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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 17, 2020)
PAGE 8 | January 17, 2020 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS ...Oregon OSHA settles for reduced fine on bridge contractor From Page 1 every little thing. They were watching me, bird-dogging me.” On the Fourth of July, Luey fell off the back of a truck and broke his collarbone. When he recovered, he says the company wouldn’t take him back. ▪ A worker who asked to be referred to only by the initials D.R. said he was overheard by a foreman telling a co-worker that the pace of work under the bridge was going to lead to an accident, and someone would fall from the scaffolding. The next day, he was told there was no work for him on the project, which had struggled to find enough workers. ▪ Tywan Brown, who had traveled from Virginia to take the job, complained about safety conditions to OSHA in January 2017. Abhe & Svoboda managers accused her of being the one who called OSHA, and terminated her on Feb. 2, 2017, according to a lawsuit she filed against the company. The lawsuit was eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. ▪ Omar Rubi, the undercover union worker, attended a safety meeting the day before the accident, at which a manager told workers that if they have safety concerns, they should come to management, not to talk to each other or to government agencies about them. Rubi objected, and told co-workers at the meeting that they have a right under federal law to talk to each other, and to government agencies, about safety concerns. He was sent home, and later terminated. In complaints with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), he challenged his termination as unlawful retaliation. BOLI closed the case after finding “no substantial evidence,” and the NLRB dismissed the charge, agreeing with Abhe & Svoboda’s account that Rubi was fired for violating a blanket rule against talking to co-workers. Oregon OSHA administrator Michael Wood reached out to the Labor Press about the case settlement, and seemed frus- trated by the reduction in fines. “On a case like this, I would- n’t be walking away from it if I thought we could prevail,” Wood said. Most of the initial fine had re- sulted from OSHA’s conclusion that the violations were “will- ful,” meaning that the company knew it was breaking the law and did so anyway. But that can be hard to prove in front of a judge, Wood said. “Litigation is always uncer- tain,” Wood said. “We were not confident that we would prevail, and we believed it was possible we could do even worse than the settlement.” Wood said OSHA’s overall presentation of the case was weakened because the accident UNION DEMOCRACY Elevator Constructors Local 23 re-elects Randy Carmony Randy Carmony has $35.25 an hour in been re-elected busi- benefits under a na- ness manager of the tionwide labor agree- International Union ment with National of Elevator Construc- Elevator Industry, tors Local 23. He has Inc. They work for served in that capac- four global elevator ity since 2014. Lance companies—Otis, Hilger was re-elected ThyssenKrupp, Kone president. Both ran and Schindler—plus Randy Carmony unopposed. seven independents. In the only con- All officers were tested race in the election held sworn in Jan. 9. Dec. 12, Randy Poindexter de- feated Dan Garrett by one vote Election Results for recording secretary. Business Manager Randy Carmony Local 23 covers all of Ore- President Lance Hilger gon, plus six southwest Wash- Vice President Ezra Schulz ington counties. Its 295 mem- Treasurer Russ Vollendorf bers build and maintain Recording Secretary Randy Poindexter elevators, escalators, moving Warden Ezra Schulz walkways, and dumbwaiters. Correspondent Russ Vollendorf Elevator construction is a spe- Executive Board Randy Poindexter, Manny Guzman cialized trade. Local 23 mem- TrusteeTo be appointed bers earn $56.10 an hour plus victims didn’t want to testify. “We just want to drop it and live our lives,” Montiel told the Labor Press, reached by phone Jan. 7. Montiel and his father have recovered enough to return to work, he said, and are doing remodeling jobs in the Seattle area. For Abhe & Svoboda, a fine of $24,500 might just be a cost of doing business. Under the company’s $22.3 million con- tract to repaint the bridge, the work was supposed to be com- plete Aug. 31, 2017, but the job wasn’t finished until June 15, 2018. ODOT assessed a penalty of $777,600 against the com- pany for completing the work 288 days late. Nineteen months later, that matter too remains un- resolved As with previous stories, Abhe & Svoboda did not re- spond to a request for comment. Last April, Abhe renewed its status as a pre-qualified bidder on ODOT projects. ODOT spokesperson Don Hamilton — who was once upon a time a reporter at The Oregonian — told the Labor Press in a Jan. 10 email that Abhe & Svoboda hasn’t bid on any ODOT work since its 2014 Ross Island Bridge bid. That’s not true. Judging by ODOT’s own documents, Abhe and Svo- boda has bid on at least five projects since the February 2017 accident (other companies bid lower and got the work.) Nothing in ODOT’s procure- ment rules requires the agency to consider a bidder’s safety record. Oldham, the painters union rep, said he’s disgusted that the Oregon Department of Trans- portation continues to accept bids from Abhe & Svoboda.
