NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | September 2, 2016 | PAGE 3
CITY OF PORTLAND
911 in turmoil as union contract goes to arbitration
AFSCME Local 189 has given
up trying to get the City of Port-
land to agree on a new union
contract for 911 call-takers. In-
stead, the two sides will submit
their final offers to an arbitrator.
And it could be six months or
more before Employment Rela-
tions Board arbitrator Paul
Roose even considers the case,
because the City is asking that
he schedule two full weeks to
hear both sides, says union rep
Rob Wheaton.
Wheaton describes a state of
crisis at the city’s Bureau of
Emergency Communications
(BOEC), due to severe under-
staffing: BOEC is budgeted for
up to 120 positions, but only has
about 70 employees. That
means daily forced overtime,
These photos taken by a 911
worker are of the “hold clock”
showing the longest current hold
time. The 24 minute hold took
place on Aug. 11 at 6 p.m. One call
that came in at that time was
about a distressed swimmer; by
the time first responders arrived it
was a body recovery.
and sometimes, dangerous call
wait times. On the call floor, a
time clock visible to all dis-
patchers displays the longest
current time a caller has been on
hold. At about 6 p.m. Aug. 11, it
reached 24 minutes.
“BOEC is not a place where
you can improve retention by
throwing in beer taps and ping
pong tables.” Wheaton said.
Wheaton argues they need to
raise wages to attract more peo-
ple to what is a very tough job
psychologically.
“The city’s response is, ‘We
can’t afford it,’” Wheaton said.
Under the old contract, which
expired June 30, wages start at
about $21.70 for trainees and
rise to over $36 an hour for sen-
ior dispatchers.
Those might sound like good
wages, but they’re not attracting
enough applicants, or retaining
enough of those who go through
the training. And understaffing
makes for overwork, which
makes it harder for BOEC to re-
tain workers. It’s a vicious cycle.
“People there work years
without a weekend off or day-
light hours.” says Local 189
President Mark Gipson.
Wheaton says the City ac-
knowledges there’s a problem,
and its most recent proposal
takes some steps to address it.
But he says it still falls short of
what’s needed, and the two sides
were far apart when the union
formally declared impasse.
State law says 911 operators
can’t strike, so when union ne-
gotiations break down, an arbi-
trator hears arguments from
both sides and picks whichever
side’s offer is most reasonable.
“We think we have a good
case,” says Wheaton.
Nabisco union standoff leads to wave of retirements
As a union stalemate at Nabisco
drags out, senior employees are
retiring in significant numbers.
Nabisco’s union contract with
Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco
Workers and Grain Millers
(BCTGM) expired Feb. 29, cre-
ating great uncertainty for 2,000
workers in five states, including
about 180 at a Nabisco plant in
Portland. The two sides haven’t
met to negotiate since April 8,
when Nabisco parent company
Mondelēz presented the union
with what it called its “Revised
Last, Best and Final Offer.” In
that offer, Mondelēz proposed to
diminish health insurance cov-
erage and withdraw from the
union pension plan, instead con-
tributing the same amount to a
401(k)-style defined contribu-
tion plan.
BCTGM called the com-
pany’s proposal unacceptable.
Union members authorized a
strike, and the company has ad-
vertised for replacement work-
ers, but neither side has initiated
a work stoppage. No negotia-
tions are scheduled. It’s a stand-
off.
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But Ron Baker, BCTGM In-
ternational Strategic Campaign
Coordinator, says many Nabisco
workers aren’t waiting to see
how it turns out. Since Mon-
delēz began pushing to leave the
pension, close to 100 workers
have retired from the Chicago
plant, and about 45 from the
Portland plant. And some were
in a rush to leave by Aug. 1; af-
ter that date, workers’ monthly
pension benefit drops from
$1,900 down to $1,600 under a
pension plan rule that ended the
early-retirement 80-and-out
benefit 180 days after a union
contract’s expiration.
“There are skills going out
the door that they can never re-
place,” Baker said.
Mondelēz says it wants out of
the BCTGM’s multi-employer
pension because the plan is
headed for insolvency. The
plan’s financial health took a big
hit when Hostess stopped pay-
ing into it, in violation of its
union contract, then declared
bankruptcy and repudiated its
$944 million debt to the pension
plan. To deal with the pension
plan asset shortfall, remaining
employers are having to pay a
surcharge equal to 5 or 10 per-
cent of what they were previ-
ously paying into the pension.
As the standoff drags on,
BCTGM is focused on publiciz-
ing its boycott of Nabisco prod-
ucts made in Mexico. After
shifting some production to a
new facility in Salinas, Mexico,
the company laid off 294 of its
Chicago workers in March and
May. The union is asking con-
sumers to read the label, and if
it says Made in Mexico, don’t
buy it. U.S.-made Nabisco prod-
ucts are still made by union
workers.
BCTGM is also reaching out
to Mondelēz unions in other
countries. An international con-
ference of Mondelēz unions is
scheduled to take place in
Chicago Sept. 20-21, organized
by International Union of Food
Workers (IUF), a world-wide
federation of trade unions.
At Volunteers of America, alcohol and drug
treatment workers are ready for a union
Sixty-three workers employed
by Volunteers of America
(VOA) Oregon will vote next
month whether to unionize with
Oregon AFSCME.
The workers staff a pair of in-
patient residential alcohol and
drug treatment facilities in Port-
land where addicts undergo six
months of court-ordered treat-
ment for addiction—a 52-bed
facility for men and a 35-bed fa-
cility for women.
“They’re the front-line care-
givers for folks that are in great
need,” says union organizer
Corey Nicholson. “They de-
serve a livable wage and re-
spect.”
Right now VOA pays resi-
dential counselors $10 to $12 an
hour—barely above the mini-
mum wage, which is now $9.75
for the Portland area. Some
workers have had no raise in
years, and some salaried em-
ployees complain of unpaid
overtime.
“No one should be making
$10 an hour doing the kind of
challenging work we do,” says
Henry Lauer, an administrative
coordinator at the mens’ resi-
dential center.
Lauer and Nicholson say
many employees are former ad-
dicts themselves and are deeply
committed to their work. But
workers haven’t felt like they’re
listened to by management. And
high case loads and too-high
turnover mean less time with
clients.
“When conditions of employ-
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