SERVING ORGANIZED LABOR IN OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON SINCE 1900
NORTHWEST
LABOR
PRESS
VOLUME 118, NUMBER 14
IN THIS ISSUE
UNION BUILT The new ilani Casino Resort was built
under a project labor agreement. | Page 5
WHO’S ON OUR SIDE AFL-CIO President Tom
Chamberlain reviews 2017 legislative session. | Page 7
Portland hosts USA dinner p.3 Meeting Notices p.4
PORTLAND, OREGON
July 21, 2017
‘It’s Not Over’
Jon Jensen, a union rep for IBEW Local 48, and Nicole Rappaport, general
counsel for Operating Engineers Local 701, testify before Portland City Coun-
cil opposing a proposed Community Equity and Inclusion Plan resolution.
Unions oppose City’s revamped
policy to increase women and
minorities on construction projects
Sens. Merkley and Wyden, and Rep. Bonamici
urge Oregonians to keeping pushing back on
GOP efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare.
Union members were among more than 200
people at a rally July 6 in Northeast Portland
calling on the U.S. Senate to reject Republican
efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care
Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-
Kentucky) tried to jam a bill through the Senate
before the July Fourth break that contained dras-
tic cuts to Medicaid, and huge tax breaks for the
wealthy. A backlash by constituents nationwide
forced him to postpone the vote — for lack of
Republican support. [The GOP-led House
passed their version of health care reform on
May 4 that contained similar cuts.]
“This is the fight of our lifetime, and a lot of
people don’t even know what’s coming at
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Lawsuit says nonunion ODOT contractor
tolerated severe sex and racial harassment
The lawsuit against Ross Island
Bridge contractor Abhe & Svo-
boda seeks a jury trial in federal
district court.
By Don McIntosh
Members and staff of the Painters
and Allied Trades union have for
months been handing out fliers
near the west end of the Ross Is-
land Bridge — to publicize un-
scrupulous employment practices
at nonunion bridge painting con-
tractor Abhe & Svoboda.
A new federal lawsuit filed by
a former employee suggests they
were only scratching the surface.
The suit was filed by Portland
attorney Craig Crispin on behalf
of Tywan Brown, a former em-
ployee on the Ross Island
Bridge painting project. The 14-
page legal complaint, filed June
30 in U.S. District Court, ac-
cuses the company of extreme
race and gender discrimination,
and retaliating for making a
safety complaint.
According to the suit, Brown’s
experience at Abhe & Svoboda
began with broken promises. A
resident of Virginia, she re-
sponded to an ad on Craigslist to
work on the Ross Island Bridge
project in Portland. Abhe & Svo-
boda offered her a position as a
sandblaster and promised to pay
her moving expenses. When she
arrived in Portland, the company
put her to work as a painter in-
stead, and reimbursed her for
only one-fourth of her moving
expenses, promising to pay the
rest after she’d worked there a
year. She didn’t last that long.
Soon after she began, a co-
worker allegedly began subject-
ing her to unwanted sexual ad-
vances. On one occasion, he
cornered her in a shed at work
and said he wouldn’t let her out
unless she performed oral sex on
him; he backed down when she
threatened to call police. When
she complained to the company
project manager, the manager
immediately told the perpetrator
that she had complained about
him; the co-worker yelled at her
and threatened her. When she re-
ported that to the project man-
ager, he told her to apologize to
the offending co-worker and
avoid him in the future by stay-
ing on the other side of the
bridge. Brown provided a writ-
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They say it’s a step backward
from the existing ‘Community
Benefits Agreement.’
A controversial proposal on how
to increase minority and women
participation in City construction
projects is expected to go before
Portland City Council for a vote
in August. The proposal was de-
veloped behind closed doors by
a work group of City managers
with little experience in con-
struction. Union and nonprofit
leaders who have worked for
years to increase the number of
women and minorities in the
construction workforce say the
proposed resolution/ordinance is
poorly written, and won’t ac-
complish its stated goal.
“We do see significant con-
cerns regarding the Community
Equity and Inclusion Plan
(CEIP) in its current form,
mostly on issues of accountabil-
ity, transparency, and enforce-
ment,” said Kelly Haines, senior
project manager for WorkSys-
tems Inc., at a July 12 City
Council hearing on the proposal.
Haines staffs the Metropolitan
Alliance for Workforce Equity, a
union-backed coalition known
as MAWE, which mobilized to
attend the hearing and testify
against the proposal.
Critics say it’s a step back-
ward from the City’s existing
policy. In 2012, Portland City
Council approved a model
“Community Benefits Agree-
ment” (CBA) that committed
general contractors, unions, mi-
nority contractors, and work-
force training and community
groups to work together to
achieve ambitious numeric tar-
gets for participation by women
and minorities—both as appren-
tices and journeymen, and as
subcontractors—on City-funded
construction projects. That CBA
is supposed to be applied to all
City construction projects larger
than $15 million.
Haines pointed to the success
of the CBA on two completed
Water Bureau projects. “The
CBA pilots not only hit the
goals, but doubled and tripled
them many times,” she said.
Under the new proposal going
to City Council, a separate pol-
icy known as the CEIP would
apply to public improvement
contracts valued at between $10
million and $25 million. Any
project in excess of $25 million
would require “consideration of
a modified CBA.” The new pro-
posal would leave it to the dis-
cretion of City bureau chiefs
whether to implement a CBA on
any given project.
Nicole Rappaport, general
counsel for Operating Engineers
Local 701, said compared to the
CBA, the proposed CEIP seems
to be oriented more toward mi-
nority and women contractors at
the expense of minority and
women workers.
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