parks and Rec bureau
chief Mike Abbaté, and deputy city at-
torney Matt Farley — includes a $5,000
payment to Local 483 (for legal ex-
penses, though the settlement doesn’t
say so specifically). Under the settle-
ment, the City agrees not to contract out
the work for three years once the
Brooks contract expires.
It’s not clear what will happen to the
Brooks workers once the staffing con-
tract ends. With the union sounding off
frequently to City Council, Parks and
Rec had already reduced the number of
contracted employees supplied by
Brooks from a peak of about 140 to
about 45 currently, said Local 483 in-
ternal organizer Erica Askin. Askin said
Local 483 wants to see the City hire
them directly.
“We want this to turn into opportu-
nities for the workers for permanent
jobs with benefits,” Askin said.
Hise said the fear is that the Bureau
will shift the jobs in-house, but make
them temporary and seasonal. Local
483’s fight against contracting out is part
of a larger political and philosophical
struggle over City employment practices
in which the union has also campaigned
against use of prison labor, and overuse
of temps and seasonal workers. The
union argues that a low- wage staffing
model is bad for employees and under-
mines the quality of public services.
Oregon House passes bill to fund I-5 Bridge project
SALEM — The Oregon House of
Representatives moved the I-5 Bridge
Replacement Project one step closer to
reality Feb. 25, passing HB 2800 au-
thorizing $450 million in bond funding
for Oregon’s share of the project.
The vote was 45-11, with four ex-
cused.
“After a decade of study and plan-
ning, the Legislature is finally forging
ahead on this important jobs and eco-
nomic development bill,” said House
Speaker Tina Kotek (D-Portland). “I’m
proud of this bipartisan effort to pass a
prudent, thoughtful, practical bill that
will keep the project moving forward.”
The amended version of HB 2800
includes a number of “buy America” re-
quirements that will ensure goods man-
ufactured in the United States are used
to construct the bridge. Provisions to
utilize apprenticeship training programs
are also included.
Gov. John Kitzhaber, who was in
Washington, D.C., with Washington
Gov. Jay Inslee to meet with Trans-
portation Secretary Ray LaHood, com-
mended the action. “By investing in a
safe and effective transportation system
for Oregon, we are providing a safer
and less congested trip for freight and
commuters. It is time that we build this
bridge,” he said.
In recent conversations, LaHood and
Homeland Security Secretary Janet
Napolitano have reaffirmed the federal
government’s strong support for the
project, Kitzhaber added.
Forty billion dollars worth of inter-
state and international commerce
crosses the I-5 Bridge to nearby ports,
businesses and distribution facilities,
and commerce is increasingly impacted
by congestion at a pinch point that is
one of the worst spots anywhere be-
tween Mexico and Canada.
In addition to construction jobs, the
economic impacts from replacing the
bridge and improving the interchanges
will result in the creation of 4,200 jobs
and $231 million in additional wages in
2030, Kitzhaber said in a press release.
Oregon’s portion of the funding for
the next two years will come from ex-
isting funds in the Oregon Department
of Transportation budget. Legislators
placed a number of sideboards on the
project so that bonds to finance the
bridge construction will only be sold
when a specific set of criteria are met.
Those criteria include commitments
from Washington State and the federal
government to pay for their fair share of
the project, and the completion of an in-
vestment grade analysis by the state
treasurer.
Legislators from both parties dis-
cussed the prudent approach to funding
the project and the importance of re-
placing the bridge to both create jobs in
the short term and strengthen the econ-
omy in the long term.
“Investment, by all of us, in this ma-
chinery of commerce is essential if Ore-
gon — all of Oregon — is to success-
fully compete on a national and
international scale,” said Rep. Cliff
Bentz (R-Ontario), who served as
House Co-chair of the Joint I-5 Bridge
Replacement Committee, along with
Rep. Tobias Read (D-Beaverton).
HB 2800 now moves to the Oregon
Senate for a vote March 4.
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MARCH 1, 2013