NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | March 6, 2015 | PAGE 7
Portland airport shop
workers want a union too
Another group of low-wage
workers at Portland International
Airport (PDX) is seeking to
unionize.
UNITE HERE Local 8 organ-
izer Shellea Allen says more than
two thirds of a group of 45 em-
ployees of the multinational cor-
poration World Duty Free Group
have signed union cards. The
World Duty Free Group employ-
ees staff four shops at PDX:
Kiehl’s, Rich’s News, The Ore-
gonian, and The Market.
On Feb. 18, pro-union workers
and supporters presented a de-
mand to local management that
the company recognize their
choice to unionize, and they set
up a brief informational picket at
the airport. The company de-
clined to respond.
The workers want more regular
schedules, affordable health care,
and wage increases, Allen said.
Currently their wages range from
Oregon’s $9.25 minimum wage
to a little over $10 an hour. World
Duty Free Group has over 500
stores in 20 countries, and spe-
cializes in airport sales of fra-
grance, wine and spirits, cosmet-
ics, food, travel accessories and
souvenirs.
UNITE HERE represents
World Duty Free workers at the
Detroit, Oakland, and San Jose
airports.
The effort to unionize World
Duty Free is part of a larger fight
to improve wages and conditions
for airport service workers. Last
September, the multinational food
concessions company HMS Host
agreed to recognize UNITE
HERE Local 8 as the representa-
tive of its 176 PDX employees at
Starbucks Coffee, Gustav’s Pub
& Grill, Rogue Ales Public
House, and Rose’s Restaurant and
Bakery. Gustav’s later closed
when airport managers cancelled
its lease, but the union is bargain-
ing a first contract for the remain-
ing workers.
The World Duty Free shops
used to be staffed by HMS Host,
but the company sold its retail di-
vision to World Duty Free and
kept its food service division.
Mon-Fri 9-6, Sat 9:30-5:30, Sun 12-6
Keen-eyed local unionists might
have noticed something familiar
about a location in a recent
episode of the comedy show Port-
landia: It’s the regional satellite of-
fice of the Pacific Northwest Re-
gional Council of Carpenters. Of
course, that wasn’t obvious: In the
show, the union sign on the front of the building
was digitally replaced with “Make-A-Wish” for a skit
about a very immature man (played by Fred
Armisen) diagnosed with cancer. But that is the
union office in Season 5, Episode 3, “Health Care,”
which aired Jan. 22 on the IFC cable network.
Regional Council spokesperson Ben Basom says the
film crew shot a second skit at the office, which may
even feature union secretary Martha Verduzco as
an extra, though it hadn’t aired as this issue went
to press.
Basom says the union was approached last year by
a location scout who admired the building. The Re-
gional Council allowed Portlandia to use its location at no charge, and filming took place over about
four hours Aug. 1. Portlandia is famed for lampooning Portland’s quirks. It’s available through Hulu,
iTunes and Amazon, and on Netflix streaming.
... IATSE, IBEW, and SAG/AFTRA gear up for conflict at KGW
From Page 1
Low Prices!
A union office
like something
out of Portlandia
anyone in to do our jobs, and
you couldn’t prevent that,” said
Brad Anderson, executive direc-
tor of SAG-AFTRA in Seattle.
“We’ve been struggling for
months to get an explanation as
to why this is all of a sudden
necessary,” said attorney John
Bishop, who was brought in to
assist Portland-based IBEW Lo-
cal 48 in negotiations.
Gannett has already elimi-
nated the union jurisdiction
clause in a SAG-AFTRA con-
tract at television station
WUSA-TV in Washington,
D.C., and pushed it so hard in
bargaining at KSDK-TV in St.
Louis that members of IBEW
Local 4 launched an ongoing
boycott of their employer 10
months ago, using billboard and
radio ads, an airplane banner,
and a web site and Facebook
page to call on viewers to stop
watching.
According to Gannett’s most
recent annual report, about 10
percent of its U.S. employees are
represented by unions, divided
among 78 bargaining units and
eight international unions.
In Portland and Seattle,
IATSE, IBEW and SAG-AF-
TRA are joining forces to fight
Gannett, though they continue to
bargain separately for contracts
at the two stations. KGW and
KING became Gannett proper-
ties when the company acquired
Belo Corporation in 2013.
IATSE represents camera opera-
tors and video editors. SAG-AF-
TRA represents on-camera staff.
IBEW Locals 48 and 46 repre-
sent master control operators and
maintenance technicians.
“We’re all in this together,”
said IBEW Local 48 business
rep Donna Hammond.
IATSE Local 600 representa-
tive Dave Twedell says Gannett
is pushing other issues besides
jurisdiction. It’s also proposing to
eliminate the “successor” clause
that keeps the union contract in
effect if the company sells the
station. And in January, it unilat-
erally worsened the family health
insurance coverage — raising the
employee share of the premium
from $250 to $475 a month, and
increasing the deductible from
$1,500 to $5,000 a year.
That’s despite the fact that
Gannett is highly profitable.
Gannett’s broadcast revenue set
a new record in the fourth quar-
ter of 2014. The company paid
CEO Gracia Martore $7.9 mil-
lion in total compensation in
2013. And on Feb. 24 Gannett
announced it will pay $45 mil-
lion in quarterly dividends.
Twedell said IATSE will fight
the health care change with an
unfair labor practice charge at the
National Labor Relations Board.
Union reps say they won’t
agree to give up jurisdiction, but
management hasn’t budged
from its demand that they do.
“We have every reason to be-
lieve this is going to be their fi-
nal proposal as well as initial,
first of all because that’s what
they told us,” Twedell said.
That sets the ground for a
standoff, and the allied unions
are beginning to line up outside
backing for a public campaign.
Last month the Northwest Ore-
gon Labor Council, AFL-CIO,
passed a resolution of support.
The labor clash comes as Gan-
nett prepares to spin off its news-
paper and broadcast/digital divi-
sions into separate publicly-
traded companies, a move that
has drawn interest from corpo-
rate raider Carl Icahn, who owns
6.6 percent of Gannett stock.