TriMet calls an end to bargaining with ATU Local 757
Union files unfair labor
practice complaint
alleging the transit agency
bargained in bad faith
TriMet and Amalgamated Transit Union
(ATU) Local 757 submitted contract offers to a
state mediator May 22, as required by state law
once TriMet declared impasse May 14. The two
sides could still reach agreement at a scheduled
June 24 mediation session, but with their positions
so far apart, it seems more likely that the contract
will again go to binding arbitration, possibly this
fall. In binding arbitration, each side would pres-
ent a final offer to a mutually-agreed-upon arbi-
trator, who would pick one offer in its entirety as
the new union contract covering about 2,000
workers and 1,200 retirees.
That’s the way it’s supposed to work, anyway,
under a 2007 change to state law. The change,
sought by the union, replaced public transit work-
ers’ right to strike with binding contract arbitra-
tion, which is what public safety workers like fire-
fighters and police and corrections officers have.
But when ATU lost the 2012 arbitration, it filed
legal objections on the grounds that elements of
the arbitrator’s ruling were unlawful. That case is
still pending before the Oregon Court of Appeals.
Meanwhile, the contract that the arbitrator im-
posed expired Nov. 30, 2012. Bargaining for a
PAGE 12
new contract didn’t start until September 2013,
because TriMet and the union couldn’t agree on
negotiation ground rules. And the three-year con-
tract they’ve been discussing would expire Nov.
30, 2015.
ATU filed charges with the state Employment
Relations Board May 21 saying TriMet bargained
in bad faith because it didn’t provide timely, com-
plete, or accurate information about health insur-
ance that would justify a demand for concessions;
it refused to discuss a union proposal to establish
a joint health insurance trust; and started off pro-
posing 2 percent annual wage increases and then
dropped its proposal to 0 percent.
In the unfair labor practice complaint, Local
757 said TriMet’s initial proposal contained over
400 changes to the collective bargaining agree-
ment. Of those, 22 were changes that would neg-
atively impact members’ income. The union said
no bargaining took place over economic issues
during the first 30 bargaining sessions, noting that
the first 20 sessions were dedicated solely to
TriMet explaining its (400) proposals and an-
swering questions.
TriMet and ATU will have a chance to change
their offers before arbitration, but the offers they
sent to the mediator show how far apart they are.
TriMet proposes no raises in the first two years
of the contract, and a 3 percent raise at the begin-
ning of the third year. Its final offer last time —
the one the arbitrator imposed — was 3 to 5 per-
cent a year, based on the increase in the Consumer
Price Index. ATU proposes that those raises be
continued.
TriMet also proposes to increase what union
members pay for health insurance. Before 2009,
TriMet paid substantially all insurance costs for
members and their families. But persuaded by
TriMet’s argument that the coverage was too ex-
pensive, the arbitrator agreed to reduce the bene-
fit to a level that covers 90 percent of the bills af-
ter a $300-per-person yearly deductible. TriMet
now proposes to reduce that further to 80 percent,
and require members to start paying 6 or 10 per-
cent of the premium. In contrast, ATU wants to
return the benefit level to 100 percent, and it pro-
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
poses that active members start paying 3 percent
of the premium (though at a composite rate, so
that workers would pay the same regardless of
family size.)
TriMet dropped a number of proposals that an-
gered union members, including an end to laun-
dering bus mechanics’ coveralls. But it still wants
to get rid of the Employee Assistance Program,
which provides things like marital and financial
counseling, or substance abuse treatment, to union
members in crisis. ATU wants TriMet to continue
funding the program at $65,000 a year.
The union also proposes:
• That TriMet hire sufficient bus and rail clean-
ers to ensure that vehicle interiors are thoroughly
washed and disinfected at least once every 30 days;
• That Veterans Day be added as a paid holi-
day for veterans;
• That split shifts be limited to 12 hours from
the beginning of the first shift to end of the last
shift;
• That a union representative participate in any
decision to purchase new vehicles, radio systems,
GPS, or maintenance equipment;
• That in the maintenance shop, TriMet install
fire alarms, provide a public address system that’s
clearly audible, clean the ventilation system at
least once a year, and modify inspection pits so
that mechanics can stand upright while working
under the new low-floor buses; and
• That bus drivers never have to make left turns
like the one that killed two pedestrians and injured
three others in a 2010 accident.
JUNE 6, 2014