NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | July 21, 2017 | PAGE 3
WORKERS RIGHTS
Burgerville pays $10,000 to settle
wage and hour violations
Portland hosts Union Sportsmen’s Alliance dinner
The Union Sportsmen’s Alliance teamed up with the Oregon State Building and Construction Trades
Council to host the second annual conservation dinner June 30 at the IBEW Local 48 Hall in Northeast
Portland. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, USA is a non-profit conservation organization that works to
unite union members and their families who hunt, fish, shoot, and enjoy the outdoors. USA raises funds
throughout the country, then holds “Work Boots on the Ground” events with skilled union workers,
who volunteer to complete projects in local communities that conserve wildlife habitat, improve access
to the outdoors, restore parks, and provide youth mentorship. USA has completed 88 projects in 38
states, with union members logging more than 16,000 hours of volunteer labor. With two years of
fundraising now under its belt, Oregon could have a conservation project to work on within the next
year. The June 30 dinner attracted more than 200 members from 13 locals and the Oregon AFL-CIO.
The final tally of money raised had not been completed at press time. “I am certain we will locate and
fund a very significant project with the proceeds from the dinner,” said Walt Ingram, USA’s director of
union relations. USA has 225,000 members nationwide. Membership is $45 and includes a digital sub-
scription to The Union Sportsmen’s Journal, a 1-Year MyTopo.com online mapping subscription, an e-
newsletter with tips and special offers, money-saving discounts on outdoor gear and services, and
chances to win prizes and trips all year. For more information, go to http://unionsportsmen.org.
Raymond Thomas
Cynthia Newton
Melissa Haggerty
James Coon
Chris Frost
Sydney Montanaro
You need a lawyer
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The Burgerville fast food chain
— target of a 14-month union
campaign to improve wages and
working conditions — on June
22 agreed to pay $10,000 to set-
tle charges that it willfully failed
to give workers meal and rest
breaks as required by law.
Oregon law requires employ-
ers to provide paid rest periods
of at least 10 minutes for each
four-hour work
period, and a
duty-free meal pe-
riod of at least 30
minutes when
employees work
six or more hours
at a time.
The Oregon
Bureau of Labor
and Industries
(BOLI) first wrote
to Burgerville on
April 7, 2016, saying it received
information that the company
may not have been providing
rest breaks and meal periods at
its Martin Luther King Jr Boule-
vard restaurant in Portland. The
letter asked the company to re-
view its practices and take im-
mediate steps to correct the sit-
uation. Burgerville’s chief
operating officer wrote back
April 18 to say the company had
retrained the entire management
team and would meet with all 40
employees to make sure they
know about the requirement that
they take breaks.
But the practice continued:
Two other employees com-
plained in August, and BOLI
sent another letter, and opened
an investigation. The investiga-
tion found that over two-week
periods in August and Decem-
ber 2016, managers “willfully”
failed to provide meal periods to
28 and 16 employees respec-
tively. Willful, in this case, is a
legal term meaning the com-
pany knew about the require-
ment for meal breaks, and also
knew that workers weren’t get-
ting them. The agency found 44
violations total, and assessed
$250 per violation, for $11,000
in all. BOLI also found three
cases in which minors were per-
forming a hazardous duty —
operating a trash compactor —
and assessed $250 per violation
for those.
On June 2, 2017, the agency
issued a notice that it intended to
assess
civil
penalties
of
$11,750. The
Va n c o u v e r -
based fast food
chain agreed to
pay $10,000 to
settle all the
charges.
Burgerville
Workers Union,
affiliated with
the Industrial
Workers of the World, has been
campaigning since April 2016
for a $5 an hour raise, affordable
health care, and other demands.
The Oregon AFL-CIO and half
a dozen other labor organiza-
tions have endorsed their cam-
paign.
The Burgerville Workers
Union helped workers file the
BOLI complaints, says union
supporter Chris Merkel, a crew
member at the MLK Jr. Boule-
vard Burgerville store.
“There was a period of time
when it was standard practice
that you were incentivized to not
take certain breaks,” Merkel
said — for example, working
the grill late at night, workers
were constantly busy and felt
unable to stop.
Because of the BOLI case,
Merkel said, a new company-
wide policy now requires work-
ers to sign off for breaks, and set
a timer when they do.
“It’s a step in a direction of
Burgerville recognizing the ba-
sic needs of its workers,”
Merkel said.
—Don McIntosh