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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (May 5, 2017)
PAGE 2 | May 5, 2017 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS UNION ORGANIZING NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS (International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X) Established in 1900 in Portland, Oregon as a voice of the la- bor movement. Published on a semi-monthly basis on the first and third Fridays of each month by the Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non-profit mutual benefit corpo- ration owned by 20 unions and councils including the Ore- gon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Office location: 4275 NE Halsey St., Portland, Oregon Mailing address: P.O. Box 13150, Portland, OR 97213 Phone: (503) 288-3311 Web address: http://nwlaborpress.org Editor & Manager: Michael Gutwig Associate editor: Don McIntosh Office manager: Cheri Rice Printed on recycled paper, using soy-based inks, by members of Teamsters Local 747-M. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Individual subscriptions are $14 a year for union members, $22 a year for all others. Pay by credit card online at nwlaborpress.org/subscribe, or send a check to our mailing address (above) along with your name, address and union affiliation, if any. Group rates of $10.08 a year per person are available for 25 or more subscriptions; call 503-288-3311 for details. CORRECTIONS: See an error? Please let us know at editor@nwlaborpress.org or by phone at 503-288-3311. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT PORTLAND, OREGON. CHANGE OF ADDRESS: If you move, let us know at nwlaborpress.org/subscriber-services or by mail at our mailing address (above). Be sure to provide your old and new addresses and the name/number of your local union. Please allow three weeks for the change to take effect. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS P.O. BOX 13150 PORTLAND, OR 97213-0150 140 Paula UFCW Local 555: Safeway/Albertsons organizing drive brings in 4,400 new members Oregon’s largest private sector union has just completed its biggest-ever organizing cam- paign. United Food and Com- mercial Workers (UFCW) Lo- cal 555, which reported 20,140 members as of September, is in the process of adding 4,400 new members. The influx is the re- sult of a year’s worth of organ- izing at two companies that were already mostly unionized. Safeway and Albertsons agreed to remain neutral, giving union organizers access to employees in the break room, and leaving it up to workers whether they wanted to sign up. The cam- paign took place at some loca- tions that were previously nonunion, and at nonunion de- partments at otherwise union- ized stores. Some stores had union-represented meat and grocery workers, for example, but nonunion workers in the deli, bakery, or floral depart- ments. “We’ve found that organizing is very difficult when there’s an anti-union campaign,” said Lo- cal 555 President Dan Clay. “However, with an employer that’s truly neutral, organizing went really well.” Local 555 staffed up with or- ganizers, and brought in organ- izers from its parent organiza- tion and other UFCW locals as well. The campaign was led by organizing director Peter Diaz, who joined Local 555 in 2016 after serving as organizing di- rector for Seattle-headquartered UFCW Local 21 and as national field coordinator for OUR Wal- mart, the UFCW-led organiza- tion that coordinated walkouts by individual Walmart employ- ees. The union drive came after the merger of Safeway and Al- bertsons. Albertsons — owned by an investor consortium led by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management — ac- quired Safeway in January 2015 for $9.2 billion. The newly-signed-up Safe- way and Albertsons employees are being added to the union health and pension plans, at which point they’ll become full dues-paying members. Cafeteria workers unionize at Lewis & Clark College Bon Appétit Management Company, the contractor that runs the cafeteria at Lewis & Clark College in Southwest Portland, voluntarily agreed to recognize a union there on March 28 after a majority of workers signed union cards. Once a first union contract is negotiated and ratified, the cafe- teria employees will become members of Seattle-headquar- tered UNITE HERE Local 8. Bon Appétit is a subsidiary of the world’s largest con- tract food service com- pany, UK- headquartered Compass Group. It manages cafeterias for corporations, uni- versities, and specialty venues, including — in Portland — University of Portland, Reed College, and the Theory Cafe at the Oregon Mu- seum of Science & Industry. Members from Portland and Seattle helped with the organiz- ing effort at Lewis & Clark. UNITE HERE also cam- paigned at University of Port- land, but didn’t find majority support for a union there. UNITE HERE represents workers at a number of Bon Ap- pétit cafeterias around the United States.
