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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 6, 2019)
SERVING ORGANIZED LABOR IN OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON SINCE 1900 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS VOLUME 120, NUMBER 17 IN THIS ISSUE OREGON’S TOP LABOR LEADER TO DEPART After 14 years Chamberlain leaves a strong AFL-CIO | Page 3 SIGN OF THE TIMES For the first time in decades, there’s a union shop for electrical sign makers. | Page 4 Meeting Notices p.6 Labor Day at Oaks Park p.8-9 PORTLAND, OREGON SEPTEMBER 6, 2019 A SEASON OF STRIKES ? Massive Kaiser Permanente strike could come in October Union approval near 50-year high Photo courtesy of SEIU Local 49 By Don McIntosh More than 80,000 workers in six states could go on strike at Kaiser Permanente in early Oc- tober if the thriving non-profit health provider doesn’t drop its demand for contract conces- sions. If the strike happens, it would be the biggest in the United States in 22 years, since the Teamsters struck UPS in 1997. The workers who would strike are members of 11 local affiliates of Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Of- fice and Professional Employ- ees (OPEIU), and Technical and Professional Employees (IFTPE) that bargain together as the Coalition of Kaiser Perma- nente Unions (CKPU). Kaiser is the most heavily unionized health provider net- work in the nation, and one of the biggest, with 39 hospitals and 701 medical offices in eight NATIONAL Members and supporters of SEIU Local 49 picketed Aug. 21 at Kaiser Permanente Westside Medical Center in Hillsboro. Two days later Local 49 wrapped up strike balloting: The result was a 98% vote to authorize a strike. states plus the District of Co- lumbia. By all accounts, it’s do- ing extremely well, with $85 bil- lion gross annual revenue, and net profit of $5.2 billion in the first six months of 2019. Kaiser is also unusual in the health care industry: As a non-profit health maintenance organization (HMO), it operates in much of its territory as both an insurance Turn to Page 4 Grocery workers ready to walk in 3 states By Don McIntosh In a series of strike votes over the summer, members of United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) in Oregon, Washing- ton, and California voted over- whelmingly to authorize strikes if contract bargaining with big grocery chains fails to produce acceptable union contracts. On one side are 20,000 mem- bers of UFCW Local 555 in Ore- gon and Southwest Washington, (and another 30,000 members of nine UFCW locals in Southern California.) On the other side are two massive grocery companies that own multiple grocery chains: Kroger (which owns chains including Fred Meyer and QFC in the Northwest and Ralph’s in California) and Al- bertsons (which owns Safeway, Albertsons, and 18 other chains). The grocers bargain together as an employer group. “They’re offering nickels and dimes, and we’re asking for dol- lars,” says UFCW Local 555 COULD THE DISPUTE WIDEN TO THE PUGET SOUND? Members of UFCW Local 21 in Tacoma, above, began picketing in August to protest employer con- tract offers similar to those in California, Oregon and Southwest Washington. bargaining team member Tena Burch-Wolski, who works as a cashier at a Fred Meyer store in Vancouver. At an Aug. 29 negotiating ses- sion, the Local 555 bargaining team was stunned to receive an employer wage offer that would have been below Oregon’s mini- mum wage, which is set to rise to $14.75 in the Portland area in three years. When the union pointed that out, management negotiators increased the offer to 10 cents above minimum. Local 555 also says the latest Turn to Page 5 Strike date set at hospital in Springfield About 400 hospital workers represented by SEIU Local 49 are get- ting ready for a three-day strike at McKenzie Willamette Medical Center in Springfield. The Sept. 10-12 strike will protest unlawful conduct by the for-profit hospital, understaffing, and proposed healthcare cost increases. Local 49 represents housekeepers, cafeteria workers, certi- fied nursing assistants, respiratory therapists, X- ray and emergency room technicians, and other technical and support oc- cupations. The two sides were set to meet again Sept. 4, after this issue of the Labor Press went to the printer. The Gallup polling organization reported Aug. 28 that 64% of Americans approve of labor unions, near the highest level in 50 years. Since 1936, the organ- ization has been regularly ask- ing Americans whether they ap- prove or disapprove of unions. Approval averaged 68% be- tween Gallup’s 1936 and 1967 polling, but dropped somewhat after that, reaching a low of 48% in 2009. In the most recent poll, conducted Aug. 1-14, 64% said they approve, 32% disap- prove, and 5% had no opinion. Respondents were more likely to approve of unions if they were in a union household or lean left politically: 86% of U.S. adults living in a household with a union member approve of unions, compared with 60% of those in nonunion house- holds, and Democrats (82%) re- mained far more likely than Re- publicans (45%) to approve of unions. Mobile monopoly Communications Workers of America (CWA) is denouncing last month’s decision by the Trump Justice Department to al- low a takeover by T-Mobile of its rival Sprint, which would leave Americans just three wire- less providers to choose from: AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. CWA says T-Mobile and Sprint have a long history of labor law violations, and the merger will eliminate 30,000 U.S. jobs when T-Mobile shuts down du- plicate retail stores and consoli- dates back-office functions. Jus- tice Department lawyers earlier said the merger would make it easier for the three remaining carriers to coordinate pricing, with the result that American consumers collectively would pay billions more each year for wireless service. The merger could still be stopped: 15 state attorneys general have filed suit in federal court to block it.
