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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (April 4, 2014)
Inside: MEETING NOTICES See Page 6 Volume 115 Number 7 April 4, 2014 Portland, Oregon Strike averted at City of Portland DCTU signs off on compromise language over contracting out City of Portland and the seven-union 1,600-member District Council of Trade Unions (DCTU) reached tentative agreement on a new four-year contract shortly after midnight March 28 — after 16 straight hours of mediated bargaining. DCTU leaders say they were prepared to issue a 10-day strike notice if the session had not produced a deal. In an earlier March 11 mediation session, the two sides had worked out a compromise preserving members’ right to take “comp time,” but still were at odds over job security going into the March 28 session. The breakthrough was a compromise on a clause that limits the City’s ability to contract out. The City had proposed to basically gut that clause, known as Article 6, when it started bargaining last spring. Article 6 said the City may not con- tract out members’ work unless it first demonstrated that doing so would save money, and that the savings wouldn’t come from lower wages and benefits. After much push-back from the DCTU, the City added a statement that it didn’t intend to privatize its workforce, but could contract out under a number of specific con- ditions. One of the conditions was if the City workers lacked the proper equipment or skills to do a job. But that prompted specu- lation among DCTU members that the City would let equipment SIGNING ON THE DOTTED LINE. Rob Wheaton, chief negotiator for the seven-union District Council of Trade Unions, signs a tentative agreement March 28 that if ratified, will be a new four-year union contract for 1,600 City of Portland employees. The hand on the left belongs to his counterpart, Labor Relations director Julia Getchell. fall into disrepair, or simply declare that workers lacked the right skill — in order to contract out their work. In the end, the City added a specific commitment to maintain equipment and skills training. “They’ve assured us they will continue to invest in proper equipment and skills as methods evolve,” said AFSCME Local 189 member Rob Martineau, a Water Bureau crew leader and member of the bargaining team. The new Article 6 also says no employees will lose their jobs as a result of contracting out. The tentative agreement would be retroactive to July 1, 2013 and would run through June 30, 2017. Workers likely won’t be thrilled about the wage increases in the agreement, DCTU chief negotiator Rob Wheaton said, but city bargaining units in police, emergency communications, and recre- ation centers have already accepted the same offer — a 0.9 percent wage increase retroactive to Aug. 29, 2013, and increases equal to the increase in the Consumer Price Index in subsequent years (minimum 1 percent and maximum 5 percent.) The tentative agreement now goes out to affiliated unions for ratification votes. DCTU members rejected a previous tentative agreement in February, and then overwhelmingly said “no” to an even worse “last best offer” from the City in mid-March. But Wheaton said he’s confident this tentative agreement will pass, (Turn to Page 9) Union rep running strong campaign for Oregon House By DON McINTOSH Associate Editor The union movement has a chance this year to enlarge the Oregon Legis- lature’s informal “labor caucus” — lawmakers with a background in or- ganized labor. Oregon Nurses Associa- tion (ONA) union representative Rob Oregon Nurses Association’s Rob Nosse (left) chose to get on the ballot by collecting 500 signatures, rather than by paying a $25 filing fee. Nosse is running for state representa- tive, and the Oregon AFL-CIO and other labor organizations are devoting considerable resources to his cam- paign. Nosse [rhymes with dose], a Demo- crat, is running in House District 42, the inner Southeast Portland district that extends from I-84 to Reed College and from the Willamette River to 33rd, 50th, and 62nd Avenues. Nosse and five other Democrats are vying to re- place Jules Bailey, the district’s current representative, who is running for Multnomah County Commission. Whoever gets the most votes from among the district’s 26,035 registered Democrats in the May 20 primary is considered certain to win office in No- vember, since no Republican filed to run in the district where only 6 percent of registered voters are Republican. “I think it’s very important to get people that have a union perspective in [the state Capitol],” Nosse told the La- bor Press, “people who have struggled to get a contract, struggled to bargain for benefits and decent wages and de- cent working conditions. I understand that in my gut, because I’ve spent my career trying to do those things, to make work better and more humane.” Nosse, 46, is an Ohio native who was active in student government in college, and eventually headed the Ohio Student Association. After gradu- ating from Miami University in Ox- ford, Ohio, with a philosophy degree, he moved to Oregon in 1992 to direct the Oregon Student Association. There he got to know labor organizations while lobbying the Legislature for bet- ter state college funding. The acquain- tance led to short-term political jobs for Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Oregon AFSCME Council 75, and Oregon Education Association, and in 1996, state workers union SEIU Local 503 hired him as an organizer. In 2000, he joined the staff at SEIU Local 49, which represents hospital support workers, and in 2004, he went to work for ONA. Today he helps bargain and enforce union contracts covering 1,200 ONA members at Providence Portland Medical Center, Providence Hood (Turn to Page 4) NLRB says athletes at Northwestern can unionize CHICAGO (PAI) — Northwestern University football players won the right to form a union after National La- bor Relations Board (NLRB) Chicago Regional Director Peter Sung Ohr ruled March 26 the players “all squarely fall within the [National Labor Relations] Act’s broad definition of ‘employee’ when one considers the common law definition of 'employee.’ ” Northwestern, a private university, says it will appeal the decision. The ruling doesn’t impact public universities. In January, Northwestern quarter- back Kain Colter, with the support of the United Steelworkers, filed with the NLRB union authorization cards from the players seeking to join the College Athletes Players Association (CAPA). During a series of NLRB hearings, the university argued against the play- ers’ right to form a union, claiming they were not employees and thus ineligible. (Turn to Page 2)
