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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (June 5, 2015)
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | June 5, 2015 | PAGE 3 Election of labor candidates May 19 bodes well for workers Two-thirds of the labor- Portland Commu- backed candidates in Ore- nity College Board: gon’s May 19 special PCC instructor (and election won their races, OCLS-grad) Michael including three of the four Sonnleitner won with graduates of the Oregon 38 percent in a three- Labor Candidates School way race. Sonnleitner (OCLS) who sought of- is a member of the fice. The election was for PCC Federation of nonpartisan school board Faculty and Academic Burke and local district offices. Professionals (AFT Voter turnout ranged Local 3922) and has from 16 to 20 percent. taught political science Voters also approved at PCC for 27 years. one labor-endorsed ballot Under state law, he has measure: a $125 million to quit his job at PCC capital bond for in order to serve on the Reynolds School Dis- board. trict, which passed nar- Portland Public rowly with 52 percent of Schools Board: Julie the vote. Measure 26- Esparza Brown and Sonnleitner 164 had the support of Paul Anthony won the Northwest Oregon Labor with the backing of Portland As- Council (NOLC). sociation of Teachers, but labor Here’s how labor-backed can- didates (in bold type) fared: MULTNOMAH COUNTY Multnomah Education Serv- ice District: Stephen Marc Beaudoin won with 55 percent of the vote in a three-way race for MESD position 6 at large, and American Federation of Teachers (AFT) member Siob- han Burke, an OCLS graduate, scored a lopsided win for 74 per- cent of the votes for Position 7, Zone 3. endorsements didn’t save in- cumbent Bobbie Regan, who fell short with 41 percent of the vote to 44 percent for challenger Amy Kohnstamm. Corbett School District: Lacey Auble, backed by the Corbett Education Association, won with 58 percent. CLACKAMAS COUNTY North Clackamas School District Board: Trisha Claxton, Lee Merrick, and Steven Schroedl won office. Merrick and Schroedl were unopposed. City of West Linn Mayor: Thomas Frank, backed by NOLC and United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555, lost with 45 percent in a race to fill an unexpired term. WASHINGTON COUNTY Hillsboro School District: Kim Strelchun and Lisa Allen won, but AFT member Jaime Rodriguez, an OLCS grad, lost his second attempt at a school board seat, with 43 percent of the vote in a challenge to an in- cumbent. Beaverton School District: Becky Tymchuk, backed by the Beaverton Education Associa- tion, won with 52 percent of vote in a three-way race. Melissa Potter, also backed by the Beaverton Education Asso- ciation, lost. Tualatin Valley Fire & Res- cue: Randy Lauer and Brian Clopton, backed by the Fire Fighters union, won. Clopton was unopposed. COLUMBIA COUNTY Port of St. Helens: Incumbent Mike Avent—endorsed by NOLC, the Columbia Pacific Building Trades Council, and UFCW Local 555—won with 45 percent in three-way race. But incumbent Robert Keyser placed second in a three-way race, with 40 percent of vote; and incumbent Colleen DeS- hazer got 24 percent, placing a distant second in a four-way race. LANE COUNTY Eugene School Board: Eileen Nittler and Mary Walston won, but Kevin Cronin came in second in a three-way race. Oakridge School District: Oregon School Employees As- sociation member Susan Hardy, an OLCS graduate, won by just four votes—376-372. Shipyard workers at Cascade General ratify pact Shipyard workers at Cascade General ratified a new two-year contract May 28. The vote was 74-41. It was the third contract vote for the 184 workers repre- sented by the Portland Metal Trades Council, a coalition of 10 craft unions at the shipyard on Swan Island. The previous con- tract expired Nov. 30, 2014. Social Security Disability benefits: You paid into the system while you worked and if you can't work anymore, it's time to obtain them. Workers narrowly rejected a tentative agreement Jan. 16. The key issue was health insurance. The sides returned to the bar- gaining table Feb. 9, at which time Cascade General agreed to changes to the medical plan, but rescinded a ratification bonus that had been included in the first proposal. A new tentative contract eventually was reached, but in voting held April 6, work- ers again narrowly rejected the proposal. In another round of bargaining May 8, the union coalition got the employer to move on a slightly better of- fer—enough for ratification. “It was a very difficult nego- tiations over several months,” said Bud Bartunek, area director of Painters District Council 5, and president of the Portland Metal Trades Council. “But we had members involved in the bargaining process with the em- ployer. It helps having your members involved to point out different perspectives on issues.” “We were able to avoid a last best and final. You never know what that will look like,” said Gary Moore, a business agent for Laborers Local 296 and ex- ecutive secretary-treasurer of the Portland Metal Trades Council. The new two-year contract expires Nov. 30, 2016. It adds $1.40 an hour to the overall package the first year, and $1.25 an hour the second year. Workers can choose their pre- ferred medical plan—either a 90-10 deductible plan through Regence Blue Cross or the cur- rent Kaiser Permanente plan, or an 80-20 deductible plan with Regence. Workers who choose the 80-20 plan will get a $1.02 hourly increase on their check. Those choosing to keep the 90- 10 plan will see a 20-cent hourly wage increase. Workers also will receive a one-time lump sum payment of $300 on Dec. 1, 2015 to offset the cost of health insurance. Workers must log a minimum of 80 hours in a month to qualify for the medical plan. Cascade General is owned by Vigor Industrial. Vigor Indus- trial is the parent company of Vigor Marine at Swan Island, plus several other ship building and repair facilities in Seattle, Tacoma, Everett, Bremerton and Port Angeles. Shipyard workers at Cascade General in Portland, Vigor Ship- yard in Bremerton and Everett, Wash., and Washington Marine Repair in Seattle and Port Ange- les, Wash., are covered under one master labor agreement ne- gotiated and administered by the national Metal Trades Depart- ment, AFL-CIO. That agree- ment expires in June 2017. The region’s respective metal trades councils (i.e. Portland Metal Trades Council) then bargain lo- cal terms and conditions in side agreements, such as the one at Cascade General. Bartunek and Moore said a goal of the Portland council was to align Cascade General’s con- tract expiration date as closely as possible with the national agreement—as well as with other union contracts at Vigor Industrial facilities—to better position themselves for future negotiations. You can follow the council on Facebook at: Metal Trades Council of Portland and Vicinity.
