Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 2020)
PAGE 2 | May 1, 2020 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS (International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X) Established in 1900 in Portland, Oregon as a voice of the la- bor movement. Published on a semi-monthly basis on the first and third Fridays of each month by the Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non-profit mutual benefit corpo- ration owned by 20 unions and councils including the Ore- gon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Office location: 4275 NE Halsey St., Portland, Oregon Mailing address: P.O. Box 13150, Portland, OR 97213 Phone: (503) 288-3311 Web address: http://nwlaborpress.org Editor & Manager: Michael Gutwig Associate editor: Don McIntosh Office manager: Jill Lukens Printed on recycled paper, using soy-based inks, by members of Teamsters Local 747-M. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Individual subscriptions are $15 a year for union members, $23 a year for all others. Pay by credit card online at nwlaborpress.org/subscribe, or send a check to our mailing address (above) along with your name, address and union affiliation, if any. Group rates of $11.52 a year per person are available for 25 or more subscriptions; call 503-288-3311 for details. CORRECTIONS: See an error? Please let us know at editor@nwlaborpress.org or by phone at 503-288-3311. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT PORTLAND, OREGON. CHANGE OF ADDRESS: If you move, let us know at nwlaborpress.org/subscriber-services or by mail at our mailing address (above). Be sure to provide your old and new addresses and the name/number of your local union. Please allow three weeks for the change to take effect. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS P.O. BOX 13150 PORTLAND, OR 97213-0150 CORRECTIONS Portland is expected to get $114 mil- lion in federal CARES Act relief.In our April 3 issue, we reported $736 million. We arrived at that figure based on a mis- understanding of information at a briefing by U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley's office. Construction work building publicly- funded housing is exempt from the State of Washington’s stay-at-home order, but not work on other housing projects. In our April 17 edition, we re- ported housing construction was exempt without making the distinction. THIS NEWSPAPER BROUGHT TO YOU BY AMERICA'S LABOR MOVEMENT … AND BY OUR ADVERTISERS. LET THEM KNOW YOU APPRECIATE THE SUPPORT! SHOP LOCAL. AND BUY UNION AND AMERICAN-MADE. ...Walk-out at Nabisco From Page 1 even after upping pay with a temporary $2 an hour “COVID- 19 Appreciation Bonus.” Just outside New York City, the Mondelēz bakery in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, reportedly had nearly 200 workers stay home. As part of the contract settle- ment, a temporary side agree- ment addresses employee absen- teeism during the COVID-19 crisis: It allows Mondelēz to bring in nonunion workers em- ployed through a temp agency until the end of July, at a wage of at least $19.50 an hour, roughly the union starting rate, though without the union benefits. After that, the company can offer the temps permanent positions, and the usual probationary period would be waived. Union mem- bers would still get opportunities to work overtime before temps could be assigned the work. The side agreement ratifies what Mondelēz had begun to do any- way — bring in temps to replace union members who stayed home because of the pandemic. Unofficial strike At the Portland plant, Mondelēz had begun advertising on Craigslist and bringing in nonunion temp workers. Union members responded with an un- official strike. On April 3, grave- yard shift workers started leav- ing early, and a majority of day and swing shift workers stayed off the job, shutting down all five snack production lines. The next two days, enough workers stayed home that only one line was able to restart. When the nationwide deal was presented the following week, only two of the 210 members of BCTGM Local 364 at the Port- land bakery voted to approve the agreement. But it took effect any- way after passing narrowly at the other locals. Normally, the union would have a meeting to go over the agreement line by line, but that wasn’t possible during the pandemic. The vote took place in the workplace on April 13, and local and national results were announced April 14, with the agreement passing by several hundred votes. The new agreement runs through February 28, 2021, and covers about 2,000 members of six BCTGM locals at Mondelēz- Nabisco bakeries in Portland, Oregon; Fair Lawn, New Jersey; Richmond, Virginia; Chicago, Illinois; and Atlanta, Georgia, as well as distribution centers near Chicago and Atlanta and in Nor- cross, Colorado. It’s basically an extension of the contract that ex- pired Feb. 29, 2016, except that it no longer obligates the company to participate in the union pen- sion. Employees will receive a 2.25% wage increase retroactive to March 1, 2020, bringing the typical wage up to $28.76 an hour. They also get a $1,000 rati- fication bonus. [In 2016 and 2018, the company had offered ratification bonuses of $5,000 and $15,000, but the union didn’t sub- mit those offers to members for a vote.] The new agreement also outlines a process for settling all remaining grievances and unfair labor practice charges: The two sides commit to good faith efforts to settle them within 60 days. “We can’t figure out why the other bakeries would vote for this,” said Eddie Mayagoitia, a shop steward at the Portland bakery. “This is a temporary agree- ment,” said Local 364 business representative Cameron Taylor. “This is definitely not labor peace.” Now, the Portland workers are supposed to train the temps to do their jobs, but it’s unclear how that can happen in a noisy envi- ronment with workers wearing face coverings and trying to maintain 6’ of distance. “The members are so angry about this,” Taylor said. “The company is training a work force to take our jobs should we decide to strike in March of next year.” The new agreement also came after longtime BCTGM interna- tional president David Durkee died March 30 at age 66 follow- ing a long battle with cancer. On April 16, the union’s General Ex- ecutive Board unanimously elected Anthony Shelton to serve the remainder of his term. The national union did not re- spond to an email to its spokesperson. By text, an organ- izer for the national union said the BCTGM International Union doesn’t have a comment at this time. Boycott continues Despite the agreement, the union’s boycott of Mexican- made Nabisco products contin- ues. BCTGM called the boycott in March 2016 after Mondelēz in- stalled four new production lines at its Salinas, Mexico, bakery, and shut nine of its 16 production lines in Chicago, laying off hun- dreds of BCTGM members there. The boycott is endorsed by the national AFL-CIO. American consumers are asked to check the label and not buy any Mondelēz- Nabisco products that say “made in Mexico.”
