Port will consider a ‘social equity’ policy for airport workers
PDX lags behind other
West Coast airports in
raising standards for low-
wage service workers
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
Port of Portland managers say
they’re working on a proposal to raise
worker standards at Portland Interna-
tional Airport (PDX), but it won’t come
soon enough for a group of food service
workers who are due to be laid off Dec.
31.
At Gustav’s Pub and Grill, 48
newly-unionized workers got layoff no-
tices in September, after their employer
— airport food service company HMS
Host — lost its lease. The closure isn’t
because Gustav’s isn’t doing well. It’s
because of a restaurant reshuffling in-
stigated by airport managers.
At least four other West Coast air-
ports — Los Angeles, San Francisco,
Oakland, and SeaTac — have “worker
retention” policies. The policies require
new vendors to hire old workers when
concessions change hands. But PDX
Happy holidays
to our members and
fellow unionists from the
Oregon School
Employees
Association
DECEMBER 19, 2014
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
lacks such a policy, notwithstanding
months of appeals from the union
UNITE HERE Local 8 at meetings of
the Port of Portland Commission.
UNITE HERE (Union of Needle-
trades, Industrial, and Textile Employ-
ees and Hotel Employees and Restau-
rant Employees Union) has worked to
unionize airport food service workers
around the United States, in tandem
with efforts by Service Employees In-
ternational Union (SEIU) to unionize
airport ramp workers, baggage han-
dlers, jet fuelers, and cabin cleaners. In
September, all 172 HMS Host workers
at the Portland airport became mem-
bers of UNITE HERE Local 8. Local 8
organizer Shellea Allen says the union
represents over 10,000 HMS Host
workers elsewhere.
At PDX, HMS Host operates three
restaurants — Gustav’s, Rose’s Restau-
rant and Bakery, and Rogue Ales Public
House — plus all Starbucks locations.
When the airport failed to renew Gus-
tav’s lease — Bambuza Vietnam Bistro
and MOD Pizza will go there instead
— it meant the union had to negotiate
layoff terms even before bargaining a
first union contract for the unit. UNITE
HERE was able to get HMS Host to
agree to transfer some workers to its
other airport restaurants, and give the
rest a small severance payment.
Van Touch, who worked eight years
as a cook at Gustav’s, was one of the
lucky ones, and will transfer. Vancou-
ver resident Kevin Bell, a widower rais-
ing three boys, was not so lucky. With
worry in his voice, he attended the Dec.
10 Port Commission meeting to plead
for a policy that would prevent that kind
of unnecessary stress in workers’ lives.
Mass layoffs are a given when
restaurants close. But Gustav’s is clos-
ing (and more closures are coming) be-
cause of decisions made by a public
body.
The Port of Portland — led by com-
missioners appointed by the governor
— manages marine terminals, indus-
trial property, and the airport. Its mis-
sion is economic development for the
benefit of local residents.
At Los Angeles International Air-
port, a worker retention policy requires
incoming operators to hire from a pool
of workers laid off by outgoing busi-
nesses. LAX food service worker
Elvira Fillet was one of several work-
ers who flew to Portland to attend the
Dec. 10 Port Commission meeting so
she could speak to commissioners. Fil-
let said she’s been through four
changeovers since 1989, but the air-
port’s retention policy made it possible
for her to raise a family, buy a car, and
live the “American Dream” while
working at the airport.
UNITE HERE and SEIU have been
showing up repeatedly to monthly
meetings of the Port of Portland Com-
mission, and their persistent appeals for
pro-worker safeguards may be bearing
fruit. At the Commission’s Oct. 8
meeting, retiring Port executive direc-
tor Bill Wyatt said retention would be
part of a “social equity” policy he in-
tends to propose. Commissioner Tom
(Turn to Page 17)
IBEW
Local 280
Wishes
You and Your
Family a
Merry
Christmas
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