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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 19, 2014)
Turning a page on a $15 union contract minimum wage floor Multnomah County Library workers Nicole Bilyeu, Bruce Jenks and Jennifer Behr are among roughly 160 workers at the County who will get sizable raises under a new union contract that sets a minimum wage of $15 an hour. OFFICE SPACE FOR RENT 180 sq ft office at Southern Oregon Labor Temple, 4480 Rogue Valley Hwy, Central Point, Oregon. $243 per month, janitorial service and utilities included. Outside en- trance, and restrooms located next door. For more information, call Katherine McUne at 541-664-0800 Less than a week apart at the begin- ning of November, two Portland public employers announced agreements with American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) local unions to establish $15 minimum wage floors in their contracts. First was Home Forward, Port- land’s housing agency, adding a clause to Local 3135’s existing contract. Then, days later, Multnomah County agreed with Local 88 on a new pact that included the $15 minimum wage. Home Forward is raising 33 employ- ees to $15 immediately, while Mult- nomah County will phase in its 155 af- fected employees over the life of the three-year contract. Either way, the im- pact is significant. Nine out of 10 of those who will benefit at Multnomah County are em- ployed as pages at the county library — shelving books and helping library patrons with questions or library ac- ...Portland street fund (From Page 19) that the City tries to do most street maintenance work in-house, because it’s more efficient. But the street fund would also open up opportunities for private sector jobs: Projects valued at over $250,000 must be contracted to the private sector, under state law, and would be subject to a state requirement to pay the prevailing wage. PBOT has estimated that the maintenance work would add 59 City jobs, including 28 front-line jobs. The ordinance would also lead to the creation of 22 new po- sitions in the Revenue Bureau. The City hasn’t produced an estimate of private sector jobs. Portland City Council is expected to vote on the proposal Jan. 7. count maintenance. “It’s validation of the work we do,” says Jennifer Behr, a 26-year page at Multnomah County Library. “What we do isn’t ‘minor’ — it has value. It’s also important that the county compensates even its lowest-paid workers with a liv- ing wage.” “For the first time, I have breathing room — that’s the best way to put it,” says Jasmine Criss, a Home Forward resident specialist at the 289-unit Hol- lywood East public housing complex. Criss is 22, single, and goes to Portland Community College part-time while working full-time at Home Forward. She’s seeing an immediate wage in- crease of $2.45 per hour (from $12.55 to $15), and says that difference is huge to her limited budget. “It’s been hard, especially going to school, to pay everything and balance my budget. Now I’m going to be able to do that, and I’ll have about $50 per month left over for extras, or to simply save. I’ve never had that, so it’s a big deal.” The budget of federally-funded Home Forward has recovered since last year’s U.S. government sequestra- tion hit the agency hard, says Local 3135 President Elyse Alexander. “We went to our board last spring and opened discussions about imple- menting a $15 minimum, living wage,” Alexander said. “I think we opened their eyes with some examples. We had a 10-year Home Forward employee who still qualifies for living assistance from this agency despite working full- time. To their credit, our board recog- nized the problem and ultimately agreed to do the right thing.” (Editor’s Note: Don Loving, Ore- gon AFSCME communications direc- tor, contributed to this report.) Multnomah County commits to $15 minimum wage for all employees Seconds after the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners voted to ratify a collective bargaining agreement with AFSCME Local 88 at its Dec. 4 meeting, County Chair Deborah Kafoury had an announcement to make: The commitment to phase in a $15 minimum wage rate — agreed to in the contract — will also apply to about 400 temporary and on-call workers at the County, even though they’re not members of the bargaining unit. That includes about 300 temporary elections workers as well as about 45 on- call pages at the Multnomah County library. Most of Local 88’s 2,900 members at Multnomah County make more than $15 an hour, but about 160 will get raises under the new contract floor — to $13 immediately, $14 as of July 2015, and $15 as of July 2016. Even if an employer fails to buy workers’ comp coverage an injured worker has the right to obtain benefits. Learn about your rights before you give up on obtaining help when you are hurt on the job. DECEMBER 19, 2014 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS PAGE 21
