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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (June 2, 2017)
SERVING ORGANIZED LABOR IN OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON SINCE 1900 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS VOLUME 118, NUMBER 11 IN THIS ISSUE ELECTRICAL WORK? GET IT DONE UNION! IBEW 48 will pay $200 for your home electrical project | Page 3 REMEMBERING LOIS STRANAHAN: The tireless fighter for trade unionism died at age 97 | Page 5 Meeting notices p.6 May 16 election results p. 9 PORTLAND, OREGON JUNE 2, 2017 COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AT&T workers wage three-day strike OHSU nurses reach deal on For workers in the company’s wireless division, it was the first-ever walkout. By Don McIntosh AT&T workers in 36 states and D.C. walked off the job Friday, May 19, beginning a weekend- long strike to protest a lack of progress in contract negotia- tions. Taking part in the strike were AT&T Mobility nation- wide, plus land line workers in California, Nevada, and Con- necticut, and DIRECTV techni- cians in California and Nevada. It was the first time workers in AT&T’s wireless division have struck. The strikers are members of Communications Workers of America (CWA), which repre- sents about 40,000 workers in the striking bargaining units. AT&T is pulling in $1 billion a month in profits, and paid its new three-year contract DAY ONE OF THE STRIKE: Strikers from several locations assemble out- side the AT&T store at Mall 205. CEO $28.4 million last year. But CWA says the company is- n’t making fair proposals on wages, benefits, and job secu- rity. The previous union con- tracts expired in February. The union wants an end to what it calls the pervasive out- sourcing of jobs to low-wage contractors. AT&T has elimi- nated 12,000 U.S. call center jobs since 2011, and now em- ploys 38 third-party call centers in eight countries, CWA said. Turn to Page 5 BUY UNION Mexican-made Nabisco boycott continues, and so does union standoff Laid-off workers tour college campuses and protest at the annual shareholders meeting A U.S. union boycott of Mexi- can-made Nabisco products is now in its second year. The 68,000-member Bakery, Con- fectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers (BCTGM) union called the boycott in March 2016 to protest the closure of Oreo pro- duction lines in Chicago. Parent company Mondelēz laid off over 400 Chicago workers who were making about $26 an hour, and shifted production to the Nabisco plant in Salinas, Mex- ico, where workers work six days a week and are paid the equivalent of less than $2 an hour. The boycott has the en- dorsement of the national AFL- CIO. For all Nabisco products — including such iconic brands as Oregon Nurses Association reached tentative agreement with Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) on a new union contract for over 2,300 nurses. The agreement was reached May 18 after a marathon 22-hour bargaining session facilitated by a state me- diator. A vote to ratify the con- tract is set for May 31 and June 1 (after this issue went to press), and the union bargaining team is recommending approval. If OHSU nurses ratify as ex- pected, the new contract will raise wages more than 9 percent and preserve current health ben- efits with no increase to the amount members pay. The con- tract would run three years and three months, expiring June 30, 2020. It would also codify OHSU’s practices on safe nurse staffing levels: In each unit, committees composed equally of direct care nurses and nursing managers will decide what the minimum staffing needs are for that unit. Over several months of bar- gaining, the union negotiating At Rudy’s Barbershop and elsewhere along Southeast Division Street and around the city, businesses dis- played signs bearing the union logo and the message: “We support nurses at OHSU” team was supported by an active contract action team. Hundreds of nurses took part in a rally April 26, the first day the two sides began mediation. Mem- bers also approached dozens of local businesses asking that they post signs saying “We Support Nurses At OHSU.” The signs popped up in business windows in South Waterfront and around Portland. — Don McIntosh Women in the Trades Lindsey Disler, a member of United Students Against Sweatshops, protests outside the Mondelēz shareholders meeting. (Photo by Nate Zeff) Oreos, Triscuits, Fig Newtons, Chips Ahoy, and Ritz Crackers — BCTGM is asking con- sumers to read the label, and if it says Made in Mexico, don’t buy it. BCTGM continues to repre- sent about 2,000 workers at six Nabisco plants and two distribu- tion centers in the U.S., includ- ing about 200 at an industrial bakery at 100 NE Columbia Boulevard in Portland. They’ve all been working without a new Turn to Page 5 Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. director Connie Ashbrook, right, embraces her successor, Kelly Kupcak, at the 25th Annual Women In Trades Fair May 20. Ashbrook, Oregon’s first female journeyman elevator mechanic, helped found the group in 1989 to help other women get into the trades. What it’s like to be a woman in an overwhelmingly male occupation? Three tradeswomen share their stories on PAGE 10.
