NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | June 17, 2016 | PAGE 3
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
Finally: Oregon Shakespeare Festival signs IATSE contract
A year after stagehands voted to
unionize, they have a contract
with raises and job security
By Don McIntosh
Associate editor
Oregon Shakespeare Festival
(OSF) has reached agreement
with IATSE on a first-ever
union contract for a group of 70
stagehands. Ratified June 13,
the collective bargaining agree-
ment raises wages and greatly
improves job security.
The agreement covers sea-
sonal stagehands who run back-
stage operations during the nine
months of the year that shows
are being rehearsed and per-
formed. On June 10, 2015, they
voted 37 to 25 to join Interna-
tional Alliance of Theatrical
Stage Employees (IATSE).
Then, after fending off legal
maneuvers by the employer,
they began contract bargaining
Sept. 28.
The resulting contract pro-
vides immediate raises for
workers whose pay is less than
it’s supposed to be under a new
unified pay scale. That’s fol-
lowed by annual raises of 25
to 50 cents an hour. The con-
tract expires Nov. 15, 2019, a
date which coincides with
OSF’s budget year.
The contract also results in
greater gender pay equity: By
the end, all the master-level
workers will be earning the
same hourly wage — tradi-
tionally-female wig-masters
will earn the same as their tra-
ditionally-male counterparts
who handle electrical equip-
ment, for example.
The agreement maintains
current health care benefits, and
locks in current paid holidays
and a 4 percent employer match
to 401(k)-style retirement sav-
ings accounts. OSF will also on
its own contribute 0.5 percent
of payroll to the accounts for
workers who’ve been there 10
years, and 1 percent after 15
years.
It also contains a number of
job protections:
▪ Only union members can do the
work of union members.
▪ Workers can’t be terminated ex-
cept for just cause, and will have
the right to a grievance and ar-
bitration process to challenge
unfair discipline.
▪ After a worker’s first season,
considered a probationary pe-
riod, they automatically return
subsequent seasons.
▪ Most of the unit will be guaran-
teed at least 40 hours a week;
others 35 or 30, depending on
classification.
▪ Shifts will be at least 2.5 hours
long for those who change sets
between shows.
The union worked to remain
positive throughout. That spirit
is reflected in the contract’s pre-
amble: “Oregon Shakespeare
Festival and the Union are com-
mitted to a relationship of mu-
tual respect, trust, accountabil-
ity, and communication; to
work together to create an envi-
ronment which allows and en-
courages every employee to do
their best work and every patron
to have the best possible expe-
rience.”
Management of non-profit
OSF opposed the union effort,
but never resorted to the kind of
scorched-earth tactics many
employers use to keep unions
out. The tentative agreement
was reached in an all-night ne-
gotiation session that wrapped
up at 4 a.m. June 7. OSF made
a number of late-breaking con-
cessions after union stagehands
and their supporters, wearing
union T-shirts, assembled pub-
licly outside a theater before a
performance.
The crew will now officially
be members of IATSE, and will
be part of brand-new IATSE
Local 154. The number 154
was chosen because it’s the
number of sonnets William
Shakespeare wrote in his life-
time.
Oregon study to look
at single-payer health
insurance system
RAND Corporation, a promi-
nent national think tank, was
hired by the Oregon Health Au-
thority in mid-May to study the
merits of a single-payer health
insurance system and other
health care options. RAND was
awarded $395,525 to conduct
the study, to be completed by
Nov. 1. The study was mandated
by the 2015 Legislature. It’s also
supposed to identify a funding
mechanism for a single-payer
system.
Back when the legislation
that became known as Oba-
macare was being debated, U.S.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) was
able to pass an amendment al-
lowing states to experiment with
single-payer systems starting in
2017. Under the legislation,
states would be allowed to re-
purpose federal subsidies that
currently support the Oba-
macare insurance exchange in
order to pay for universal health
care.
RAND will also look at the
feasibility of a public insurance
option that could be sold on the
insurance exchange.
AFL-CIO rates Washington state lawmakers after low-energy session
Elections matter: That’s the
lesson Washington State La-
bor Council (WSLC), AFL-
CIO drew from the 2016 ses-
sion of the Legislature.
WSLC went to the State
Capitol in Olympia with an
agenda to make Washington a
better place to live and work.
It was stymied by Republican
control of the Senate, and
even the House, controlled
50-48 by Democrats, failed to
pass some of its proposals.
But then, WSLC knew it was
going to be tough going in.
“Expectations were low for
the 2016 legislative session,
and these expectations were
met,” wrote WSLC President
Jeff Johnson in the state labor
federation’s 2016 legislative
report.
Some examples of what
went wrong:
■ Flirting with contempt of court
on school funding The state
Supreme Court ruled that the
Legislature has failed to adequately
fund K-12 education — violating a
voter-approved ballot measure. To
comply with the court order, next year
the state must come up with an
additional $3.5 billion to fund public
schools. But this year’s Legislature
made no decision on how to do that.
And Washington has one of the most
regressive tax structures in the nation:
all sales and property taxes, and no
income tax.
■ Boeing whistling on the way to
the bank In 2013, Washington
lawmakers gave Boeing the biggest tax
break in history — valued at $8.7
billion over 16 years. Since then the
company has laid off hundreds of
workers. This year, some lawmakers
wanted to tie the tax incentive to job
creation and maintenance. But the bill
couldn’t even make it out of its House
committee, much less get a Senate
vote.
■ Not dying at work: Maybe next
year After a 2015 incident in which a
farmworker drowned in a manure pit,
WSLC and United Farm Workers
pushed a bill to mandate more
frequent inspections and improved
safety training at dairies, among other
things. It died in the House
Appropriations Committee.
■ Know the law before you bid
Washington State Building and
Construction Trades backed a bill to
require that public works contractors be
trained in prevailing wage standards
and compliance in order to qualify as
responsible bidders. It passed the
House 50-45, but died without a
hearing in a Republican-led Senate
committee.
Among Southwest Wash-
ington legislators, labor had
some solid allies. Five local
Democrats had 100 percent
voting records for 2016: State
Sen. Annette Cleveland and
state Reps. Jim Moeller and
Sharon Wylie of District 49
in Vancouver, and Brian
Blake and JD Rossetti of
District 19 in the Longview
area.
But six Southwest Wash-
ington Republicans had the
lowest possible score. No one
got 0 percent rating, because
WSLC included several bills
that passed unanimously, in-
cluding a bill to extend reim-
bursement for corrections
workers who are assaulted by
inmates.
ONLINE EXTRA
See the full report, and the list of
bills and votes, at
http://bit.ly/1Uo1ZqZ
WASHINGTON LEGISLATIVE VOTING RECORDS
AS RATED BY WSLC, AFL-CIO
2016
Lifetime
Sen. Annette Cleveland (D)
100
97
Rep. Sharon Wylie (D)
100
91
Rep. Jim Moeller (D)
100
91
Sen. Don Benton (R)
25
26
Rep. Lynda Wilson (R)
18
14
Rep. Paul Harris (R)
18
27
Sen. Ann Rivers (R)
22
15
Rep. Brandon Vick (R)
18
10
Rep. Liz Pike (R)
18
10
Sen. Dean Takko (D)
89
80
Rep. JD Rossetti (D)
100
100
Rep. Brian Blake (D)
100
90
DISTRICT 49
DISTRICT 17
DISTRICT 18
DISTRICT 19
DISTRICT 20
Sen. John Braun (R)
22
5
Rep. Richard DeBolt (R)
18
15
Rep. Ed Orcutt (R)
18
13