NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS |
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
WASHINGTON
New union contract at Multnomah County
Hanford workers will get
workers’ comp for cancers
under new law
AFSCME Local 88’s new contract
keeps up with inflation and
attempts to address racial equity
AFSCME Local 88 and Mult-
nomah County reached tentative
agreement Jan. 12 on a new
three-year union contract cover-
ing 3,300 County workers. The
agreement provides raises to
keep up with inflation, main-
tains the status quo on health in-
surance, and includes measures
to foster greater work-life bal-
ance and racial equity.
“We think it’s a very good
agreement,” said union chief ne-
gotiator Eben Pullman.
▪ Raises: Workers will get immediate cost-
of-living raises equal to $0.60/hour or 2.2
percent, whichever is greater. About two-
thirds of members — those who make
less than $27.34 an hour — will get the
$0.60 raises. The raises are retroactive to
the July 1, 2017, when the previous
contract expired. Workers will also get
inflation-based raises of 1 to 4 percent on
July 1 of 2018 and 2019.
▪ Work-life balance:The new contract
makes it easier to get alternative work
schedules besides the customary 9 to 5
weekdays. And once granted, alternative
schedules can’t be taken away unless for
performance reasons, and workers have to
first be given an opportunity to improve.
The contract also for the first time has
provisions for some workers to request
Raymond Thomas
Cynthia Newton
Melissa Haggerty
telecommuting. Alternative work
schedules have proved popular for some
workers because they make it easier to
drop off or pick up kids from school or
daycare, or avoid commuting at rush hour.
▪ Workplace equity. The new contract
says the County and the union won’t
tolerate any form of “micro-aggression,”
which is defined as “commonplace and
casual verbal, behavioral, or
environmental indignities and
denigration, often unintentional or
unconscious, that repeat or reaffirm
stereotypes and convey negative or
derogatory messages based on the
recipient's status in a racial minority or
other non-dominant culture group.” The
County will report all microagression
complaints raised by union members to
Local 88, and will make a mediator
available to any employee who wants to
address their relationship with the
individual alleged to have engaged in the
prohibited conduct, though participation
would require the consent of both parties.
The new contract contains
several other provisions aimed
at “equity.” It encourages partic-
ipation of staff from diverse
backgrounds on hiring panels,
and stipulates that members can
be paid release time to partici-
pate. For a renewable one-year
trial period, it broadens sick and
bereavement leave to include
care for any individual whose
close association with the em-
ployee is the equivalent of a
James Coon
Chris Frost
Sydney Montanaro
Why is it that a
worker injured on
the job is made to
feel like they are now
“the accused” who
did something
wrong? Good
question! Don’t let
them add insult to
your injury!
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family relationship. And for the
first time, workers who are cer-
tified to have a cultural compe-
tence will get a 4 percent pay
differential.
“For me, equity is about not
leaving anyone behind,” said Lo-
cal 88 Vice President Raymond
De Silva. De Silva chairs the
County’s Employees of Color
Resource Group, and served on
the union bargaining team.
The bargaining unit covers
nearly all non-management em-
ployees at the County library
and all county agencies except
corrections and sheriffs officers
and the district attorney’s office.
When bargaining began last
May, the union came with full
proposals. The County backed
off a proposal to require workers
to participate in a health risk as-
sessment, but held firm to a $15
starting wage for some new
hires. The roughly 40 employ-
ees, such as library assistants,
who currently earn $15 will go
to $15.29, the next step in the
wage scale, but new hires will
continue to start at $15, the same
starting wage as the previous
contract.
Members were scheduled to
vote on the agreement Jan. 19
through 30. This issue went to
press before results were an-
nounced.
Washington lawmakers passed
legislation late last month that
will allow workers at the Han-
ford Nuclear Reservation to have
better access to workers’ com-
pensation benefits.
HB 1723 passed the House
76-22, and got through the Sen-
ate 35-14. It is now headed to the
governor’s desk, where he is ex-
pected to sign in. Last session, a
similar bill was killed by Senate
Republican leaders who con-
trolled that body. Democrats are
in control this sesson.
Workers at Hanford are ex-
posed to some of the most haz-
ardous substances known to
man, including many chemical
and radiological hazards that are
as yet unidentified, and the safety
measures intended to protect
February 2, 2018 | PAGE 3
them are inadequate. Despite
this, when Hanford workers get
sick they lacked the same work-
ers’ compensation safety net that
other sick/injured workers have
because the burden of proof is on
the worker to connect specific
exposures to their disease — a
virtually impossible task given
the circumstances at Hanford.
The new law recommends
that Hanford workers’ illnesses
be presumed to be work-related
when they see workers’ compen-
sation coverage. This presump-
tion is similar to one that already
exists for firefighters, who are
similarly exposed to toxic chem-
icals and vapors in their line of
work.
HB 1723 was sponsored by
Rep. Larry Haler (R-Richland).
Sen. Karen Keiser (D-Kent)
sponsored the Senate companion
bill.
F ROM WSLC’ S T HE S TAND