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January 3, 2020 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
NORTHWEST
LABOR
PRESS
...Columbia Sportswear ripe for a union
From Page 1
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were raised: Who would pay for
it? What if employees steal band-
aids? Neither Williams nor any-
one else would take action.
After months of trying to get
first-aid kits restocked, Gatto
stopped trying. But he knew
something was wrong. How
could a company where a cloud-
based warehouse management
system tracks every article of
clothing be unable to keep band-
aids in stock for injured employ-
ees? Why would a company that
thanked workers for record pro-
ductivity every quarter be unwill-
ing to attend to something so
small?
The failed band-aid crusade
opened Gatto’s eyes, and he
started talking with co-workers
about what he was seeing.
What it’s like to work there
None of them had any problem
with the work itself. But beyond
that, there were many com-
plaints. With little or no climate
control or insulation, the
182,860-square-foot metal box
they work in is like a refrigerator
in winter, and parts can be sti-
flingly hot in the summer. Fre-
quent last-minute schedule
changes wreak havoc on em-
ployees’ personal lives.Workers
Unable to get Columbia Sportswear managers to keep first aid kits stocked,
Rory Gatto started talking with co-workers, and a union campaign began.
also have no say over major
changes: Managers recently
eliminated the top of a pay scale,
and changed the workweek from
four 10-hour shifts to five eight-
hour shifts. Workers are subject
to computer-tracked perform-
ance goals, contributing to a
high-pressure environment —
for some pretty low wages.
Wages that range from the legal
minimum wage to just under $20
an hour aren’t enough in the
Portland metro area, where me-
dian rent on a one-bedroom
apartment is now $1,234 a
month.
Clearly, Columbia Sportswear
knows wages are too low: Signs
in the break room direct workers
to a phone number where they
can access the Oregon Food
Bank. And the company spon-
sors employee donation drives
several times a year in which
workers donate to help co-work-
ers who can’t afford school sup-
plies and Christmas presents for
their families.
By the summer of 2019, Gatto
and some of his co-workers were
ready to act. Gatto called Team-
sters Local 162, one of several
Portland-area Teamsters locals
that represents warehouse work-
ers, asking for help.
It wasn’t the first time the
union had heard from workers
there, says Local 162 President
Mark Davison. Pay, benefits, and
working conditions at the Co-
lumbia Sportswear distribution
center are far below local union
standards for the thousands of
warehouse workers represented
by the locals that make up Team-
sters Joint Council 37. But a
union isn’t something outsiders
can win for you; workers them-
selves must become active, form
an organizing committee, and
mount a campaign in the work-
place. Columbia warehouse
workers never seemed ready for
that before, Davison said. This
time, things were different.
A group of workers formed,
began to meet, and created a
community via Discord, a text
chat channel originally devel-
oped for gamers. They got to
know each other, and started
spreading the word. Seeing that
readiness, Local 162 asked the
international union for support.
Experienced union organizers ar-
rived in Portland to support the
campaign.
The union-busters arrive
On Oct. 1, Alonzo Plater, Colum-
bia Sportswear vice president of
global distribution, called an all-
employee meeting for each shift.
“We’ve started to hear some
rumors about conversations with
the Teamsters Union,” Plater told
the assembled workers, in one of
several recordings made by
workers who attended.
“One of the things I love about
our culture is that we’re so open
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