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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 24, 2018)
PAGE 4 | August 24, 2018 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS COLLECTIVE BARGAINING Northwest Machinists members approve new four-year contract with Weyerhaeuser Members of Machinists District Lodge W24 voted by a 69 per- cent margin Aug. 2 to approve a new four-year contract with Weyerhaeuser. It covers about 1,100 Weyerhaeuser employees in Washington and Oregon, in- cluding loggers, road mainte- nance workers, log truck driv- ers, log yard workers, and workers at Weyerhaeuser sawmills in Longview and Ray- mond, Washington, and San- tiam and Cottage Grove, Ore- gon. District W24 Lodge Direct- ing Business Representative Noel Willet says the new agree- ment secures industry-leading compensation, with across-the- board wage increases averaging 16 percent over the life of the agreement. About 40 percent of members are in job classifica- tions that will also get additional “bracket adjustments” of as much as $4 an hour to keep wages competitive and attract and retain workers to the com- pany. Current wages average above $23 an hour, with some classifications like electricians and millwrights earning around $35 an hour. The new agreement does contain several features that members objected to. Weyer- haeuser will withdraw from the union-sponsored multi-em- ployer health trust and instead provide health insurance through a self-insured company plan. And going forward, Wey- erhaeuser will contribute 5 per- cent of gross pay toward a 401(k)-style retirement plan for new hires — instead of the de- fined benefit pension that cur- rent members are in. Both those items were sticking points that led members to reject two pre- vious contract offers — and au- thorize the union bargaining team to call a strike. Weyer- haeuser improved its final offer with an additional $1.15 an hour to wages and dropped proposals that would have increased mandatory overtime and di- rected maintenance workers to do production work at its Cot- tage Grove mill. The new union agreement runs through May 31, 2022. Drivers and supporters celebrate contract ratification at a rally prior to the Aug. 14 school board meeting. Special ed bus drivers ratify long-delayed contract with Portland Public Schools Special education school bus drivers voted Aug. 14 to ap- prove a new two-year collective bargaining agreement with Port- land Public Schools (PPS). The 71 to 9 vote followed over a year of bargaining between PPS and Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 757. Settle- ment was reached when PPS improved its offer even after it implemented what it had earlier called its final offer. The agreement covers ap- proximately 100 drivers who transport about 600 students with disabilities and special needs. They work 30-hour weeks consisting of weekday split shifts of three hours each. The new agreement raises starting pay to $18.50 an hour — up from $16.25 currently. The top rate for a driver with 25 years experience will rise from $23.84 to $25.75. A smaller set of raises are retroactive to the June 30, 2017, expiration of the previous contract, meaning drivers will get a check covering those raises for all the hours they worked during the last school year. During months of school board protests, drivers called for the same pay as Teamster-repre- sented truck drivers who trans- port food and supplies at the dis- trict. The new agreement makes progress toward that, but doesn’t reach parity. “We really think this is the best deal we could have got to without a strike, but at the same time it’s not nearly as much as these drivers are worth,” said Local 757 spokesperson An- drew Riley. Local 757 also wanted limits on the district’s use of vans and cars to transport students who can’t travel with other students because of behavioral or disci- pline problems; they’re being driven by less-well-compen- sated drivers. The new agree- ment says the district may dis- cuss that issue in a committee with representatives of labor and management. The new contract runs through June 30, 2019. Members of the bargaining team used their own paid time off to meet with management and bargain a first union contract. Medical techs secure a first union contract at Sacred Heart in Eugene A group of about 330 medical technicians at PeaceHealth Sa- cred Heart hospital in Spring- field and Eugene, Oregon, rat- ified their first-ever union contract by a roughly 9-to-1 margin on Aug. 10. That’s af- ter the workers voted to union- ize last November by a more than three to one margin, join- ing Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Profession- als (OFNHP), an affiliate of American Federation of Teachers (AFT). The new three-year agree- ment provides annual raises of 3 percent, plus additional raises of 1 to 3 percent halfway through the third year in order to get members on a unified union wage scale based on classification. It locks in the existing 401(k) retirement plan and health insurance for em- ployees and their families. A new labor management com- mittee will jointly administer a $30,000 a year education fund for pay for members to attend professional trainings. And the contract institutes standard union contract rights like “just cause” discipline, a grievance process, and seniority rights, as well as a requirement that all represented employees share responsibility for union dues or fees. But the gain that members are most enthusiastic about has to do with paid time off, says OFNHP president Adrienne Enghouse. Medical techni- cians were motivated to union- ize when PeaceHealth man- agement decreed that they would no longer accrue paid time off for overtime hours they worked, only on the first 40 hours. The new contract re- stores paid time off accrual for all hours worked. Enghouse said there’s also been a shift in workplace cul- ture at the hospital. “They really didn’t feel re- spected or feel like their voice was heard,” Enghouse said. “The union has changed the tone of their relationship with management to one that’s more collaborative.” — Don McIntosh Columbia Area Transit in Hood River signs first union contract with ATU Local 757 A group of 10 bus drivers em- ployed by Columbia Area Transit in Hood River unani- mously approved their first union contract, after joining Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757 last August. The agreement provides an immediate 10 percent raise followed by three annual raises totaling 8.7 percent over the life of the four-year agree- ment. Wages currently range from $12 to $16 an hour de- pending on experience. Under the new union wage scale, newly hired drivers will start at $14.41 an hour and rise to $20.20 after 10 years. Drivers will also get a one- time $400 retention bonus next July; employee-only health insurance, with an op- tion to buy up for dependents; and a 401(k)-style retirement plan with an employer match of up to 3 percent of gross wages that employees elect to contribute. Lastly, the two sides agreed to meet to discuss whether Columbia Area Tran- sit can contract out its planned Columbia Gorge express serv- ice to Portland.
