NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | May 15, 2015 | PAGE 7
NATIONAL
American Federation of Teachers ends Coke boycott
The American Federation of
Teachers (AFT) has ended its
boycott of Coca-Cola products.
Last October, the union’s Ex-
ecutive Council approved the
boycott. The resolution declared
Coca-Cola to be complicit in vi-
olence against union leaders in
Latin America, and guilty of
purchasing sugar produced with
child labor in El Salvador. It
committed that AFT would not
only refrain from serving or sell-
ing Coca-Cola products at its of-
fices, but would encourage affil-
iates to participate in campaigns
to remove Coke products from
schools, hospitals and other
AFT workplaces.
That got the attention of
Coca-Cola executives, who met
with AFT leaders in the ensuing
months, including Secretary-
Treasurer Lorretta Johnson.
In February, AFT’s Executive
Council voted to end the boy-
New officers at OPEIU Local 11
Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU)
Local 11 swore in a new set of officers at its May 12 general mem-
bership meeting.
Headquartered in Vancouver, Local 11 represents 1,845 workers
in Oregon, Southwest Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Utah. The
membership consists of about 600 outside workers at Northwest
Natural, 270 employees of Clark County, 130 at the City of Van-
couver, and smaller units elsewhere of office professionals, local
government employees, and union office support staff, including
employees of the Northwest Labor Press.
All the newly-sworn-in officers ran unopposed and were elected
by acclamation at the union’s March 10 general membership meet-
ing. They are: Barb Melton, president; Doug Luse, vice president;
Debi Turk, recording secretary; Steve Wyck, sergeant-at-arms; Jinny
Jones, trustee; and Executive Board members Sandi Dowling, Util-
ities; Chuck Strange, Public Employees; and Shannon Walker and
Linda Butterfield, at-large.
The president and trustee positions are for three-year terms; all
other positions have two-year terms of office.
cott, saying “it’s clear the Coca-
Cola Company has taken signif-
icant steps … including working
with global and local unions and
other stakeholders to address
workers’ rights and child labor
issues.”
And on March 23, AFT Pres-
ident Randi Weingarten signed
a partnership agreement with Ed
Potter, Coke’s director of global
workplace rights, in the pres-
ence of Alexis Herman. [Her-
man, who was U.S. secretary of
labor during Bill Clinton’s sec-
ond term, is a member of the
Coca-Cola board of directors.]
The agreement says AFT and
Coke will “collaborate to iden-
tify local stakeholders in spe-
cific countries with expertise in
education and/or addressing
child labor to facilitate child la-
bor due diligence studies,” and
“collaborate on approaches to
the remediation of child labor
(when it is identified) and the
advancement of school atten-
dance, including engaging with
a broader group of stakeholders,
as needed.”
Four other national unions
continue to boycott Coke:
American Postal Workers
Union, Communications Work-
ers of America, International
Longshore and Warehouse
Union, and Service Employees
International Union.
ONLINE EXTRA
See the full agreement between AFT
and Coke at bit.ly/1bvPBGS,
Appeals court: Central Point School District
broke the law when it outsourced bus service
MEDFORD—The Oregon
Court of Appeals has ruled that
Central Point School District
(CPSD) broke state law when it
outsourced school bus service to
for-profit First Student.
A law passed in 2009 by the
Oregon Legislature bars state
and local public employers from
outsourcing public sector jobs
unless doing so saves tax dol-
lars, and the savings can’t come
just from slashing worker wages
and benefits. Before a public
employer can decide to out-
source, it has to conduct a de-
tailed cost benefit analysis, in-
cluding estimates of wage and
benefit costs for the agency and
a potential contractor.
But that didn’t happen at
Central Point, the appeals court
concluded in a written decision
issued April 22.
Leaders of the 4,400-student
district, just north of Medford,
decided to explore contracting
out in early 2011 after concerns
that its aging bus fleet would
need to be replaced. To satisfy
the state legal requirement, Cen-
tral Point hired transportation
consultant John Fairchild to do
a cost analysis. But instead of
collecting information on First
Student wages and benefits and
making an actual estimate, his
analysis just “assumed” that a
contractor would pay the same
wages and benefits as the dis-
trict.
The school board received his
analysis in March, and on June
14, approved a contract with
First Student. A week later, the
district laid off 38 school bus
drivers—members of Oregon
School Employees Association
(OSEA) Local 6732, an affiliate
of the American Federation of
Teachers.
First Student hired some of
the laid-off drivers, but not all.
OSEA filed suit on behalf of
driver Stephanie Hicks, who
was not hired. The suit called for
the First Student contract to be
declared void, and for laid-off
employees to be reinstated with
lost wages and benefits repaid.
A Jackson County Circuit
Court judge ruled in the school
district’s favor in 2012, but
OSEA appealed, and won.
The state law gives public
employers plenty of discretion
as to how they conduct the cost-
benefit analysis, but it draws the
line at analyses that are “clearly
erroneous, arbitrary, capricious
or contrary to law.”
Central Point crossed that
line, the appeals court ruled. The
decision doesn’t end the lawsuit.
Rather, it overturns the Jackson
County Circuit Court decision,
and orders the lower court to re-
consider the case.