NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | July 1, 2016 | PAGE 9
Rock crusher operators, mechanics and support crew Oregon AFL-CIO endorses
workers at Cemex join Operating Engineers Local 701 Burgerville Workers Union
Rock crusher operators, me-
chanics and support crew work-
ers at Pacific Rock Products
LLC, doing business as Cemex,
voted 27-14 to join Operating
Engineers Local 701. Workers
in the new bargaining unit are
heavy equipment operators, me-
chanics, weighmasters, and cus-
tomer service reps at sand and
gravel quarries in Boardman
and Canby, Oregon, and at four
locations in Clark County,
Washington.
Voting was held May 26 on
site at English Pit Sand and
Gravel and Fisher Quarry in
Vancouver; Lewisville Sand and
Gravel in Battle Ground, and
Canby Sand and Gravel. Work-
ers at Orchards Sand and Gravel
in Vancouver are also part of the
bargaining unit.
The vote in Boardman was
by mail ballot.
Ballots were counted June 16.
Cemex is a global building
materials company that operates
in more than 50 countries
throughout the world. Its U.S.
network includes 13 cement
plants, 46 distribution terminals,
74 aggregate quarries, and more
than 350 ready-mix concrete
plants.
Operating Engineers Local
701 has sister locals that repre-
sent workers at Cemex quarries
in Seattle and California.
The Oregon and Southwest
Washington quarries were once
owned by Pacific Rock Prod-
ucts (Pac Rock). About 10 years
ago, Local 701 attempted to or-
ganize the crew there, but after
several workers were fired the
union campaign fizzled. The
company was later sold to Ce-
mex. Many of the same workers
were involved in the most recent
union campaign, according to
Nate Stokes, field staff coordi-
nator at Local 701.
Stokes said management is-
sues, wages, and fringe benefits
are key issues among the new
group of union workers.
“The guys are tired of being
treated like third class citizens,”
he said.
Cemex rock crusher opera-
tors in Oregon and Southwest
Washington currently make
about $18 to $20 an hour, pay
for their own health insurance
premiums, and are offered a
401(k) retirement savings plan,
Stokes said.
The prevailing union wage
for this area doing similar work
is around $30 to $32 an hour,
plus paid fringe benefits.
As far as union organizing
campaigns go, this was a quick
one. Local 701 received the first
call expressing interest in April.
Cards were quickly signed and
the election— conducted by the
National Labor Relations Board
(NLRB)—was completed by
mid-June.
But that doesn’t mean there
weren’t some problems.
Nicole Rappaport, general
counsel at Local 701, said the
union has filed two unfair labor
practice complaints with the
NLRB alleging changes in
terms and conditions of employ-
ment. The company tradition-
ally gives raises in June. This
year, according to Rappaport,
the group of workers seeking to
join the union didn’t get a raise,
while workers who were ex-
cluded from the bargaining unit
(truck drivers, concrete batch
operators, clerical, and others)
all did.
In another instance, Rappa-
port said a mechanic foreman
who was a designated observer
for the union during the on-site
elections saw his job change.
The mechanic typically is free to
travel to all of the Cemex loca-
tions to perform his job. But af-
ter the union election he was
told he needed clearance from
supervisors before going to cer-
tain facilities.
Stokes said no dates have
been set for bargaining. Operat-
ing Engineers Local 302 in
Seattle has negotiations opening
up as OE Local 701 begins ne-
gotiations on its first contract.
ers for drug test results.
“Employers have had a
golden ticket to terminate em-
ployees for marijuana,” said Jen-
nifer Chapman, the Oregon AF-
SCME staff attorney who
defended Hirsch.
But Hirsch had rights under
his union contract. AFSCME’s
contract with Lane County re-
quires “just cause” for discipline.
It also specifically prohibits dis-
cipline for off-duty conduct —
unless that conduct impairs the
employee’s ability and effective-
ness to perform his or her job.
And the contract requires that
managers use a progressive dis-
cipline process: Discipline starts
with verbal and written warn-
ings, not with termination. Fi-
nally, Lane County has a policy
against drug use, but even that
policy has an exception for doc-
tor-prescribed drugs. All of that
“The fact is I was never
impaired at work, and
they would admit that.”
— Michael Hirsch,
AFSCME Local 2831
made a difference in arbitration.
“Thank God for the union,”
Hirsch says.
AFSCME Local 2831 stood
by Hirsch throughout, trying to
shame Lane County into not fir-
ing him, then filing a grievance,
voting to take it to arbitration,
and raising and contributing
money to help him with the lost
income.
Hirsch says he was wiped out
financially, first by his medical
bills, and then by his firing. After
losing his employer-provided
health insurance, which he
needed to stay on top of his med-
ical condition, he ended up en-
clares. The resolution also en-
courages affiliate unions and
their members to support the
Burgerville Workers Union.
ONLINE EXTRA
See the full resolution at
http://bit.ly/1UTtkEc
... At a Boeing contractor in Portland,
workers vote whether to go union
From Page 1
break each day, and they rotate
between graveyard and day shift
every few weeks. The work in-
volves hazardous chemicals,
and turnover is high. According
to one informed estimate, the
company is hiring about 140
workers a year; given a crew of
180, that amounts to almost 80
percent annual turnover. Work-
ers say the “Now Hiring” sign at
the entrance never gets taken
down. Wages start at $11.50 an
hour for safety spotters and top
out at $22.44 for the most senior
painters. That’s a lot less than
what Machinist-represented
rolling in Medicaid and food Boeing employees are paid for
stamps and moving in with his the same work in Everett, Wash-
mother in Rochester, New York. ington, says Machinists District
Now Hirsch is back in Eu- Lodge W24 representative Will
gene. He returned to work June Lukens: A typical worker there
27. Besides reinstatement, the starts at $19 and tops out at
arbitrator ordered Lane County $41.79 an hour. CAPS provides
to pay him $35,000 in back pay, basic employee-only health in-
of which he received $21,550 af- surance at no charge to workers,
ter taxes. As the loser of the but charges $100 a week for
binding arbitration, the county family health insurance. Paid
must also pay the expenses of time off, which folds sick leave
the arbitration, almost $6,000. together with vacation, totals
And that doesn’t count the tax- just 56 hours a year, and there
payer expense of county HR and are no paid holidays. The com-
legal staff who spent months try- pany does make annual profit-
ing to defend the firing of a can- sharing contributions to 401(k)
cer patient using a doctor-recom- retirement accounts amounting
to 5 percent of gross wages for
mended drug outside of work.
Chapman, the attorney for workers who’ve been there
Oregon AFSCME, says Hirsch’s more than two years.
Pro-union workers say they
win may help others in similar
cases in the future: It makes it want pay and benefit improve-
safer for future arbitrators to ments, but also clearer paths to
make decisions that are more in advancement. And they want to
line with common-sense notions be treated with greater respect
and dignity by management.
of fairness.
...Cancer survivor who was fired for medical
marijuana is back on the job in Lane County
From Page 1
At its June 17 meeting, the Ore-
gon AFL-CIO Executive Board
passed — by unanimous voice
vote — a resolution endorsing
the Burgerville Workers Union
and pledging to support their
struggle. Oregon AFL-CIO is
the state’s premier labor federa-
tion, made up of local chapters
from 39 international unions,
which represent 130,000 Ore-
gon workers altogether. Burg-
erville Workers Union, affiliated
with the Industrial Workers of
the World, launched publicly on
April 26 and is calling for a $5
an hour wage increase for work-
ers at the 41-store regional fast
food chain.
“Solidarity is a cornerstone of
unionism,” the resolution de-
noW [and alWaYs] Hiring:
$11.50 an hour. Hazardous chemi-
cals. 12-hour-long graveyard shifts.
The union campaign began in
mid-March when a CAPS
worker called IAM. Lukens said
the union’s June 13 request that
the National Labor Relations
Board hold an election seemed
to take the company by surprise.
The week after IAM re-
quested an election, the com-
pany launched an anti-union
campaign led by outside con-
sultants. The campaign follows
the tried-and-true blueprint for
busting a union: Workers are
brought in for small group meet-
ings and barraged with fear-in-
ducing messages. If they union-
ize, the company might lose its
contract with Boeing and they’ll
all be out of a job. If they union-
ize, the company might just say
no to everything, and they’ll get
nothing. If they unionize, they
might have to go on strike, and
they’ll all be replaced.
Why hire a union busting
firm instead of respecting work-
ers’ right to decide the union
question on their own? CAPS
president Paul Lubomirski de-
clined to return a call from the
Labor Press.