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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 2020)
SERVING ORGANIZED LABOR IN OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON SINCE 1900 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS VOLUME 121, NUMBER 9 May 19 Primary Election IN THIS ISSUE BACK TO WORK AT DAIMLER The truck plant reopened April 20, then closed for lack of supplies | Page 3 PERS WILL HIRE ONLY RESPONSIBLE CONTRACTORS New policy covers construction and janitorial | Page 10 Meeting Notices p.6 New leadership at nurses union p.8 PORTLAND, OREGON MAY 1, 2020 Postal Workers mourn colleagues, seek stimulus Postal workers gathered April 28 to mourn their brothers and sisters who died on the job—and to demand that Congress include USPS in the next stimulus package. Na- tionwide, 45 postal workers have died of Covid-19, 1,800 are confirmed with the dis- ease, and 9,000 are in quaran- tine. Mail volume has dropped more than 30% and USPS could be insolvent by Septem- ber. The Postal Board of Gover- nors has called on Congress to appropriate $25 billion to sus- tain the service, but the Trump Administration is opposed. At the mic (left) is Joe Cogan, president of American Postal Workers Union Local 128. Endorsements of the NW Oregon Labor Council CITY OF PORTLAND Mayor : T ED W HEELER City Council, Position 1 : C ARMEN R UBIO SUPPORT M EASURE 26-209 FIX OUR STREETS PORTLAND 10 cents per gallon gas tax to fund street repair, maintenance and safety projects MULTNOMAH COUNTY Board of Commissioners : Commissioner, District 1: S HARON M EIERAN Commissioner, District 3: J ESSICA V EGA P EDERSON Commissioner, District 4: L ORI S TEGMANN District Attorney: M ICHAEL S CHMIDT Circuit Court Judge: R IMA G HANDOUR METRO COUNCIL Councilor, District 6 : B OB S TACEY CLACKAMAS COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Chair : J IM B ERNARD Commissioner, Pos. 3: M ARTHA S CHRADER Commissioner, Pos. 4: K EN H UMBERSTON LAKE OSWEGO Mayor : T HERESA K OHLHOFF BEAVERTON CITY COUNCIL Councilor, Position 3 : J OHN D UGGER WASHINGTON COUNTY Commissioner, District 1: N AFISA F AI COLUMBIA COUNTY Commissioner, Position 1: M ARGARET M AGRUDER CENTENNIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT SUPPORT M EASURE 26-208 B OND R ENEWAL Authorizing the district to issue $65 million in bonds for school security and facility improve- ments and receive a $7.49 million state matching grant. The measure would not increase current tax rates due to the expiration of existing debt. NOLC RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE OREGON AFL-CIO ATTORNEY GENERAL : ELLEN ROSENBLUM ; TREASURER : TOBIAS READ OREGON HOUSE : HD 28: W INSVEY C AMPOS ; HD 35: D ACIA G RAYBER ; HD 36: L AURIE W IMMER ; HD 50: R ICKI R UIZ OREGON SENATE : SD 25: C HRIS G ORSEK Ballots must be submitted by 8 p.m. on May 19, 2020 Authorized and paid for by the Northwest Oregon Labor Council, 9955 SE Washington, St., Suite 305, Portland, OR 97216 After four years, Nabisco bakers get contract Contract dispute ends as Mon- delēz-Nabisco struggles to keep workers on the job in crisis By Don McIntosh A four-year union battle with the maker of Oreos and Ritz crackers ended April 14 with a new na- tional union contract that contains significant union concessions. The deal came five days after an unofficial walkout at the Portland snack factory—amid mounting absenteeism around the country due to the coronavirus pandemic. To reach agreement on the new union contract, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers (BCTGM) union appears to have given up for now trying to keep Mondelēz in the union-sponsored pension, which was the biggest sticking point since contract bargaining began in February 2016. Mondelēz— created in 2012 as an independent spinoff of Kraft-Nabisco’s global snack division—said it was pulling out because the pension is projected to run out of money by Members of Portland’s Bakers Local 364 picketed outside the Northwest Portland home of a Mondelēz board member July 21, 2018 — to oppose the company’s withdrawal from the union pension. 2030. Over union objections, Mondelēz halted contributions to the pension on May 23, 2018, and instead started contributing 26 cents to $4.73 per hour to a 401(k)-style retirement savings plan, with older workers getting the larger contributions. Mon- delēz also retroactively raised wages 2.25% per year. For most of the last four years, the two sides have been in a strange kind of limbo: Almost no negotiations took place, and the union continued to represent workers under the terms of an ex- pired union contract, but workers never struck, and the company never locked them out. But by late March 2020, Mondelēz was having trouble keeping workers in the bakeries, A UNION GUIDE TO OREGON’S MAY 19 ELECTION Page 4 Turn to Page 2
