NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS |
July 3, 2020 | PAGE 9
UNION ORGANIZING
Columbia Gorge behavioral
health workers join AFSCME
For Oregon AFSCME, it’s an un-
broken string of organizing wins
at behavioral health agencies.
By Noah Wass
A group of 112 workers at the
Mid-Columbia Center for Liv-
ing is the latest in a string of
behavioral healthcare units to
unionize with Oregon AF-
SCME.
On June 11, AFSCME sub-
mitted union cards signed by
70% of the workers to the Ore-
gon Employment Relations
Board. That came just one
month and six days after work-
ers first contacted the union.
The workers provide mental
health and addiction recovery
services to residents of Hood
River, Wasco, and Sherman
counties at clinics in The
Dalles, Hood River, and
Moro. Unlike at other recent
campaigns, which were at
non-profit organizations, Mid-
Columbia Center for Living
workers are public employees
— employed by an intergov-
ernmental agency that is over-
seen by a tri-county board of
commissioners.
AFSCME’s campaign at
Mid-Columbia Center for Liv-
ing is part of United We Heal,
a nationwide AFSCME effort
to organize behavioral health-
care professionals in a sector
plagued by high turnover.
The COVID-19 pandemic
called for a new set of organ-
izing methods. Union sup-
porter Sarah Smutz said work-
ers held meetings via video
chat, and in-person in parks,
wearing masks while social
distancing.
Portland General Electric’s new lineman training facility is being constructed at least in part by nonunion labor.
Operating Engineers Local 701 reports that Portland-based general contractor Reimers & Jolivette has hired
nonunion Duke Construction to do the dirt prep work and excavation on the site, located at 20680 SW Langer
Parkway in Sherwood, Oregon. That drew the attention of Local 701’s giant inflatable rat to the site June 26
and 29. On June 30, the rat showed up at PGE’s downtown Portland headquarters. The Sherwood Line Training
Center project will include 16,000 square feet of offices, classrooms, and indoor training areas. It will also in-
clude outdoor facilities, and will replace an existing outdoor training facility on the same 33-acre site.
...Wages rise up to $4 overnight in new painters contracts
From Page 1
catch-up time: Painters District Council 5 representative Scott Oldham,
sporting a union-logo COVID safety mask above, says when members of
Painters Local 10 showed they were ready to strike, that strengthened the
argument at the bargaining table that local union painters were overdue for
a big raise. Oldham says local union painters had fallen well behind painters
elsewhere, and behind other building trades workers. The resulting collective
bargaining agreements provide immediate raises of $2.62 to $4.27 an hour.
Contractors (AWCC). Ratified
June 17, it locks in a minimum
hourly rate for journeyman of
$27.00. Up to now, AWCC em-
ployers have employed painters
under the terms of the SPCO
agreement, which they had no
hand in negotiating. Most
AWCC contractors were paying
above the SPCO scale. Pay in-
creases under the new AWCC
contract are retroactive to April
1 so that members will get a
check for the difference based
on prior wage levels and hours
worked. The agreement runs
through June 30, 2024.
Because Local 10 members
rotate in and out of jobs for both
groups of contractors, ballots
were mailed out to all 437 local
union painters for each of the
contracts. Both employer
groups must use Local 10’s hir-
ing hall for referrals before they
can hire off the street.
The two agreements cover
work done in Oregon and six
Southwest Washington counties:
Clark, Cowlitz, Skamania, Klick-
itat, Wahkiukum, and Pacific.
The contracts are similar but
not identical: The new hourly
wage is 44 cents higher at
AWCC, but SPCO contractors
will pay 30 cents an hour more
toward the union-sponsored pen-
sion. There are also differences in
provisions governing overtime,
pay for travel time, and bonus
pay for working out of area. Em-
ployers pay for parking under the
SPCO contract.
“We finally got a real raise,”
says Painters District Council 5
field representative Scott Old-
ham.
For Oldham, 51, a catch-up
contract has been something he’s
wanted since 2001, when he first
became active in Local 10.
“This is the reason I started
participating in the union,” Old-
ham said. “I was like, ‘Why is
our wage so low?’”
Oldham says wages for local
union painters have been stag-
nant in recent years, and even
fell behind the wages of the
most skilled nonunion painters
(though union benefits have al-
ways been superior.)
To lay the ground for a big
catch-up raise, the union first ne-
gotiated back the ability to strike
in 2017. Previously, contracts had
specified that an arbitrator would
set terms when the two sides
couldn’t agree. Then last October,
the union formed a member con-
tract committee to get organized
and ready. As many as 80 mem-
bers took part in committee meet-
ings, half of which were held in
English and half in Spanish. Old-
ham said the campaign ended up
raising member expectations so
much that even raises of over $3
an hour — the biggest in 38 years
— came as a disappointment for
some members. Oldham himself
thought the raise would be bigger
than that when bargaining began,
but the COVID-19 crisis made it
harder for the contract committee
to meet and maintain momentum,
and it added economic uncer-
tainty to the industry. Plans for
some kinds of construction, like
hotels, were stopped dead. And
commercial office projects may
also have a harder time penciling
out as companies adjust to having
more employees work from
home.
Oldham says union members
hope to continue to make up
more ground in future negotia-
tions. In Seattle, journeyman
painters in Local 300 make
$31.15 an hour for commercial
work under the master agree-
ment.
The big wage increases won’t
just make a difference in mem-
bers’ take-home pay. They may
also make it easier for the union
to recruit more painters and
thereby grow the union work-
force. No sooner was the con-
tract ratified than Oldham
started putting posters up at
paint suppliers advertising the
new higher wages under the
headline “painters needed.”