SERVING ORGANIZED LABOR IN OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON SINCE 1900
NORTHWEST
LABOR
PRESS
VOLUME 117, NUMBER 14
IN THIS ISSUE
MACHINISTS WIN UNION VOTE An anti-union blitz
falls flat at a Boeing paint subcontractor. | Page 3
WASHINGTON’S TOP-TWO PRIMARY Labor looks to
make gains in August 2 elections. | Page 5
Meetings p.4
5 Questions for AFSCME’s Ken Allen p.7
PORTLAND, OREGON
JULY 15, 2016
At KGW-TV, unions take stand
against 'Uberization' of news
Rank-and-file union members:
‘It’s up to you and me, to stop the TPP’
Farmers markets are free trade.
Corporate trade deals like the
TPP, not so much.
Every Saturday and Sunday,
Linda and Tom Nelson set up
a table at the Vancouver farm-
ers market at Esther Short
Park, but they’re not there to
sell blueberries. The married
couple are members of United
Association of Plumbers and
Fitters Local 290. She’s retired.
He’s still working, out at Intel.
Both are passionate about
stopping new job-killing trade
deals like the proposed Trans-
Pacific Partnership. At their
table, they collect signatures
on petitions they made them-
selves, demanding that mem-
bers of Congress oppose the
Trans-Pacific Partnership —
and vote “no” if and when it
comes up for a vote.
So far, they’ve collected over
300 signatures. At some point,
they’ll present the petitions to
Washington Senators Maria
Cantwell and Patty Murray —
both of whom voted for the
2014 “fast track” legislation
that makes it easier for Con-
gress to pass deals like the
TPP, with limited debate and
no amendments allowed.
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GREEN JOBS
What if workers were at the center of the transition
to a low-carbon economy?
Joe Uehlein was 18 when he
joined Laborers Local 158 in
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and
went to work on a concrete crew.
In the parking lot, he saw a co-
worker’s bumpersticker that
bothered him: “Hungry and out
of work? Eat an environmental-
ist.” The construction site was
the Three Mile Island nuclear
plant, where America’s worst
nuclear accident later took place.
Uehlein went on to a 30-year
career as a union organizer, ne-
gotiator and strategist, and rose
to the top post in the national
AFL-CIO’s Industrial Union De-
partment. But he never stopped
thinking that the bumpersticker
had it wrong — you can have
good jobs and protect the envi-
ronment. To that end, he now
heads the
non-profit La-
bor Network
for Sustain-
ability. On
July 7 he vis-
ited Portland
to talk about
a “just transi-
tion.”
Joe Uehlein
Too often,
workers are “road kill” when
environmental reforms are im-
plemented, he said. It doesn’t
have to be so. To fight cata-
strophic climate change, hu-
manity must end the use of fos-
sil fuels. But that doesn’t mean
the estimated 2 million Ameri-
cans employed in fossil fuel in-
dustries must be left behind.
Uehlein’s group is calling for
government investment in local
economies that are dependent
on fossil fuel jobs — before dis-
ruption begins. A modest carbon
tax – and funds freed up by
eliminating fossil fuel subsi-
dies – could fund millions of
jobs in HVAC conversion, con-
servation retrofits, and renew-
able energy development like
offshore wind farms. The full
proposal is detailed online at
http://bit.ly/29MCkOo.
By Don McIntosh
Associate editor
For workers behind the camera
at Portland NBC television affil-
iate KGW-TV, labor negotia-
tions are going from bad to
worse. There, 23 camera opera-
tors and editors are represented
by IATSE Local 600, and 19
control room operators and
technicians are represented by
IBEW Local 48. Neither union
has been able to reach agree-
ment on a new union contract in
two years of bargaining.
The biggest obstacle, says
IATSE representative Dave
Twedell, is a company proposal
to end union jurisdiction over
union members’ work, appar-
ently in order to allow the sta-
tion to use amateur footage shot
by members of the public.
KGW-TV is one of 46 TV
stations owned by Tegna, a
company created last year as a
spinoff of media giant Gannett.
In bargaining with IATSE,
Tegna negotiators have been
threatening for months that the
company might impose its own
terms at KGW, over the objec-
tion of union members. On June
28, Tegna presented what its
chief negotiator called the com-
pany’s “best offer.” For a highly
profitable company, it’s not
much: a $250 signing bonus and
two 1.5 percent raises — in a
three-year contract that’s half
over with. (IATSE’s last contract
at KGW expired February 2015).
The company offer would also
eliminate a “successor” clause
that preserves the contract in the
event of a sale of the station. And
it would end union jurisdiction.
IATSE members voted on it after
this issue went to press. Twedell
recommended against approving
the company offer — mainly be-
cause of the jurisdiction pro-
posal.
The Uberization of TV news
Twedell says Tegna never
fully explained why it wants to
end union jurisdiction, but he
thinks the answer is something
he’s calling the “Uberization” of
news. Just as smartphones turn
drivers into cabbies with Uber,
they could turn bystanders into
TV camera operators with an
app called Fresco. Users who
download the app get notified
by newsrooms if they’re in the
vicinity of breaking news
events; they then shoot and up-
load photos and videos, and get
paid if a news outlet uses the
footage. So far, 11 Fox TV affil-
iates around the country are us-
ing Fresco, paying $75 for
videos and $30 for photos – of
which the user gets two-thirds.
At Fox stations KTTV in Los
Angeles and KTVU in San
Fransisco, IATSE represents
camera operators and has filed
grievances and unfair labor
practice charges to try to block
the use of Fresco.
“This is precisely the busi-
ness model of amateur news that
we are fighting,” Twedell says.
“We have every reason to be-
lieve that Tegna intends to use a
Fresco-like approach.”
A third union at KGW, SAG-
AFTRA, agreed to the “flexible
jurisdiction” clause, and settled
a new contract with Tegna.
SAG-AFTRA
represents
KGW’s on-air talent like an-
chors Tracy Barry and Joe Don-
lon.
Seattle condemns Tegna
In Seattle, the same struggle
is playing out at Tegna-owned
KING-TV, where IATSE Local
600 and IBEW Local 46 repre-
sent similar units to those at
KGW. There, Seattle City
Council took the side of the
union, passing a resolution con-
demning Tegna by unanimous
vote on June 27. The measure,
cosponsored by city councillors
Kshama Sawant and Lisa Her-
bold, criticizes Tegna for down-
sizing KING-TV’s news opera-
tion, and calls on all public
entities that own Tegna stock to
consider divestiture.
Twedell says he’s looking to
see if Portland City Council will
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