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March 6, 2015 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
NORTHWEST
LABOR
PRESS
(International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X)
Established in 1900 in Portland, Oregon as a voice of the la-
bor movement. Published on a semi-monthly basis on the
first and third Fridays of each month by the Oregon Labor
Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non-profit mutual benefit corpo-
ration owned by 20 unions and councils including the Ore-
gon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in
Oregon and Southwest Washington.
Office location:
4275 NE Halsey St., Portland, Oregon
Mailing address:
P.O. Box 13150, Portland, OR 97213
Phone: (503) 288-3311
Web address:
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Editor & Manager: Michael Gutwig
Associate editor: Don McIntosh
Office manager: Cheri Rice
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COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
Swan Island shipyard workers reject contract offers
Shipyard workers at two Vigor
Industrial-owned facilities at
Portland’s Swan Island have
turned down new contract pro-
posals.
At Cascade General, 221
workers narrowly rejected a ten-
tative agreement in voting held
Jan. 16. Workers are represented
by the Portland Metal Trades
Council, a coalition of 10 craft
unions. The contract expired
Nov. 30, 2014.
At Vigor Fab, 231 workers at
facilities in Portland and Puget
Sound, Wash., voted down a
“last, best and final” offer —
226 to 5. Voting was held Jan.
14. Workers are represented
wall-to-wall by Boilermakers
Local 104. The contract expired
on Feb. 28.
Vigor Industrial is the parent
company of Vigor Marine at
Swan Island, plus several other
ship building and repair facili-
ties in Seattle, Tacoma, Everett,
Bremerton and Port Angeles.
The company is owned by
Frank Foti.
Last October, Foti brought in
a new 960-foot floating drydock
to Swan Island, opening Portland
to new markets, such as cruise
ships and post-Panamax vessels.
Shipyard workers at Cascade
General, Vigor Shipyard, and
Washington Marine Repair are
covered under one master labor
agreement negotiated and ad-
ministered by the national Metal
Trades Department, AFL-CIO.
The region’s respective metal
trades councils bargain local
terms and conditions in side
agreements.
The national agreement does-
n’t expire until June 2017.
After workers at Cascade
General rejected their contract
offer on Jan. 16, the sides re-
turned to the bargaining table on
Feb. 9. At that time, the em-
ployer rescinded a ratification
bonus that was part of the first
tentative agreement.
“The company said the ratifi-
cation bonus was a one-time of-
fer, and will not be put back on
the table for discussion,” said
Brian Opland, business manager
of Boilermakers Local 104, an
affiliate of the Portland Metal
Trades Council.
Union officials consider the
ratification bonus equivalent to
retroactive pay to when the con-
tract expired in November.
“I think it will be very diffi-
cult to get to a deal without that
(retro pay) in there,” said Bud
Bartunek, president of the Port-
land Metal Trades Council and
area director of Painters and Al-
lied Trades District Council 5.
At the Feb. 9 bargaining ses-
sion, Cascade General did agree
to allow individual unions to se-
lect their medical plans. The re-
jected proposal had called for an
across-the-board change from a
90-10 medical plan to an 80-20
medical plan. The premium on
an 80-20 insurance plan is less
expensive. Under the revised
proposal, each union will be al-
lowed to vote on which medical
plan they want. However, those
unions whose members elect to
have better benefits will be re-
sponsible for covering the addi-
tional cost through a wage de-
duction.
Another bargaining session is
scheduled for March 19.
Opland of the Boilermakers
told the Labor Press no new
talks have been scheduled at
Vigor Fab.
Last year, Vigor Shipyard in
Puget Sound implemented its
last, best and final offer on
workers represented by the
Puget Sound Metal Trades
Council. Workers then voted not
to strike. It takes a two-thirds
majority to strike.
Vigor Shipyard is signatory to
the master labor agreement.
Last September, Vigor Indus-
trial unilaterally implemented a
“no tobacco” policy at all of its
facilities. In response, the Port-
land and Puget Sound metal
trades councils filed an unfair la-
bor practice complaint with the
National Labor Relations Board
(NLRB).
A few weeks after the filing,
several hundred shipyard work-
ers at six Vigor Industrial facili-
ties in Oregon and Washington
conducted a one-day unfair la-
bor practice strike during lunch
break and at the afternoon shift
change.
Opland said the NLRB Re-
gion 19 ruled in favor of the
metal trades councils and or-
dered Vigor Industrial to rescind
the policy. The company has ap-
pealed. A hearing is scheduled
for June.
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