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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 6, 2017)
SERVING ORGANIZED LABOR IN OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON SINCE 1900 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS VOLUME 118, NUMBER 19 IN THIS ISSUE TRUMP NOMINEE FUNDRAISES FOR ANTIUNION GROUP: Laborers 483 is one of those targeted. | Page 2 WHAT IF LABOR AND GREENS ALLY: Labor and environmental leaders hold a summit in Olympia | Page 8 Meeting notices p. 6 Football union speaks out p.11 PORTLAND, OREGON NATIONAL OCTOBER 6, 2017 UNION ORGANIZING Supreme Court to hear case Precision Castparts welders unionize A “micro-unit” wins at a com- challenging union dues pany where four previous union The U.S. Supreme Court an- nounced Sept. 28 that it will hear Janus v. AFSCME, a case chal- lenging the constitutionality of any requirement that public em- ployees pay dues or fees to the unions that represent them. The case gets its name from Mark Janus, an Illinois state worker represented by American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AF- SCME). Like Oregon, Washing- ton, and 19 other states that rec- ognize public employees’ right to collective bargaining, Illinois doesn’t require represented workers to join the union, but it requires non-members to pay “fair share” fees to the union to cover the costs of negotiating and enforcing the union contract. Janus objects to that require- ment. With attorneys from the anti-union National Right to Work Foundation, he filed a fed- eral lawsuit arguing that the fair share requirement violates his First Amendment rights. Forty years ago, the Supreme Court settled that question in a case called Abood vs. Detroit Board of Education, ruling unanimously that such fees were reasonable and constitutional. But today’s Supreme Court is expected to reverse the Abood decision, most likely in a 5-4 vote. The court split 4-4 last year on a similar case, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, after conservative judge Antonin Scalia died. The case is likely to be argued early next year. Reversing Abood would be like passing a “right to work” law for all public employees na- tionwide: It would be a severe blow to public sector unions and the labor movement as a whole. U.S. Senate confirms Trump nominees to the NLRB U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren The federal agency that’s sup- posed to protect workers’ right (D-Mass.) calls the NLRB “one to form a union may now be on of the most important independ- ent federal agencies track to reverse years’ that you’ve never worth of progress on heard of.” The NLRB workers’ rights. In a is responsible for in- 49-to-47 party-line terpreting and admin- vote on Sept. 25, Re- istering the National publicans in the U.S. Labor Relations Act, Senate confirmed the federal law that William Emanuel, protects workers’ right president Trump’s sec- to join a union, take ond nominee to the William Emanuel collective action, and five-member National strike. Labor Relations Board The agency consists (NLRB). He follows of two parts. The Office Trump nominee Mar- of the General Counsel vin Kaplan, who was employs 1,500 agents confirmed Aug. 2 — also on a party-line at 26 regional offices around the country. vote. Together with They oversee elections Philip Miscimarra, in which workers vote who was named NLRB chairman by Marvin Kaplan whether or not to union- Trump in April, they make up ize, and they investigate and the first Republican majority on the Board in nine years. Turn to Page 10 campaigns failed. Welders at Precision Castparts Corp. manufacturing sites in the Portland area voted 54 to 38 on Sept. 22 to join Interna- tional Association of Machin- ists District Lodge W24. Precision Castparts makes cast parts like jet engine com- ponents for aerospace and other industries. It has collec- tive bargaining agreements at some unionized subsidiaries in other locations, and since 2015 it has been owned by Berkshire Hathaway, which owns other unionized companies. But in the Portland area, Precision Castparts is a major nonunion industrial employer, and the company brought in antiunion consultants in an effort to stay that way. Machinists District Lodge W24 organizer Will Lukens said Precision Castparts’ cam- paign followed the standard an- tiunion playbook. “They tried everything they could to scare them,” Lukens said. In the weeks before the union vote, Lukens said, the company also brought in con- tract welders for the first time — and asked the existing welders to train them. Brett Clevidence, a 16-year Precision Castparts employee, told the Labor Press that he and his coworkers voted for a union because they want greater job security and more say over compensation and working conditions. Clevidence stressed that the vote for the union was- n’t a vote against the company. “We’re all here to feed our families,” Clevidence said. “It’s very important that the company and our customers know that we are 100 percent committed to our customer needs.” The union vote came after some legal wrangling over whether workers in a single de- Turn to Page 9 COLLECTIVE BARGAINING DCTU declares impasse at City of Portland The District Council of Trade Unions (DCTU), representing over 1,000 employees at the City of Portland, declared im- passe in contract negotiations Sept. 27. Five members of the union coalition’s bargaining team made the announcement sitting before the full City Council during their morning session. Bargaining has been going on since Jan. 5 without success. The City called for the assis- tance of a mediator on July 31, which occurred over two meet- ings on Sept. 6 and 25 — also with little success. The contract expired June 30. Having made very little progress with the mediator, the DCTU declared impasse as re- quired under Oregon’s Public Employee Collective Bargain- ing Act. The action initiated a seven-day period to exchange final offers, followed by a 30- day cooling off period. Once the 30-day cooling off period has been exhausted (Nov. 8) the unions may engage in a work stoppage and the City may im- plement its final offer, with a 10-day notice to the other party. Members of the District Council of Trade Unions bargaining team from left — Tony Bush, Machinists Lodge 63; Chris Montgomery, Operating Engi- neers Local 701; Mary Prottsman, AFSCME Local 189 Police Bureau; Rich Thallheimer, AFSCME Local 189, and Mark Hinckle, IBEW Local 48 — de- clared impasse in bargaining at the Sept. 27 session of the Portland City Council. “I’m sorry to hear that,” Mayor Ted Wheeler responded, before moving on to the Council’s next agenda item. At the Sept. 27 City Council meeting, DCTU bargaining team members accused the City’s bargaining team of ne- gotiating in bad faith. DCTU submitted its financial package early on in bargaining, yet it took the City 70 days to re- spond with a financial “sup- posal” that was good only for that day, said Tony Bush, a member of Machinists Lodge 63 who works in the City fleet. The union representatives believe it was a calculated move to draw out bargaining while the City negotiated sepa- rate contracts with Laborers 483 and Professional and Tech- Turn to Page 9
