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.
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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