NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS |
...Oregon unions gird for defensive fights
From Page 1
thwart majority rule. It would
change the Oregon constitution
to require a three-fifths super-
majority for lawmakers to ap-
prove any legislation that would
result in increased taxes or fees
— including efforts to rein in
tax breaks. Thanks to Ballot
Measure 25 in 1996, Oregon al-
ready requires a three-fifths leg-
islative supermajority to raise
taxes. But in 2015, the Oregon
Supreme Court determined that
doesn’t apply to the repeal or
scale back of tax breaks. IP 31
is financed in part by people in
the real estate industry, who re-
portedly hope it will prevent the
Legislature from scaling back
the mortgage interest deduction.
Their campaign is represented
by attorney Jill Gibson, who
was the chief petitioner on an
aborted anti-union “right-to-
work” ballot initiative in 2016.
IP 37, which turned in signa-
tures May 23, declares groceries
exempt from any new taxes. It’s
aimed in part at preventing any
local government from levying a
tax on sugary drinks like soda.
The Attorney General’s office
has said the way the constitu-
tional amendment is worded, it
would also prevent any tax on
restaurants, and would exempt
food businesses generally from
any increases in the corporate
minimum tax. The measure will
appear as Constitutional Amend-
ment 103 on the ballot.
“We are encouraged that a
growing number of businesses
are joining this effort to defeat
these harmful measures,” said
Oregon AFSCME Executive
Director Stacy Chamberlain and
SEIU 503 President Steven De-
marest in a joint statement re-
leased by the governor’s re-
election campaign.
Dropping IP 25 was seen as a
green light to potential business
allies. The initiative would have
required publicly traded corpo-
rations to disclose information,
including how much they pay in
state taxes, as well as their total
Oregon sales, and the total Ore-
gon wages and compensation
they pay. But it was always seen
as a means to the end of greater
tax fairness.
“There’s always tradeoffs,”
SEIU Local 503 Executive Di-
rector Melissa Unger told the
Labor Press. “The reality is we
wanted to make sure we had a
broad coalition to defeat these
ballot measures.”
IP 31 and 37 aren’t the only
measures unions are expecting
to oppose. As of June 5, the Ore-
gon AFL-CIO Committee on
Political Education is also op-
posing IP 1 and IP 22:
▪ IP 1, the Stop Taxpayer Funding for
Abortion Act of 2018, would reduce access
to abortion by eliminating funding for
abortion and women’s healthcare for
people on Medicaid and public
employees.
▪ IP 22, the Stop Oregon Sanctuaries
measure, repeals a 30-year-old state law
that bars the use of state resources or
personnel to detect or apprehend persons
solely for violating federal immigration
law. The initiative’s opponents say IP 22
would increase racial profiling, harm
immigrant communities, and jeopardize
public safety.
Unions had earlier introduced
several prospective initiative pe-
titions aimed at the November
2018 ballot. But United Food
and Commercial Workers Local
555 withdrew a pair of measures
aimed at curbing work schedule
abuses after the Oregon Legisla-
ture passed some of those ideas
into law. And the Oregon Edu-
cation Association filed but
never put resources into a pair of
measures that would have ad-
dressed school funding.
As for the corporate tax trans-
parency idea, it could come
back in the future, but in next
year’s legislative session Unger
said SEIU would rather focus
on how to fund services and
achieve greater corporate tax
fairness. Oregon businesses
continue to have the lowest
overall tax burden of any state.
July 20, 2018 | PAGE 3
UNION ORGANIZING
...Union vote at Clackamas pet clinic
From Page 1
brought its holdings to 2,000 pet
hospitals. The Federal Trade
Commission, responsible for en-
forcing anti-trust laws that are
supposed to prevent monopolies,
allowed the acquisition on con-
dition that Mars sell 12 of its
clinics to three other national
chains.
Veterinary medicine was once
an industry made up of inde-
pendent veterinarians and clin-
ics. Today it’s rapidly consolidat-
ing into the hands of several
giant national companies, of
which Mars is by far the largest.
ILWU spokesperson Craig
Merrilees said in the wake of the
sale to Mars, workers at VCA’s
Clackamas facility were con-
cerned about training, advance-
ment, and turnover, and con-
tacted ILWU for help with
unionizing. Merrilees said com-
pany management opposed the
Maintenance goes non-
union at Tillamook Cheese
A group of 31 workers who
maintain cheese-making equip-
ment at the Tillamook Creamery
voted July 11 to go nonunion.
The vote, which was initiated by
company management, was 19
to 10 in favor of decertifying
unionization effort, brought in
union avoidance consultants,
and held meetings in the work-
place to discourage employees
from voting to unionize. The
proposed bargaining unit con-
sists of all non-professional em-
ployees, including veterinary
technicians and assistants, ken-
nel assistants, and client service
reps. Assuming they prevail,
they’ll be the third pet hospital
workforce to unionize, ever, all
in the last year.
▪ At a VCA unit in San Francisco, a similar
group of employees joined ILWU in a 56-
to-20 vote on April 5.
▪ And at a Mars’ BluePearl subsidiary in
Seattle, workers joined the National
Veterinary Professionals Union in a 48-to-4
vote on May 31. NVPU formed last year
with the goal of making veterinary support
staff positions into a sustainable, life-long
career choice. Merrilees said ILWU is
working in partnership with the fledgling
union.
Operating Engineers Local 701,
based in Gladstone, Oregon.
The election took place the day
before bargaining on a new con-
tract was to begin.
About 250 production work-
ers at the facility continue to be
represented by Teamsters Local
58.
UNIONIZATION ] MAY-JUN 2018
Raymond Thomas
The following are Oregon and Southwest Washington workplaces where workers have decided
whether to be represented by a union. The thumbs-up symbol means workers will be union-
represented. Thumbs-down means they’ll be on their own. “Decert” means a decertification
election, where union-represented workers voted whether to remain union. The information
comes from the National Labor Relations Board and the Oregon Employment Relations Board.
James Coon
Union election results
Cynthia Newton
Melissa Haggerty
Chris Frost
Sydney Montanaro
You need a
lawyer who
understands how
your union
disability benefits
and your
Social Security
disability benefits
will fit together.
Employer (Location) Union
Yes-No
Burgerville (Milwaukie) Burgerville Workers Union, IWW
17-5
88-18 ^
Outside In (Portland) Oregon AFSCME
■ 125 workers in about 50 classifications, from physicians to syringe exchange staffers
PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center (Vancouver) OFNHP
6-0
Legacy Silverton Medical Center (Silverton) ONA
DECERT
93-53 ^
■ 146 registered nurses
Providence Milwaukie Hospital (Milwaukie) SEIU Local 49
92-54 ^
■ 156 hospital support workers, including CNAs, cooks, and ER techs
Serco, Inc. (Aurora) National Air Traffic Controllers Assn.
2-1
■ 3 air traffic control specialists at the Aurora State Municipal Airport Air Traffic Control Tower
Unionization by majority signup
Oregon State University (Corvallis) United Academics of OSU (AAUP/AFT)
Scott Sell
Chris Thomas
www.tcnf.legal
^
■ 8 surgical support aides
Employer (Location) Union
820 SW Second Ave., Suite 200,
Portland, OR 97204
^
■ 25 workers at the chain’s 19119 SE McLoughlin Blvd restaurant
■ 2,400 faculty members
Oregon Institute of Technology (Klamath Falls) AAUP
■ 172 faculty members
^