NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | September 16, 2016 | PAGE 3
UNIONIZATION ] JULY-AUG 2016
The following are Oregon and Southwest Washington workplaces where workers have decided
whether to be represented by a union. The thumbs-up symbol means workers will be union-
represented. Thumbs-down means they’ll be on their own. The information comes from the
National Labor Relations Board and the Oregon Employment Relations Board.
Union election results
Employer (Location) Union
Yes-No =
Peacehealth St. John Medical Ctr. reception (Longview) SEIU Local 49
Commercial Aircraft Painting Services (Portland) Machinists W24
GBW Railcar Services railcar repair (Chehalis) Sheet Metal Local 66
Universal Recycling Technologies (Clackamas) Steelworkers Dist 12
Menzies Aviation cabin cleaners (Portland) SEIU Local 49
Cowlitz Family Health Ctr. (Longview) Machinists Lodge W536
Cowlitz Family Health Ctr. (Longview) Machinists Lodge W536
Heritage Glass (Portland) Glass Workers Local 740
70-43
80-68
39-37
12-12
14-0
22-10
0-6
6-9
^
^
^
%
^
^
%
%
Unionization by majority signup
Employer (Location) Union
Crook County Fire and Rescue (Prineville) International Assn. of Fire Fighters
■ 13 firefighter/paramedics, lieutenants and captains
Support for TPP costs Gov. Kate Brown
endorsement from Oregon Machinists
Gov. Kate Brown’s support for
the Trans-Pacific Partnership
(TPP) has cost her an endorse-
ment from the Machinists Non-
Partisan Political League
(MNPL), the political arm of
Machinists District W24.
Brown, a Democrat, is run-
ning for re-election in November.
“We had every intention of
endorsing her, but when she
came out in favor of the TPP,
our support ended,” said John
Hall, secretary-treasurer of the
2,300-member Machinists
Lodge 63 and chair of the
MNPL.
Hall said the Machinists’ in-
ternational union is dead-set
Menzies cabin cleaners go union at PDX
A group of 53 aircraft cabin
cleaners at Portland Interna-
tional Airport has joined Service
Employees (SEIU) Local 49.
The workers are employees of
Menzies Aviation, which has a
contract to clean planes for
Alaska Airlines as well as for its
subsidiary Horizon Airlines and
140
partner SkyWest Airlines. The
tally was 14-0 for the union in
an Aug. 16 election overseen by
the National Labor Relations
Board (NLRB). A majority of
the workers had previously
signed union cards.
Workers wanted to unionize
because of concerns about
safety, turnover, and the lack of
a livable wage, said Local 49
spokesperson Jesse Stemmler in
an email. Most workers in the
group are paid minimum wage,
and even lead cabin cleaners
make just $12 to $14 an hour.
Menzies earlier tried to avoid
the NLRB election by making
legal arguments that the cabin
cleaners should unionize under
the Railway Labor Act, not the
In Clackamas County
WE SUPPORT
Jim Bernard for
County Chair
Ken Humberston for
County Commissioner
Position 4
NW Oregon Labor Council, AFL-CIO
Paid for and authorized by NW Oregon Labor Council
National Labor Relations Act.
Under the Railway Labor Act,
the workers would have had to
unionize every location nation-
wide. But a federal administra-
tive law judge rejected those ar-
guments, and ruled that Menzies
is not an airline, and that Alaska
Airlines doesn’t directly oversee
the work of Menzies employees.
SEIU represents Menzies
workers at Los Angeles Interna-
tional Airport.
against the TPP. “Our union has
lost thousands of jobs due to bad
trade deals. Our international
has said ‘anyone who supports
the TPP, we won’t support.’”
TPP is a NAFTA-style pact
between the United States and
11 Pacific Rim nations, includ-
ing three that have poor human
rights records and no current
trade agreement with the U.S.
Organized labor strongly op-
poses the TPP, and presidential
candidates Hillary Clinton and
Donald Trump say they don’t
support it.
TPP negotiations concluded
last October, but to take effect,
the pact must be approved by
Congress.
Unions affiliated with Ma-
chinists District W24 represent
workers at Boeing, Freightliner,
and a number of automotive re-
pair shops and general manu-
facturing companies in Oregon.