SERVING ORGANIZED LABOR IN OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON SINCE 1900
NORTHWEST
LABOR
PRESS
VOLUME 120, NUMBER 15
IN THIS ISSUE
UFCW 555 GETS CARD-CHECK AGREEMENT At
proposed reneweable fuels facility near Clatskanie | Page 3
WE DON’T WANT TO DO YOUR WORK Oregon AFL-CIO
files ballot measure to limit grocery self-checkout | Page 6
Meeting Notices p.4
Labor Day picnic schedules p.8
PORTLAND, OREGON
AUGUST 2, 2019
UNION ORGANIZING
Group wooing Major League Baseball
signs ‘harmony agreement’ with labor
Portland Diamond Project
(PDP), the organization behind
the effort to bring Major League
Baseball to Portland, has signed
a “Labor Harmony Agreement”
with local trade unions that al-
most ensures the stadium will
operate with a union workforce,
wall-to-wall.
The agreement was signed
July 29 by PDP founder and
president Craig Cheek, and Ore-
gon AFL-CIO President Tom
Chamberlain on behalf of 13 af-
filiated unions. Cheek, a former
Nike executive, said bringing
baseball to Portland could create
as many as 6,500 jobs, includ-
ing construction of the stadium.
The agreement covers all rep-
resented jobs within the park,
including concessions, program
and retail sales, property serv-
ice, security, hospitality serv-
ices, stage and theatrical presen-
tations, and entertainment and
audio/visual services. Agree-
ments regarding ballpark con-
struction jobs will be addressed
at a later date.
Once a baseball team is se-
cured, a stadium built, and
workers hired, unions in the har-
mony agreement will have ac-
cess to workers within their ju-
risdictions, and can organize
Members of Machinists Local Lodge 1432 at C-TRAN pose in front of a giant
banner that declares the Vancouver, Washington-based transit agency “Best
in the Nation!” Standing from left to right are Gabby Soltero, Ed Somotes,
John Peters, Jerry Storie, Eino Suomi Jr., Matt Whiley, Brett Nold, Raymond
Spaulding, and shop steward Tim Garrett. Kneeling from left to right are Ja-
cob Anderson and chief shop steward David White. Lodge 1432 represents
approximately 60 workers at C-TRAN.
CLARK COUNTY
Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain (left) and Portland Diamond
Project President Craig Cheek sign labor harmony agreement July 29.
them via card-check. The agree-
ment also calls for binding arbi-
tration should bargaining break
down, plus strong successor lan-
guage should the organization
ever be sold.
“By signing this agreement,
the Portland Diamond Project
has shown us they value and re-
spect the rights of working peo-
ple and care for the prosperity of
our community,” Chamberlain
said. “Oregon’s unions are
proud to be a part of the efforts
to bring baseball to the Rose
City and to be a part of the only
unionized sports arena in the
state of Oregon. By giving
workers the unfettered opportu-
nity for union representation,
we are securing a bright eco-
nomic future for the women and
men who will make baseball
happen in Portland. When
working people stand together
in unions, we get a fair return on
our hard work.”
Cheek said his organization is
proud to partner with the Oregon
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Oregon governor and legislators who voted to
cut PERS won’t be on stage at Labor Day picnic
Oregon legislators who voted
to cut Public Employee Retire-
ment System (PERS) bene-
fits—and the governor who
signed the bill into law—won’t
be invited to appear on stage
with other politicians at this
year’s Labor Day picnic at
Oaks Park in Portland.
The picnic is sponsored by
the Northwest Oregon Labor
Council and draws thousands
of union members and their
families to the park.
In the recently-concluded
session of the Oregon Legisla-
ture, lawmakers narrowly
passed Senate Bill 1049, a bill
said to help shore up the retire-
ment system’s finances. How-
ever, it also results in a loss of be-
tween 7 to 12.5% in workers’
individual retirement accounts.
Democrats hold super-ma-
jorities in both the House and
Senate, and Gov. Kate Brown
is a Democrat. Under extreme
pressure from Democratic
leadership, the bill passed by
one vote in both the House and
Senate. The ‘aye’ votes were
cast by union-endorsed candi-
dates, many of whom promised
on the campaign trail not to cut
PERS benefits. The governor
promised as well.
In the wake of that vote, del-
egates to the Northwest Oregon
Labor Council passed a motion
July 22 to not invite any of
those lawmakers on stage to
speak during a special political
event at 1 p.m. Several dele-
gates at the monthly meeting
argued that the politicians
shouldn’t be invited to the pic-
nic at all, but it didn’t have
enough support to pass.
C-TRAN named North American mid-
sized ’Transit System of the Year’
Congratulations to C-TRAN and
its front line workers — mem-
bers of Amalgamated Transit
Union Local 757 and Machinists
Lodge 1432—for being named
the top mid-sized transit system
in North America.
The honor was announced last
month as part of the annual
American Public Transportation
Association (APTA) awards.
ATU represents approxi-
mately 330 fixed-route bus oper-
ators, paratransit operators, ad-
ministrative assistants, customer
service reps, supervisors, and
paratransit dispatchers at C-
TRAN. The Machinists Union
represents about 60 field service
workers, facility maintenance
workers, and bus mechanics.
As winner, C-TRAN was
judged among other systems
with a total ridership between 4
million and 20 million trips per
year. C-TRAN tallied about 6.2
million total trips in 2018.
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U.S. House passes Butch Lewis Act
The bill would give federal loans
to union multiemployer pension
plans to prevent their collapse.
The U.S. House of Representa-
tives passed HR 397 July 24 on a
bipartisan vote of 264-169. All
235 House Democrats voted for
the bill, as did 29 Republicans.
The bill now moves to the Sen-
ate, where it faces a difficult road.
HR 397, formally the Reha-
bilitation for Multiemployer
Pensions Act of 2019, protects
the benefits union retirees have
earned by providing low-inter-
est loans and other assistance to
troubled multiemployer pension
plans, giving them time to re-
cover their losses and repay the
loans.
Sponsors of the legislation
note that of the nearly 10 million
people nationwide covered by
union-sponsored multiemployer
plans, about 1.3 million of them
are in plans that are quickly run-
ning out of money. Among the
troubled plans are Western States
Office and Professional Employ-
ees Pension Fund (members of
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