Inside
MEETING
NOTICES
See
Page 6
Volume 115
Number 10
May 16, 2014
Portland
New mass transit bridge is UNION-BUILT
Tilikum Crossing, Bridge of the People
Portland-area union officials toured the new Tilikum Crossing, Bridge of the People, on May 6. Construction on the
transit bridge over the Willamette River began July 1, 2011, under a project/community benefits labor agreement
with construction unions and general contractor Kiewit Infrastructure West Co. The unique cable-stayed bridge
with two piers in the water is part of TriMet’s Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Transit Project, which will travel 7.3
miles between Portland State University, inner Southeast Portland, and Milwaukie and Oak Grove in north
Clackamas County. In addition to carrying light rail trains, streetcars and buses, the bridge’s two 14-foot wide
pathways will allow people to commute car-free to work, school and recreation. To date, the project has logged 1.8
million work-hours and paid out $101 million in wages and fringe benefits to workers. TriMet General Manager
Neil McFarlane, who led the tour, said 80 percent of the project’s 500 subcontracts have been let to Oregon companies,
with 16 to 17 percent of those to women and minority contractors. Thirteen to 14 percent of the workforce is made
up of apprentices in training. “That equates to 200,000-plus hours of training that is taking place for our future
workforce. That’s substantial,” said John Mohlis, executive secretary of the Oregon State Building Trades Council.
Joining Mohlis on the tour were Tom Chamberlain, president of the Oregon AFL-CIO; Bob Tackett, executive
secretary-treasurer of the Northwest Oregon Labor Council; Joe Esmonde,
a union rep for IBEW Local 48; and Willy Myers, executive secretary of the
Columbia Pacific Building Trades Council. Esmonde sits on TriMet’s board
of directors, and Mohlis is a commissioner on the Portland Development
Commission. McFarlane said the bridge — which is scheduled for completion
in September 2015 — is on time and on budget.
No surprise: Portland park rangers vote union
Overcoming legal
obstruction by the
City, rangers are
now part of DCTU
Uniformed park rangers at the City
of Portland learned May 6 the results
of their union election. Want to guess
what the tally was? Unanimous: 14-0.
Which is exactly what rangers told
Portland Mayor Charlie Hales, to his
face, when they asked him in March
2013 to voluntarily recognize their
choice to join Laborers Local 483.
Hales declined to do that, and instead,
told them to request a state-adminis-
tered secret ballot election. After they
did that, the City Attorney’s office,
which answers to Hales, spent 10
months pursuing legal objections. The
City lost, then appealed, then lost again
and was ordered to get on with the
election. The rangers are just glad to
have it resolved.
“It’s been a long process, and each
and every one of us has stepped up to
make sure this happened,” said park
ranger Vicente Harrison. “Every time
we step in the parks, families appreci-
ate our presence, so I think Portlanders
would be very happy to hear we have
representation and we can go to our job
every day feeling appreciated.”
Seven new rangers have been hired
in the last month, bringing the unit to
about 23 total. They’ll be covered un-
der the City’s contract with the seven-
union coalition known as the District
Council of Trade Unions (DCTU). For
a time, rangers thought they might fi-
nally become union members just in
time to go on strike with DCTU, which
had trouble getting a new contract. But
DCTU and the City came to terms, and
ratified a new contract in April.
Once the Employment Relations
Board certifies the election results May
19, Local 483 will seek to bargain with
the City over specific terms covering
the rangers.
Harrison said rangers’ bargaining
priorities include having more say over
safety procedures dealing with intoxi-
cated individuals, and getting wage in-
creases to bring their pay closer to that
of other urban rangers. Portland pays
rangers $12 to $17 an hour, compared
to $19 to $22 an hour at Metro and the
City of Seattle, Harrison said.
“Our voice has been heard clear,”
Harrison said. “We want to be treated
fairly.”