IN MEMORIAM
K ATHY M ORRIS , a
retired secretary-treas-
urer of United Food
and Commercial
Workers (UFCW) Lo-
cal 555, died March
29 at her home in For-
est Grove. She was
71.
K ATHLEEN A NN M ORRIS was born
Jan. 10, 1942, in Carroll, Iowa.
Her family moved to Omak, Wash-
ington, when she was a young girl. She
graduated from Omak Union High
School in 1960.
She married Robert “Bob” Morris,
on Dec. 28, 1960. They made their
home in Central Washington until
1963, when they moved to Forest
Grove.
Morris joined UFCW in 1963 when
she went to work as a meatwrapper at
the Forest Grove Safeway.
She rose from the ranks to elected
office in 1987, when she defeated a
longtime incumbent in a run-off elec-
tion for secretary-treasurer.
She went on to serve three more
terms, leaving in November 1996. She
officially retired on May 30, 1997.
Morris was known for her expertise
in the field of workers’ compensation.
She studied the laws and was the go-to
person at the union to help injured
members get through the myriad rules
and regulations of the workers’ comp
system.
She was appointed by two gover-
nors to serve as a labor representative
on the 10-person Workers’ Compensa-
tion Management-Labor Advisory
Committee. MLAC was created by the
Oregon Legislature as part of the mas-
sive reform of the workers’ compensa-
tion system in 1990.
Morris also served as a trustee on
the UFCW Pension & Trust Fund and
was on the Executive Board of the
UFCW International Northwest Re-
gion.
After retiring she was elected and
served three years on the Forest Grove
City Council.
Morris is survived by her husband,
Bob; three children; five grandchil-
dren; six great-grandchildren; and
three brothers. She was preceded in
death by a son, daughter, and grand-
daughter.
The family suggests donations in
Kathleen’s name to Forest Grove High
School Athletic Department in care of
Doug Thompson.
L IN M AYES , a former secretary-
treasurer of UFCW Local 555, died in
a Salem hospital April 4. He was 66.
L INDEN H ENRY M AYES was born
Oct. 11, 1946, in Elmira, New York.
He began his career at age 15, taking a
job at a small butcher
shop in New York.
After high school
he went to work for
American Stores as a
meatcutter. He later
became the meat
market manager and
a member of Amal-
gamated Meat Cutters Local 1.
He married Sandra in 1967. They
had two children.
In 1972, while working at the
Meats and Foods Warehouse in New
York City, Mayes was promoted to
general manager in charge of seven
stores in the New York metropolitan
area.
He moved his family to Oregon in
1978, taking a job as a meatcutter for
Albertsons. He worked there for 17
years — two years as assistant meat
sales manager for the Albertsons Ore-
gon Division.
As a member of UFCW, Mayes
served as a shop steward, volunteered
on organizing committees, and
served as a picket captain.
In 1987 he was appointed to the
local’s Executive Board, and in 1995
he was hired as a union representa-
tive covering Salem, Albany, Corval-
lis, Lebanon, Sweet Home, Stayton,
Silverton, Woodburn, Bend, Red-
mond, Madras and Burns.
Mayes held several leadership po-
sitions at Local 555, including griev-
ance director and membership serv-
ices director. He negotiated many
contracts, and served as a trustee on
the Oregon Federation of Butchers
Pension Plan.
He was appointed secretary-treas-
urer of Local 555 in February 2005 to
fill the unexpired term of Ed Clay,
who retired. Mayes was forced to re-
tire in May 2006 due to health reasons.
Mayes is survived by his wife of 46
years; two children; numerous grand-
children and great grandchildren; two
brothers; and a sister.
Paid sick leave ordinance fails in Philly
PHILADELPHIA (PAI) — A pro-
posed city ordinance requiring firms to
give paid sick leave to almost all pri-
vate-sector workers in Philadelphia
failed on April 11 when the city council
could not muster enough votes to over-
ride Mayor Michael Nutter’s veto.
The week before, Nutter vetoed the
ordinance for the second time in three
years. He argued it would make Philly
businesses uncompetitive, an argument
that Debra Ness, president of the Na-
tional Partnership for Women and Fam-
APRIL 19, 2013
ilies (NPWF), rejects. Her organization
lobbies for such laws at local levels and
in Congress.
“More than 100,000 Philadelphians
will continue to face impossible
choices when illness strikes. For the
second time, the city’s residents have
been denied the ability to earn paid sick
days. The city and the families who live
there will suffer as a result,” said Ness,
adding that “the fight for paid sick days,
in Philadelphia and across the country,
is far from over.”
Transit Union ready to meet with TriMet
Amalgamated Transit Union
(ATU) Local 757 has notified TriMet
that it is ready to start bargaining as
the sides await a judge’s ruling on
whether the negotiations can be open
to the public.
Since November the transit union
and TriMet have been involved in a
procedural standoff over allowing
public access to their contract negoti-
ations. The union says state law re-
quires them to be public, but TriMet
disagrees.
Earlier this month, Multnomah
County Circuit Court Judge Leslie
Roberts said she needs more informa-
tion before she can rule on the matter.
In a letter sent to TriMet General
Manager Neil McFarlane and Execu-
tive Director of Labor Relations
Randy Stedman on April 8, ATU Lo-
cal 757 requested that the parties start
bargaining immediately, rather than
wait for a judicial determination.
“Simply put: What was supposed
to be an expedited process has turned
out not to be,” wrote ATU President
Bruce Hansen.
In a response posted on TriMet’s
website April 10, agency spokes-
woman Mary Fetsch said “TriMet is
looking forward to resuming contract
negotiations with ATU.” She said
TriMet would propose negotiation
dates within the next week. (At press
time no dates had been posted.)
In the letter, Hansen said both
sides must be prepared to schedule an
“extraordinary number” of bargaining
sessions, including at night and on
weekends. He said more bargaining
time will be needed in order to deal
with the more than 400 changes
TriMet has proposed. [TriMet pre-
sented its offer to the ATU and to the
public via its website on Nov. 30,
2012.]
“Last time we bargained, TriMet
made approximately 16 proposals,”
Hansen said.
Fetsch disputed the union’s num-
ber, saying TriMet has offered 29 sub-
stantive proposals. “There are a num-
ber of housekeeping proposals, such
as correcting spelling and punctuation
errors, and incorporating existing side
agreements into the main body of the
contract that do not change the wages,
hours, benefits or working conditions
of employees,” she said.
As for the public attending, that
won’t happen until the judge issues
her ruling.
Fetsch said TriMet “remains com-
mitted to having these bargaining ses-
sions covered by the mainstream me-
dia so the public can be informed
about the process.”
Hansen said TriMet believes it has
found a legal loophole in the public
meetings law that gives it the sole
ability to declare negotiations “non-
public.” “TriMet claims that by sim-
ply sending only one official negotia-
tor to the bargaining table, the session
is no longer subject to the public
meetings law,” Hansen said.
In contrast, union bylaws require
that 18 union members attend bar-
gaining sessions, and they do so in
their off-hours to reduce costs to the
union.
“We think TriMet’s interpretation
is contrary to the legislators’ intent
and the interest of the public,” Hansen
said. “We will continue to seek judi-
cial confirmation of our view of the
statute.”
Who’s On Our Side?
By Tom Chamberlain
American attitudes and the union
movement have come a long may
since I first became involved with la-
bor in the 1980s. My union training
was from fire union leadership who
fought in World War II and Korea.
They were tough, they never com-
plained, and they got the job done. In
fact, they would roll over any obsta-
cle that stood in their path without a
second thought.
Firefighter union leadership was
all white and all male. Their focus
and their mantra — and what they in-
stilled in young leaders like myself
— was wages, hours and working
conditions. Stay away from social is-
sues, stay away from issues that can’t
be addressed at the bargaining table.
This philosophy dates back to
Samuel Gompers. Gompers was a
founding member of the American
Federation of Labor (AFL) and its
president for over 30 years. He was a
strong supporter of these principles,
focusing efforts at the bargaining
table rather than the ballot box. But
even he took a broad view of wages,
hours, and working conditions, stak-
ing out positions on immigration and
foreign affairs.
The firefighter unions of the
1980s were not unique. Many unions
of that era limited their focus to (you
guessed it) wages, hours, and work-
ing conditions.
The problem with the 1980s
mantra is what it ignores. Workers
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
come in all shapes and colors. To fo-
cus only on what can be achieved at
the bargaining table ignores the fact
that our union movement must speak
for all workers — not just those who
are fortunate enough to hold a union
card.
Two years ago, when the Oregon
AFL-CIO passed a convention reso-
lution supporting same-sex marriage,
some were caught off guard. I per-
sonally received telephone calls from
people who were outraged that we
took such action.
Why would anyone be caught off
guard? We represent union members
who are lesbian, bisexual, gay, and
transgender. And if we fight for all
workers — whether they are union
members or not — why would the
Oregon union movement push the
LBGT community to the curb and
turn a blind eye to a basic human
rights issue, one with significant eco-
nomic impacts on Oregon workers
and their families, at that?
Today, the union movement has
moved beyond a 1980s agenda of fo-
cusing on wages, hours, and working
conditions. By staking out a position
on comprehensive immigration re-
form, we will ensure that undocu-
mented workers who have been ex-
cluded from any protection on the job
have a voice. We can show them the
value of a union by giving them pro-
tection, making it hard for bad em-
ployers to exploit them, and if we can
reduce such exploitation, we can sta-
bilize and increase wages.
Comprehensive reform means
tighter control and oversight of a
guest worker program that allows
employers to bring in workers from
outside the United States. If guest
workers lose their jobs, they are de-
ported, creating a program ripe for
exploitation that drives down Ameri-
can wages.
Comprehensive reform means a
pathway to citizenship for millions of
undocumented workers who have
been in America for decades, con-
tributing to our economy and hoping
to be treated like equal workers.
Our position is not only the right
thing to do, it is the smart thing to do.
By giving millions of workers legal
status, we ensure they have a voice
on the job, which leads to greater
protections for workers and increases
our ability to increases wages and
benefits.
No, this isn’t the labor movement
I was introduced to sitting around a
kitchen table at a fire station at 5th
and Southwest College St. three
decades ago. But it is the labor move-
ment that’s on the side of all workers,
and on the side of a stronger future.
Tom Chamberlain is president of
the Oregon AFL-CIO.
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