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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 17, 2020)
SERVING ORGANIZED LABOR IN OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON SINCE 1900 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS VOLUME 121, NUMBER 2 IN THIS ISSUE UNION-BUSTING AT KOIN-TV? Nexstar says it no longer recognizes NABET-CWA. | Page 3 HYATT REGENCY, LARGELY UNION-BUILT Portland’s long-awaited convention center hotel is open. | Page 6 Meeting notices p. 4 Unionization elections p. 3 PORTLAND, OREGON JANUARY 17, 2020 WORKER SAFETY OR-OSHA signs off on reduced fine against bridge painting contractor Non-union Abhe & Svoboda has continued to bid on ODOT work. Clark College goes on strike VANCOUVER, Wash.—More than 400 faculty members went on strike Jan. 13 at Clark Col- lege in Vancouver for the first time ever. The strike comes af- ter years of the college shifting course load to lower-paid part- timers and offering salary in- creases that failed to keep up with inflation. It also follows more than 15 months of bar- gaining, half a dozen union pickets and rallies, and a unan- imous strike vote Dec. 7. Clark instructors are repre- sented by the Clark College As- sociation of Higher Education (CCAHE), an affiliate of the Washington Education Associ- ation. In contract bargaining, they’ve asked for catch-up raises, and they want part-time faculty to be paid at the same rate as full time faculty so the college no longer has a finan- cial incentive to limit instruc- tors teaching time. The strike began a week into the new academic term. Classes for Clark’s nearly 13,000 stu- dents are expected to be can- celed for the duration of the strike. On the picket line Jan. 13, union members said they plan to stay out on strike until the college makes an accept- able offer. “I see this as much bigger than just Clark College,” CC- AHE President Suzanne Southerland told the Labor Press. “If we can win this, it will influence other colleges, and ultimately the education that students are going to get.” —Don McIntosh Oregon AFL-CIO ramps up pressure on Rep. Schrader to get behind labor law reform The Oregon AFL-CIO is ask- ing union members, their fami- lies, and friends to call Oregon U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-5th District) and urge him to sup- port legislation that will give workers additional protections to organize and have a voice on the job. The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act (H.R. 2474) would protect the right to strike, prevent misclassification of workers as independent con- tractors, increase penalties for retaliation, and more. Currently it has 219 bipartisan sponsors and co-sponsors in the U.S. House. It is supported by every Democratic member of Congress from Oregon except five- term incum- bent Schrader, who has indi- cated he does not plan to Rep. Kurt Schrader vote for the bill. “Oregon’s unions expect bet- ter from Rep. Schrader,” said Oregon AFL-CIO President Graham Trainor. “Reforming labor law is a critical step in building an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy.” In December 2019, the Ore- gon AFL-CIO Executive Board unanimously approved a reso- lution calling on Congress to pass the PRO Act, in addition to the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act (H.R. 6238), and the Public Safety Em- ployer-Employee Cooperation Act (H.R. 1154). Union offi- cials say these bills will help modernize labor laws in the United States. “Our outdated laws let bad bosses break the law without any detrimental consequences, Turn to Page 5 By Don McIntosh Two years, 10 months, and eight days after a near-fatal workplace accident under the Ross Island Bridge, Oregon OSHA closed its case against bridge painting contractor Abhe & Svoboda. The case began when bridge painter Marco Dion Lilly fell 37 feet and landed on his adopted son Christopher Montiel, send- ing both to the hospital with se- vere injuries. In June 2017 Oregon OSHA announced fines of $189,000 against the company for know- ingly and repeatedly exposing its workers to injury and death. But on Dec. 16, 2019, the agency quietly signed a final settlement of the case in which Abhe will pay just $24,500. For Painters District Council 5, that’s an incredibly frustrating result. Leaders in the union did everything they could to draw attention to the non-union com- pany’s safety record, including sending in a worker undercover to document conditions, and complaining to the Oregon De- partment of Transportation (ODOT), which oversaw the project. After the accident, the union put up a web site, abhe- exposed.com detailing Abhe’s record of safety and other viola- tions around the country. “We’re disappointed with the time that it took to arrive at this decision, and the amount of the fine,” said District Council 5 field representative Scott Old- ham. “For such a serious inci- dent to come down to such a small penalty, the system in place seems a bit broken.” Based on what OSHA inves- tigators pieced together, Lilly was using a compressed air hose to blow down debris, and Mon- tiel was working on a platform below scraping paint. When Lilly’s hose got stuck on a bent piece of metal, he lost his bal- ance and fell through a ladder opening. No guardrail had been installed around the opening, and though Lilly and his co- workers above had been wear- ing fall protection harnesses, there was nothing for them to at- tach to. As reconstructed from work- er interviews and OR-OSHA records, it was an accident wait- ing to happen. Workers felt un- safe on the project, and Abhe & Svoboda was warned repeatedly about the very hazards that con- tributed to the fall — and did nothing. In fact, OSHA itself had been out to the bridge on June 13, 2016 — investigating a com- plaint that there were holes em- ployees could fall through while sandblasting and painting the bridge —but found no viola- tions and issued no citations. Even Lilly himself had warned a foreman two days ear- lier about the loose piece of metal sticking up from the plat- form near an unsecured ladder hole, and had asked that the hole be covered, the hole he later fell through. And that’s not all. At least four workers have alleged they were gotten rid of after com- plaining about safety: ▪ Shane Duane Luey, hired through an ODOT employment program for tribal members, said he raised an issue at a safety meeting and was told by the company superintendent, in front of 30 co-workers, “Next time you have a problem with safety, talk to me. Then get in your car and hit the f***ing road.” Luey said he’s the one that called OSHA in June 2016, and he thinks the company figured it out it was him. “They wrote me up the next day, twice,” Luey said. “They were on me about Turn to Page 8
