TriMet pulls plug
on annual picnic
THE GOOD OLD DAYS: Family time, fun, and fellowship at ATU Local 757’s picnic in Blue Lake Park.
Amalgamated Transit Union’s annual picnic at Blue Lake Re-
gional Park was quite an event. As many as 7,000 people — ATU
Local 757 members and their families — would attend the picnic,
which was held in July or August each year. There were games for
the kids, bingo for the grown-ups, and barbecue for all.
The $50,000 event came courtesy of TriMet’s collective bar-
gaining agreement with the union, in which the transit agency con-
tributed to a recreation fund overseen by the union — TriMet’s
own funds, plus proceeds from employee break room vending ma-
chines. It was one of a handful of perks in a contract that since the
1980s contained no across-the-board raises except cost-of-living
allowances intended to keep pace with inflation (though it did also
maintain generous health and pension benefits.)
But that bargained good-will gesture ended last year. Vending
machine proceeds were diverted to a charity, and an arbitrator im-
posed TriMet’s final contract offer, which included an end to its
Rec Fund contribution. The 2012 picnic consumed the Fund’s re-
maining balance.
So there will be no picnic at Blue Lake this year for union tran-
sit operators and mechanics.
Instead, Local 757 President Bruce Hansen said the union is
trying to secure a spot at Northwest Oregon Labor Council’s burst-
ing-at-the-seams annual Labor Day picnic at Oaks Amusement
Park. That location is also where ATU’s retired members have
their annual picnic, which will take place Wednesday, July 10, at
11 a.m.
Hansen said Local 757 is challenging the arbitrator’s decision,
and hopes in the end to get the Rec Fund contribution reinstated.
Wanted:
Union-made elephant ears
Zoo food workers
want union rights
and permanent work
Temporary food service workers at
the Oregon Zoo want a union. Labor-
ers Local 483, which represents about
188 other zoo employees, says over 80
percent of the 160 food service em-
ployees have signed union authoriza-
tion cards seeking to join them.
The workers have no beef at all with
their front-line managers, said Local
483 spokesperson Megan Hise. It’s the
wages and working conditions they’re
objecting to. Nearly all are part-time
and temporary, limited to 1,040 hours a
year (the equivalent of 30 hours a week
for nine months of the year). They
make minimum wage and have no ben-
efits. They start shifts without knowing
when they’ll leave, because they are
routinely sent home when sales are
slow. They’re not allowed to accept tips
— even when customers holding meet-
ings at zoo event spaces pay a “gratu-
ity” charge. And many zoo food service
workers are on food stamps and rely
on unemployment between layoff and
rehire, Hise said.
The Oregon Zoo is managed by
Metro, the regional government for
the Portland metropolitan area.
Local 483 organizer Toby Green
said the union campaign began when
a zoo food service worker found out
about an internal survey that was
aimed at Local 483’s existing mem-
bers, and filled it out online. Six
months later, a 25-member worker
committee is ready to proclaim “Zo-
olidarity” forever — and petition with
the Oregon Employment Relations
Board to be added to the existing
group. Local 483 has had some suc-
cess getting benefits for temporary
and seasonal workers at the City of
Portland.
“We want a chance to do work that
we’re proud of,” one zoo food service
worker told the Labor Press.
Low Prices!
2-1-1 can be a lifesaver
2-1-1 is an easy to remember tele-
phone number that connects callers to
information about critical health and
human services available in their com-
munities. In Oregon, it is run by
211info, in partnership with United
Way. It can be access on line at
www.211info. org.
PAGE 12
12-31-2013.
Mon-Fri 9-6, Sat 9:30-5:30, Sun 12-6
2013
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
JULY 5, 2013