Conflict at KBOO sparks effort to unionize
KBOO-FM, Portland’s community
non-profit radio station, may soon be a
union shop. A petition filed April 18
asks the National Labor Relations
Board (NLRB) to conduct a union elec-
tion to determine whether the station’s
10 employees want to join Communi-
cations Workers of America (CWA) Lo-
cal 7901.
Employees contacted the union after
station manager Lynn Fitch imple-
mented a package of personnel policy
changes over which they had no say.
Among the changes: Paid maternity
leave was cut in half to three weeks;
paid sick leave was cut in half to 40
hours a year (and the number of hours
of paid sick leave employees could ac-
crue was cut to 40 from 480); and em-
ployees were designated as “at-will.”
New officers and executive board members of Oregon AFSCME Council 75
take the oath of office at the conclusion of the council’s bienial convention
April 21. Delivering the oath is Executive Director Ken Allen. (Photos
courtesy Oregon AFSCME Council 75)
Klatke elected president
of Oregon AFSCME #75
BEND — Jeff Klatke is the new
president of Oregon AFSCME Council
75.
Klatke, a member of AFSCME Lo-
cal 3135 employed at Home Forward
(formerly known as the Housing Au-
thority of Portland),
defeated Tina Turner-
Morfitt of Local 2376
(Corrections Security
Plus) to win the open
seat. He succeeds Gary
Gillespie, who did not
seek re-election.
The election was
JEFF KLATKE
held at the Council’s
biennial convention
April 20 in Bend.
Gillespie, 61, works at the Eugene
Public Library and is a member of AF-
SCME Local 1724. He’s held a num-
ber of jobs with the City of Eugene
since first hiring on in 1987, and he’s
held a number of titles with Local 1724
as well, including a couple of different
stints as president of his local union.
He served as president — the Coun-
cil’s top post — for 12 years.
“It has been an honor to lead this or-
ganization, and it’s a job I am proud to
have held the past dozen years,” says
Gillespie. “But it’s time for me to pull
back a little on union responsibilities
and make way for a new president.”
During his tenure, Gillespie pushed
to expand the membership, both by
sheer numbers and internally by both
age and interest. He’s pleased, for ex-
ample, that the Council takes stands on
environmental issues, and he’s proud
that the Next Wave (under 35) move-
ment was launched under his watch.
There were no changes in the next
two spots in the Council's membership-
based chain of command. Michael
Hanna of Multnomah County Local 88
ran unopposed as first vice president; as
did Bryan Branstetter of Local 3361
(Eastern Oregon Correctional Institu-
tion) as second vice president.
Annette Skillman of Local 2376 ran
unopposed for secretary. She succeeds
Marci Jo Carlton of Local 328 (OHSU),
who did not seek re-election. In a con-
tested race for treasurer, Marc Abrams
PAGE 8
Eight of the 10 employees signed
union authorization cards, and at an
April 2 staff meeting, asked Fitch to
voluntarily recognize the union. But
that didn’t happen. So on April 18, with
a mass firing rumored to be in the
works, the union asked the NLRB to
oversee an election.
The April 22 meeting of the KBOO
board of directors was packed with
union supporters there to urge recogni-
tion. Retired letter carrier Jamie Par-
tridge — one of a crew of volunteers
who host the station’s weekly Labor
Radio program, said the board seemed
resolute in backing the changes. Par-
tridge predicts a protracted struggle at
the station.
In an interview with the Labor Press,
Fitch, the station manager, disputed any
of Local 1085 (Oregon Justice Attor-
neys) defeated Debbie Hussey of Local
189 (City of Portland) in a close con-
test.
Those five statewide officers are
joined on the Council’s Executive Com-
mittee by six sector vice presidents, five
congressional district vice presidents,
and the retirees chapter president.
Over 200 delegates and alternates,
along with Council 75 staff, guests and
others, packed the Riverhouse Conven-
tion Center in Bend April 19-21 for the
convention.
In delivering the convention’s
keynote address, AFSCME Interna-
tional President Lee Saunders said
unions are under attack in ways not
seen since the Great Depression.
“Last year, public sector union
membership dropped for the first time
ever since those statistics started being
kept,” Saunders warned. “We are done
with ‘fair weather friends.’ This is not
about party, this is about standing with
us. If you don’t, we don’t care if there is
a D or an R after your name, we’re
through. We stand together, or you
don’t stay with us.”
Also speaking at the convention was
Oregon U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley.
(Editor’s Note: Don Loving, com-
munications director of Oregon AF-
SCME Council 75, contributed to this
report.)
suggestion that KBOO is not a progres-
sive employer. One employee was
given permission to bring her infant to
work every day, for example. But the
station — which was managed collec-
tively by staff for several years prior to
Fitch’s hire as executive director last fall
— has been in a prolonged decline fi-
nancially and in listenership.
Given a mandate by KBOO’s
elected board to address the decline,
Fitch said she set about to bring policies
in line with what’s sustainable, legal
and standard at other non-profits. Fur-
ther policy changes are frozen, however,
while the union process is resolved. Un-
der federal law, once workers give no-
tice they want a union, an employer is
supposed to hold off making changes
until it can be determined whether it’s
supposed to negotiate those with a
union. In most cases, the NLRB holds
an election about six weeks after work-
ers request it.
No election date has been scheduled.
To discuss the recent changes, the
KBOO board has called a membership
meeting for May 4 at 1 p.m., at Tabor
Space, 5441 SE Belmont St., Portland.
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for Hillsboro School Board, Pos. 2
ENDORSED BY: Northwest Oregon Labor Council;
PCC Federation of Faculty and Academic Professionals
Local 2277, American Federation of Teachers;
Hillsboro Classified Employees Association;
Hillsboro Education Association;
IBEW Local 48;
Painters and Tapers Local 10
(Authorized and paid for by the Northwest Oregon Labor Council)
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
MAY 3, 2013