SERVING ORGANIZED LABOR IN OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON SINCE 1900
NORTHWEST
LABOR
PRESS
VOLUME 118, NUMBER 15
IN THIS ISSUE
LABORERS 483 GET TENTATIVE DEAL AT CITY OF
PORTLAND: Wages to reach $15 an hour | Page 2
WSLC CONVENTION:“Resist. Persist. Repeat.” was the
message to Washington AFL-CIO delegates | Page 3
Meeting notices p.4
Labor Day picnic schedule p. 8
PORTLAND, OREGON
AUGUST 4, 2017
LOOKING BACK
The 2017 Oregon Legislature
Still no DCTU deal at City of Portland
Several hundred people rallied
in downtown Portland July 19 in
a show of support for the Dis-
trict Council of Trade Unions
(DCTU), which is bargaining a
new contract with the City.
The DCTU is comprised of a
half-dozen locals that bargain
jointly for about 1,200 workers.
The unions are AFSCME Local
189, Machinists Lodge 63,
IBEW Local 48, Plumbers and
Fitters Local 290, Operating En-
gineers Local 701, and Painters
Local 10.
The previous contract expired
June 30, and the sides have
completed their required 150
days of bargaining. At any time,
either side can declare impasse
and proceed to “self remedy.”
“That’s not something I like
to think about, but it’s really our
final bullet, it’s our final answer,
and it’s the only bullet in our
gun,” said Rob Martineau, pres-
ident of AFSCME Local 189
and spokesperson for the
DCTU. “The city says it’s a pro-
gressive town, but they’re mov-
ing toward a labor dispute,”
Martineau said, responding to
calls to “shut it down.”
At the rally, the DCTU drew
support from the Oregon AFL-
CIO, the Northwest Oregon La-
bor Council, United Food and
Commercial Workers Local 555
(the state’s largest private sector
union), and many other unions.
Chris Brown (right), a member of IBEW Local 48, Nancy Boch (center), a mem-
ber of Local 48, Zach Odil, a member of AFSCME Local 189, and Tracey Briggs
(holding camera), take a selfie to send to Mayor Ted Wheeler. Brown and
Boch work at the Maintenance Bureau, Signals, Streets, and LIght Division.
Odil works at P&D, (Portland and Distributing). Briggs is a supporter.
Martineau said the DCTU is
looking for three things: a 2 per-
cent wage increase across the
board, a retroactive cost of liv-
ing adjustment (COLA) to June
30, and no HIPPA (Health Insur-
ance Privacy and Protection
Act) release requirement to
maintain lower out-of-pocket
insurance costs.
“If the City can’t produce
those three things, unfortu-
nately, we’re going to be in a
very different spot in a few
months,” Martineau said.
Several speakers scolded City
commissioners for not being
more involved in the bargaining
process.
“They are hiding behind their
HR department,” said Oregon
AFL-CIO president Tom Cham-
berlain. City workers, who live
and work in one of the most ex-
pensive cities on the West Coast,
“are just trying to keep their
Turn to Page 8
Lawmakers passed landmark
labor laws, but dropped the ball
on tax fairness and housing
By Don McIntosh
In its now-concluded 2017 ses-
sion, the Oregon Legislature
passed two pieces of first-in-the-
nation labor legislation: crack-
ing down on abusive scheduling
practices by employers, and pre-
venting local jurisdictions from
passing antiunion “right-to-
work” ordinances. Lawmakers
also passed a $5.3 billion trans-
portation funding package that
was stalled for years. And they
passed a tax on health care
providers to make up for a long-
planned drop in the federal
Medicaid funding that pays for
the Oregon Health Plan.
Could they have done more?
Democrats held a 35-25 major-
ity in the House and a 17-13
majority in the Senate. Tackling
the affordable housing crisis
was a top priority for Demo-
cratic House Speaker Tina
Kotek. Her bill — to curb no-
cause eviction and eliminate the
statewide ban on local rent con-
trol ordinances — passed the
House but failed to win passage
in the Senate.
And most importantly, the
Legislature once again failed to
pass tax reform, with the result
that Oregon continues to have
underfunded schools and serv-
ices, and the lowest overall tax
burden on business of any state
in the nation. No proposal was
able to get the required 3/5ths
supermajority to raise taxes.
Here are the top union-backed
bills this session:
■ Fair Scheduling: SB 828, which was the
top priority for UFCW Local 555, requires
large retail, hotel, and food service
establishments to provide at least 10 hours
between work shifts, post work schedules
at least two weeks in advance, and pay for
last-minute employer-requested schedule
changes. [Passed House 46-13, Senate
23-6]
■ Transportation: HB 2017, the top
priority for the Oregon Building Trades,
authorizes $5.3 billion over the next eight
years for congestion-reducing projects on
I-5, I-205, and OR-217, plus highway,
bridge, and transit projects around the
state. Funds come from a 10-cent gas tax
hike, a $16 vehicle registration fee increase,
a 0.1 percent payroll tax and a 0.5 percent
tax on new car sales. The projects are likely
to employ many hundreds of union
construction workers. [Passed House 39-
20, Senate 22-7]
■ No local ‘right-to-work’: SB 1040
guarantees the right of private-sector
employers and unions to negotiate ‘union
security’ agreements (requiring
represented members to pay union dues)
The law is intended to head off local ‘right-
to-work’ ordinances, such as one proposed
in Coos County, that seek to ban such
agreements, capitalizing on a November
2016 federal court decision. [Passed House
41-17; Senate 17-12]
■ Cover All Kids: Under Obamacare, most
Oregon children get free health insurance if
their parents make less than triple the
poverty line. SB 558 extends that eligibility
to an estimated 15,000 immigrant
children who lack legal residency status
— at a cost of about $36 million.[Passed
House 37-23, Senate 21-8]
■ Shore up Medicaid HB 2391 raises
over $300 million a year in new funds to
Turn to Page 6