Inside
MEETING
NOTICES
See
Page 6
Volume 114
Number 12
June 21, 2013
Portland
Motorcycle ride raises cash for kids
As Obamacare insurance exchanges
near launch, labor braces for impact
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
Organized labor — entirely left out
of the legislation that became known as
Obamacare — has spent years behind
the scenes patiently pleading with the
Obama Administration to be allowed to
benefit from the law’s implementation.
Now, four months before the law’s
mandated state insurance exchanges
launch, it appears that while some
union members will benefit, many oth-
ers may actually be harmed.
The state-by-state health insurance
exchanges, which launch Oct. 1, 2013,
are the linchpin of Obamacare’s plan to
cover the uninsured. The exchanges
will benefit a minority of low-wage
union members who don’t currently
have employer-provided health insur-
ance. But they may harm many other
union members who are covered
through union-affiliated multi-em-
ployer health trusts — which are preva-
lent in construction and in low-wage in-
dustries like grocery and janitorial.
The harm would come chiefly be-
cause union members and their em-
ployers won’t have access to individual
subsidies, or to small-employer tax
credits, for insurance purchased on the
exchanges. But their nonunion com-
petitors will.
The state exchanges will begin sell-
ing insurance Oct. 1 to individuals and
small businesses, with coverage to take
effect Jan. 1, 2014.
All otherwise uninsured individuals
will be required to purchase health in-
surance, or else face a tax penalty that
starts at 1 percent of income and rises to
2.5 percent by 2016. Those earning up
to four times the poverty level will get
some amount of subsidy when they
purchase on the exchanges. And the
poorest — those earning less than 133
percent of the poverty level — will
have their insurance paid for entirely.
But individuals won’t be allowed to
buy insurance on the exchanges if their
employer provides health insurance.
And most union employers do provide
health insurance. Unionized janitorial
and security contractors in Portland, for
example, recently signed five-year con-
tracts committing them to provide in-
surance. Nonunion employers that cur-
rently provide insurance could decide
to drop coverage, and give raises to
cover their workers’ individual premi-
ums for insurance bought on the ex-
changes. But union employers would-
n’t have that option while their current
contracts continued.
Meanwhile, small businesses (less
than 50 employees) don’t have to pro-
vide insurance under the new law. But
they get a tax credit reimbursing them
50 percent of the cost if they purchase
insurance on the exchanges for their
employees.
Yet unionized small businesses that
purchase insurance through union
health trusts won’t get that tax credit.
The tax credit only goes for insurance
that’s sold on the exchanges. And the
trusts can’t sell on the exchanges. The
trusts are neither insurers nor employ-
ers, strictly speaking; they’re more like
jointly-run purchasing pools that self-
insure or purchase group insurance
plans.
That’s not all. Union health trusts
will actually have to pay a temporary
tax to subsidize private insurance com-
(Turn to Page 9)
The 11th annual Unions for Kids motorcycle poker run donated a record
$64,000 to Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. In the photo above, committee
members Rob Williamson and Lee Duncan present a check to Ashley
Schmidt of the Doernbecher Foundation. The event, held June 8 at the
IBEW Local 48 union hall in Northeast Portland, drew 405 participants.
The winner of the Poker Run — with a high hand of four queens — was
Carol Gilmore. The low-hand of 4-5-6-7-9 was held by Darcy Freimark.
Each received a cash prize. The Chili Cook-off champions were Rick and
Gwen Flores, representing IBEW Local 48. The largest portion of the
fundraiser comes from a raffle for a new Harley-Davidson motorcycle. This
year’s winner was Christine Smith of Milwaukie, Oregon. She is a member
of International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 28.
The largest single union contribution to the event was $5,000 from
Carpenters Local 156. The largest private (corporate) contribution was from
Columbia Motorcycle Harley-Davidson, $3,500. Another $4,818 was raised
at a Texas Hold‘em poker tournament in March hosted by Sheet Metal
Workers Local 16. Unions for Kids is a nonprofit and all-volunteer
organization, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to the kids at
Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. Since its inception, the Poker Run has
donated $390,000 to Doernbecher.
Precision Castparts workers
vote down Machinists Union
A union campaign among Portland-
area Precision Castparts (PCC) work-
ers failed to find majority support in
ballots counted June 7. The tally was
932 for joining International Associa-
tion of Machinists (IAM), and 1,258
against, or roughly 43 percent to 57
percent. Twenty ballots were chal-
lenged by one side or another and
weren’t counted in the tally, but that
wouldn’t have affected the outcome.
Turnout was very high, with 2,210
workers casting ballots over a two-day
period at five sites in Portland, Mil-
waukie, and Clackamas, Oregon. That
amounted to 95 percent of the 2,323
workers eligible to vote.
The vote came after a month of
heavy campaigning. PCC employed
consultants and waged a tailor-made
campaign that followed the standard
employer playbook for fighting unions.
“They hit all the standard misinfor-
mation marks,” IAM national
spokesperson Frank Larkin told the
Labor Press. “Both aboveground and
below-ground campaigns stirred the
rumor pot with threats of outsourcing
to Mexico, or the prospect that if you
join a union, you go on strike.”
Managers and consultants led
mandatory-attendance antiunion meet-
ings in the workplace. The company
(Turn to Page 3)