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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2017)
SERVING ORGANIZED LABOR IN OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON SINCE 1900 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS VOLUME 118, NUMBER 23 IN THIS ISSUE UNION-MADE GIFT GUIDE: Yes, you can still fill a stocking and put some solidarity under the tree | Page 6 NO MADE-IN-MEXICO OREOS: Outside a Portland Walmart, Nabisco Boycott Day of Action. | Page 2 Meeting notices p. 4 Trump’s NAFTA talks p.7 PORTLAND, OREGON COLLECTIVE BARGAINING DECEMBER 1, 2017 UNION ORGANIZING At Volunteers of America, still no contract New Seasons rebuffs call The publicly funded non-profit adopts a ‘right-to work’ stance More than a year after workers at the Oregon chapter of Volun- teers of America (VOA) voted 46 to 3 to join Oregon AF- SCME, they still don’t have a first union contact. The roughly 65 workers staff two residential alcohol and drug treatment fa- cilities in Portland where ad- dicts undergo six months of court-ordered treatment. VOA executive director Kay Toran has opposed the union from the beginning. She hired lawyers, and tried but failed to talk workers out of unionizing. Then to represent VOA in con- tract bargaining she brought in Jim Frazer, a negotiator associ- ated with many bitter labor dis- putes over the last few decades. In bargaining sessions, Frazer refers to VOA as “the com- pany.” for meeting with union UFCW Local 555 says the nonunion grocer has already fired one union supporter NO CONTRACT, NO PEACE Before heading into another fruitless bar- gaining session, union drug treatment manager Vialante Vieira took part in a rainy 8 a.m. picket Nov. 22 outside Volunteers of America offices in Southeast Portland. “That shows he really does- n’t understand the difference between non-profit mission and a for-profit company,” says Oregon AFSCME Executive Director Stacy Chamberlain, who heads the union bargain- ing team. In bargaining, VOA has adopted a “right-to-work” pos- ture: Insisting that the bargain- ing unit be a open shop, in Turn to Page 8 By Don McIntosh The right of workers to speak to the CEO is a “sacred value” at New Seasons Market, CEO Wendy Collie wrote to employ- ees. Yet Collie, a former Star- bucks executive, has so far snubbed a group of workers who asked for a meeting. Supporters of the brand-new New Seasons Workers United union visited corporate headquarters Nov. 1 to present a letter and petition signed by 260 New Seasons workers asking her to agree to principles of neutrality — and to call United Food and Commer- cial Workers (UFCW) Local 555 Organizing Director Peter Diaz by Nov. 21 to set up a meeting. FIRED FOR BACKING A UNION? The National Labor Relations Board is investigating whether New Sea- sons deli worker Adrian Mendoza was unlawfully terminated. Collie didn’t give pro-union workers the courtesy of a reply, but she did react later that day — with a letter posted in stores. The letter asserts that “speaking up” is “a value we hold dear.” “You’re welcome to talk di- Turn to Page 3 NATIONAL ON STRIKE FOR LIVING WAGES AND AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE: Striking New System laundry workers Phung Nguyen, Tram Nguyen and Yim Chin say they and their 70 coworkers can’t get by on minimum wage. Pushed to the limit, laundry workers strike After more than 20 years laun- dering linens for Portland’s top hotels and restaurants, Yim Chin makes $11.75 an hour at New System Laundry, a city-block- sized industrial facility at North- east 10th and Flanders. Next year, the Portland-area mini- mum wage will surpass that union-negotiated wage, which was set in 2013 when the statewide minimum was $8.95. But in negotiations with Service Employees Local 49, New Sys- tem is proposing to pay no more than the new minimum wage — and to double what she and her 70 co-workers pay toward union-sponsored health insur- ance premiums, from $105 a month to $213 a month by 2020. “Because our wages are so low, if they raise the premium, we can’t make it,” Chin says. Local 49 Representative Melissa Espinosa says the com- pany hasn’t claimed poverty; it just doesn’t want to shoulder the premium increases and pay above minimum wage. So on Nov. 28, a week after their contract expired, the over- whelmingly Vietnamese and Chinese workforce went out on strike. They remained on strike when this issue went to press. As this issue went to press, Re- publican leaders in the U.S. Sen- ate were preparing to vote on a tax plan that favors the super- rich and corporations over work- ing people. Here’s why the AFL- CIO says the plan is a bad idea: ■ Millions of working people would pay more. People making under $40,000 would be worse off, on average, in 2021; and people making under $75,000 would be worse off, on average, in 2027. ■ The super-rich and Wall Street would make out like bandits. The richest 0.1% would get an average tax cut of more than $208,000, and 62% of the benefits of the Senate bill would go to the richest 1%. Big banks, hedge funds and other Wall Street firms would be the biggest beneficiaries of key provisions. ■ Tax breaks for outsourcing. The Republican tax plan would lower the U.S. tax rate on offshore profits to zero, giving corporations more incentive to move American jobs offshore. ■ Working people would lose health care.Thirteen million people would lose health insurance, and premiums would rise 10% in the non-group market. Meanwhile, Republicans want to cut Medicaid and Medicare by $1.5 trillion— the same price tag as their tax bill. ■ Job-killing cuts to infrastructure and education. Eliminating the deduction for state and local taxes would drastically reduce state and local investment in infrastructure and lead to $350 billion in education cuts, jeopardizing the jobs of 350,000 educators. If the vote hasn’t happened yet when you read this, the AFL- CIO asks you to call your sena- tors right away at 844-899-9913 and tell them to vote no.
