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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 7, 2018)
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | December 7, 2018 | PAGE 3 BUY UNION UNION-MADE GIFT IDEAS Buying any gifts this holiday sea- son? If you buy union, you help keep good jobs in the commu- nity, and vote with your dollars for enterprises that pay your fel- low workers a living wage with benefits. Union-made can be hard to find. Here are some ideas. BOOTS Danner got its start in 1936 making boots for loggers. Eighty years later, their boots are still built to last, whether for work, hunting, hiking, or around town. Danner makes about half its products at its Northeast Portland factory, where workers are represented by UFCW Local 555. Check the label: If the boots are U.S.- made, they were made here with union labor. SMART PHONE The smart phone itself is most likely assembled in China, but the workers who maintain the cellular network will be members of Communications Workers of America (CWA) if you choose AT&T or Cricket. When you visit a company-owned AT&T store in Oregon and Southwest Washington, you’re talking with a member of CWA Local 7901. And union members can get a 15-20 percent discount on some cell plans. To download a discount coupon, visit unionplus.org/benefits/home/att-discounts. WINE BLANKETS KITCHENWARE Store shelves may be crowded with foreign-made goods, but you can still find gifts for the home cook that are union-made in America. All Pyrex products are made in Charleroi, Pennsylvania by 310 members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 53G. “There’s a lot of pride in our product,” says Local 53G president Thomas Seal, a 34-year employee at the plant. Other USW members in Pennsylvania and New York make All-Clad Stainless Steel Cookware and Cutco cutlery. And U.S.-made Fiesta brand dinnerware is made in West Virginia by members of the Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastic and Allied Workers union. Nothing says Pacific Northwest pride like a Pendleton Woolen Mills blanket. Warm and durable, Pendleton blankets (but not apparel) are made in Washougal, Washington, and Pendleton, Oregon, by 210 members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 49. Their union contract means wages of $15.94 to $18.90 an hour, plus overtime after eight hours, and health and pension benefits. You can see how the blankets are made with free tours at both locations. MOVIES Portland’s last unionized movie projectionist was laid off by Cinema 21 in 1997. But most Hollywood films themselves are still overwhelmingly union productions, from the stars in SAG-AFTRA to the gaffers in IATSE. Who wouldn’t love to get a gift card to Regal Cinemas, or nonprofit Hollywood Theater, or even Living Room Theaters across from the unionized downtown Powell’s Books? MUSIC Oregon Ballet Theater, the Portland Opera, the Oregon Symphony: All of them employ members of American Federation of Musicians Local 99, IATSE Local 28 crews, and IATSE Local B-20 members, who work as ushers, ticket takers and elevator operators. The biggest employer of union musicians is the Oregon Symphony, with 76 full-timers. Session players earn $200 per two-hour appearance, plus pension and healthcare contributions. UNION ORGANIZING SHOP AND SHIP IT UNION A union for political campaign workers? UNION RETAILERS Campaign Workers Guild signs with an Oregon state rep. Fred Meyer and Powell’s, not Walmart and Amazon When you buy at Fred Meyer, Portland’s only unionized general retailer, the money you spend will employ members of UFCW Local 555 (and Bakers Local 114, at Fred Meyer bakery departments). And why shop at Amazon when you could buy books and gifts at Powell’s Books and support Portland-area members of ILWU Local 5. UNION SHIPPERS Cards and packages? Ship union with USPS and UPS, not with antiunion FedEx U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is a publicly-owned employer that provides nearly half a million career union jobs with benefits in every community in America. UPS is the single largest employer in the Teamsters Union, with about 250,000 union-represented employees. Unions are rare in the wine industry, but Washington’s award-winning Chateau Ste. Michelle is an exception. It employs members of United Farm Workers in its vineyards, and members of Teamsters Local 117 in the barrel room, warehouse, production, shipping and maintenance departments at its Woodinville facility. Company labels include Columbia Crest, Chateau Ste. Michelle wines, Domaine Ste. Michelle, and Snoqualmie, and others. There’s a lot that’s unusual about a union agreement reached Nov. 30 in Woodburn, Oregon. It’s the first union contract covering po- litical campaign workers in Ore- gon. It covers just three workers. And it was agreed to 10 days af- ter they were laid off. The contract is ostensibly be- tween Oregon House Democrat Teresa Alonso Leon and a new union known as the Campaign Workers Guild. But union mem- ber Erin Delaney (Alonso Leon’s campaign manager) said ulti- mately it wasn’t Alonso Leon they were bargaining with, but FuturePAC, the political action committee for Oregon House Democrats. FuturePAC coordi- nates big campaign contribu- tions, recruits campaign staff and matches them with candidates, hires pollsters and consultants, and draws up media plans. Political campaign work is al- most by definition seasonal. Campaign workers hire on in March of an election year, work crazy long hours in a race to the finish line, and then, win or lose, are laid off after the election. Should they have a union? Workers at a num- ber of Democratic campaigns around the country seem to think so. Since December 2017, Cam- paign Workers Guild says it has signed collective bargaining agreements with state party or- ganizations in Minnesota, North Carolina, and Ohio, and with 23 individual political candidate campaigns. Seattle’s Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jaya- pal is one of them. Campaign Workers Guild isn’t affiliated with any other union, but it has enjoyed some union support. In Oregon, the Alonso Leon campaign bargain- ing sessions took place at the Wood- burn offices of the farmworker organi- zation PCUN, ob- served by activists from Portland Jobs with Justice, staff from several unions and by Communi- cations Workers of America Local 7901 President Celeste Jones. Campaign staff felt confident approaching Teresa Alonso Leon with the union idea because they believed she would be support- ive: A former member of Service Employees International Union Local 503, Alonso Leon is both a big supporter of unions and a big recipient of union backing. Delaney hopes the agreement they worked out over five bar- gaining sessions will be a tem- plate for other political cam- paigns. Though she declined to share details of the agreement, Delaney says it provides for severance equal to one month’s pay and health coverage, plus “win” bonuses. But more im- portantly, Delaney says, it will set some standards going for- ward: most notably a clear set of disciplinary and sexual harass- ment policies, guaranteed days off, and a cap of 55 hours a week except for the final month before the election. That last item is crucial, Delaney said, be- cause it’s common for campaign staff to work as much as 80 hours a week. “We hope it will be an indus- try standard,” Delaney told the Labor Press. The agreement runs through April 1, 2020, so it would cover anyone hired when campaign starts up again in March — as- suming she runs again for re- election.
