NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS |
UNION DEMOCRACY
Union-made pizza!
New leadership at CWA Local 7901
By Don McIntosh
Communications Workers of
America (CWA) Local 7901
has new leadership after several
months of turnover. The local is
made up of about 635 workers
at CenturyLink, AT&T, and a
handful of non-profits, includ-
ing KBOO, Free Geek, and
Portland Jobs With Justice. Its
president serves as a half-time
staff person and is the local’s
only employee.
When Local 7901 held union
officer elections July 8, Port-
land Jobs With Justice organ-
izer A.J. Mendoza and Centu-
ryLink employees Tony
Hayden and Richard Warren
ran for the local’s number two
office, executive vice president.
Hayden was elected. Then Lo-
cal 7901 president Celeste
Jones left office Aug. 23 to
work as a union representative
for Oregon AFSCME. Under
the local’s bylaws, Hayden be-
came acting president, but then
he too resigned several weeks
later. At that point the local was
placed in receivership by
CWA’s national organization,
and CWA District 7 representa-
From left, newly installed CWA Local 7901 executive vice president Travis
Christian, president A.J. Mendoza, and CenturyLink division vice president
Richard Warren. All ran unopposed for offices which were vacant.
tive Lisa Avila arrived to take
responsibility for negotiating
and enforcing collective bar-
gaining agreements.
Local 7901 took nomina-
tions Sept. 30 to fill the vacant
officer positions. Mendoza was
the only nominee for president,
and was declared elected by ac-
clamation. Travis Christian was
unopposed for executive vice
president, and Richard Warren
for vice president representing
Centurylink.
Mendoza, 28, grew up in
Gladstone, Oregon, earned a de-
gree in political science and his-
tory from George Fox Univer-
sity in Newberg, and worked at
Oregon Student Association
and Basic Rights Oregon before
arriving at Portland Jobs With
November 1, 2019 | PAGE 7
Justice. Since 2018, he’s served
as Local 7901’s legislative
chair.
“My goal is make us an or-
ganizing local again,” Mendoza
told the Labor Press. One target
would be local mission-driven
non-profits.
Local 7901’s core member-
ship is in telecommunications,
but its membership has shrunk
by nearly two-thirds since 2000
thanks to call center closures,
automation, and the decline of
employment in landline tele-
phone operations.
Local 7901 also moved its
headquarters in May to the Ore-
gon Labor Center, the union of-
fice building run by the Oregon
AFL-CIO at 3645 SE 32nd Av-
enue.
The new Executive Board
met for the first time Oct. 24.
Besides Mendoza, Christian,
and Warren, its other members
are secretary-treasurer Erich
Bambei and vice presidents
Mike Yourn (AT&T), Mike
Bray (staff union at Service
Employees International Union
Local 503), and Justin Norton-
Kertson (non-profits).
In September, all 13 workers
at Scottie’s Pizza at 2128 SE
Division Street in Portland
signed a petition announcing
their decision to unionize
with the Industrial Workers of
the World (IWW). On Sept.
22, half of them delivered the
petition to owner Scottie
Rivera … and found that he
was happy to recognize the
union. It wasn’t a big surprise:
When he opened the parlor in
2015, Rivera won acclaim for
paying employees at least $15
an hour. Walls in the restau-
rant’s tiny dining area are
covered with political posters
and framed photos of lefty lu-
minaries.
“The general attitude
among workers in the restau-
rant industry is that it’s im-
possible to have a union,”
says Scottie’s employee
David Adams. “But we think
workers need to be repre-
sented and have a voice in de-
cisions that are made in the
restaurants where they’re liv-
ing their lives.”
Rivera and the workers ex-
pect to negotiate a first collec-
tive bargaining agreement in
the coming months.
...Docs unionize
From Page 1
That doesn’t leave a lot of
time to go to union planning
meetings. At OHSU, Hum says
the union campaign began over
the summer and spread via long
text message conversations.
House officers determined they
wanted to unionize, and reached
out to AFSCME because it rep-
resents similar units elsewhere.
Oregon AFSCME assigned two
organizers to help.
OHSU is one of the last teach-
ing hospitals on the West Coast
where house officers hadn’t
unionized. At schools like UCLA
and University of Washington,
house officers unionized and won
improvements like increased liv-
ing stipends, meal money, and
payment of licensing fees.
In union contract bargaining,
OHSU house officers may push
for those things and more, like
on-call rooms that are closer to
where they practice, and better
health insurance: Hum says
their current high-deductible
plan can make it hard to afford
routine medical care.
Bethany Sherer
971.978.9534
12/31/19
2018