PAGE 2 | March 4 , 2016 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
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Portland Parks & Rec to end use of ‘permatemps’
By Oct. 1, at least 130 more
workers at City of Portland
recreation and community cen-
ters will have union wages and
benefits than a year ago —
thanks to an agreement with La-
borers Local 483 that was rati-
fied by Portland City Council
Feb. 17.
The agreement is the result of
a decade-long campaign by the
union to end the City’s over-use
of temp and casual workers.
Last May, an arbitrator ruled
that the city was violating its
collective bargaining agreement
with Local 483 by assigning
bargaining unit work to low-
wage nonunion employees at
the rec centers. The agreement
City Council ratified on Feb. 17
spells out how the city will com-
ply with the arbitrator’s order to
“cease and desist” doing that.
“For years, so-called ‘casual’
staff working in our recreation
centers have been doing the
same work as their permanent
counterparts for almost half the
pay,” Local 483 President Wes-
ley Buchholz told City Council
Feb. 17. “These casual staff —
many who have worked for the
city nine, 10, even 24 years, year
after year — have had to make
Local 483 President Wesley Buchholz and Business Manager Erica Askin
speak to Portland CIty Council before a Feb. 17 vote on a settlement.
do with poverty wages in a city the city agreed that pre-school
that now has the fastest rising teachers, assistant pool man-
rents in the nation.… City em- agers, and customer service reps
ployees, like
should be in
any type of
the Parks and
worker, de-
Rec bargaining
“City employees, like any
serve a wage
unit. The two
that allows
sides then con-
type of worker, deserve
them to live in
tinued to nego-
a wage that allows them
the city they
tiate over what
to live in the City they
serve.”
kinds of work
serve.”
Last July, in
will be union-
— Local 483 president
a first phase of
represented,
Wesley Buchholz
complying
and the agree-
with the arbi-
ment approved
trator’s ruling,
Feb. 17 codi-
fies what they agreed to.
Managers estimate the bureau
will need an additional $4.4 mil-
lion a year to fund all the new
positions. If economic condi-
tions prevent the city from fund-
ing all the new permanent posi-
tions, union, management, and
City Council agree to discuss al-
ternatives to reducing the work-
force.
Mayor Charlie Hales praised
Local 483 for conducting itself
in an honorable way, and all five
members of City Council
praised union and management
for their work on the deal before
voting for the agreement.
“I consider this agreement
one of the most significant
achievements of my service on
the City Council,” said Com-
missioner Amanda Fritz.
Commissioner Steve Novick
was the one killjoy amid all the
praise, warning that funding the
Parks arbitration settlement has
to compete with other budgetary
priorities, like the Bureau of
Emergency Communications,
which he oversees.
“We are going to have to cut
services somewhere unless we
come up with additional rev-
enue somehow,” Novick said.