SERVING ORGANIZED LABOR IN OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON SINCE 1900
NORTHWEST
LABOR
PRESS
VOLUME 120, NUMBER 11
IN THIS ISSUE
LOW-WAGE THERAPISTS UNIONIZE At an autism
therapy chain store, workers join OFNHP | Page 3
LOCALS 10 & 1236 REWARD THOSE WHO SKILL UP
Members get bonuses of up to $1,000 | Page 6
Meeting Notices p.4
In Memoriam: Lee Duncan p.5
PORTLAND, OREGON
OREGON
JUNE 7, 2019
Lawmakers vote to cut PERS
Union report: men out-earn
women at Fred Meyer
By Don McIntosh
It was a chaotic scene on the floor
of the Oregon House May 30. A
controversial public pension re-
form bill — proposed by Demo-
cratic Senate President Peter
Courtney and Democratic House
Speaker Tina Kotek, but opposed
by public sector unions—had
come up short. The vote was 29
for, 31 against. But instead of an-
nouncing that tally, Kotek di-
rected the chamber to stand at
ease while she summoned Rep.
Andrea Salinas, (D-Lake Os-
wego), and Rep. Mitch Greenlick
(D-Portland) to her office for a
private meeting. Half an hour
later, they emerged, Salinas in
tears. Kotek returned to the dais
and called for Greenlick and Sali-
nas to announce their votes: The
two “nay”s became “ayes,” and
Senate Bill 1049 passed.
With the Senate having passed
it 16-12 one week earlier, it’s set
to become law as soon as the
governor signs it.
By Don McIntosh
“The women of UFCW Local
555 are not amused,” Oregon’s
largest private sector union
says in a campaign for pay eq-
uity launched last month.
Neither are the men, actually.
Last year, as a customary
part of union contract bargain-
ing, United Food and Commer-
cial Workers (UFCW) Local
555 asked Fred Meyer for a list
of employees that would in-
clude job classifications,
wages, and seniority. The
union merged that with its own
data that included members’
gender, and then spent months
analyzing the data. Union offi-
cers had a hunch that men were
out-earning women. But they
were surprised to find out how
much: Among journeyman
grocery workers at Fred Meyer,
male workers are earning on
average $1.31 an hour more,
Local 555 found.
It’s long been true that some
LOOK US IN THE EYES Union firefighters watched from a Capitol balcony
as Oregon lawmakers voted to cut public employee compensation up to 2
percent and divert those funds to refill public pension coffers that have
lagged since the 2008 financial market collapse.
Union leaders denounced the
vote. Oregon AFL-CIO President
Tom Chamberlain called it “anti-
worker.” Teachers union presi-
dent John Larson called it “un-
conscionable.” Service Employ-
ees Local 503 Executive Director
Melissa Unger called it “a step
backwards.”
“Public sector workers across
Oregon deserved better,” said
Oregon AFSCME Executive Di-
rector Stacy Chamberlain in a
public statement. “The state
should expect a lengthy legal bat-
tle in defense of our members.”
The politics of SB 1049 are
complicated and counter-intu-
Turn to Page 7
higher-paid classifications like
meat-cutters attract mostly
male applicants. So Local 555
focused only on data for gro-
cery jobs, where it turns out
men and women are hired in al-
most exactly equal numbers.
Why are male journey-level
grocery workers out-earning fe-
male counterparts? It comes
Turn to Page 7
Portland City Council votes to close five community recreation centers
Up to 56 newly unionized
workers will be laid off.
By Don McIntosh
Only one member of Portland
City Council tried to halt the lay-
off of 56 recreation center work-
ers and the closure or privatiza-
tion of five community
recreation centers: Jo Ann Hard-
esty. Allying with residents who
use the rec centers, Laborers Lo-
cal 483 had campaigned hard
against its members’ layoffs
through two months of packed
and emotional budget hearings.
But in the end, two amendments
Hardesty proposed that would
have lessened the cuts failed by
4 to 1 in a May 23 vote.
City bureau budgets can be
complicated, but the underlying
issue isn’t hard to understand.
Two years ago—after a decade-
long campaign by Local 483—
Portland City Council agreed to
do right by its low-wage “per-
matemp” recreation center
workers. To settle a union griev-
ance that it lost at arbitration, the
City made those workers perma-
nent, recognized their union,
raised pay to $15 an hour, and
offered benefits for those work-
ing full time. The catch: City
Council never gave the Parks
Bureau a budget bump to be able
to pay for those increased com-
pensation costs, and instead
funded them through one-time
allocations.
This year, the price tag to con-
tinue current services at the new
compensation levels was $6.3
million more than what the
mayor proposed for the bureau.
The mayor sought no new gen-
eral fund revenue, but instead
proposed to balance the budget
by laying off employees and
closing rec centers.
Hardesty floated several ideas
to stop some of the layoffs. One
proposed amendment would
have frozen cost-of-living raises
for one year for 1,305 high-paid
non-union employees — those
making over $80,000 a year.
That would have saved $1.8 mil-
lion — enough to halt about 35
parks layoffs. Another proposal
would have freed up $1.6 mil-
lion for parks by eliminating
funding for a new body camera
pilot program at the Portland Po-
lice Bureau. Neither proposed
amendment got any support.
At the final hearing, a crowd
of rec center workers and users
filled council chambers, the sec-
ond floor balcony and two over-
flow rooms.
Commissioner Nick Fish,
who Mayor Wheeler put in
charge of Parks and Recreation
last September, wrung his hands
as the city clerk called the roll.
First he praised Hardesty and
said workers are the cause of his
life. Then he voted against the
amendments that would have
stopped the layoffs in his bureau.
Fish said it would be inequitable
to withhold cost-of-living in-
crease from non-union employ-
ees. But he repeatedly pledged to
help laid off employees find
other jobs at the City.
Local 483 never made an is-
sue of it during its campaign, but
the rec center layoffs and clo-
sures come just after Fish in-
creased the Parks Bureau direc-
tor salary by $29,000. Adena
Long, who started in February,
gets $215,000 a year plus bene-
fits; her predecessor Mike Ab-
bate was paid $186,000 after
seven years in the role.
Meanwhile, the mayor’s
budget also found $200,000 to
help a private group pay for a
study to see whether a water taxi
service between Vancouver and
downtown Portland is feasible.
The rec center layoffs will be-
gin July 1. Sellwood Commu-
nity Center, which provides pre-
school programs, will close in
September, not July 1, because
parents have already paid for
summer programs there. Colum-
bia Pool is slated to close July
2020. The City will also end
staffing for programming at
Laurelhurst Dance Studio, Hill-
side Community Center and Ful-
ton Park Community Center.
The bureau offered that they
could later reopen if non-profits
step up to manage those facilities
and offer programs at no cost to
the city.