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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (June 18, 2021)
Photo by Eryn Byram Painters pickets continue Photo by Mike Gutwig PAGE 8 | June 18, 2021 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS At Christensen Oil on 440 N Columbia Blvd., a early morning picket protesting unfair labor practices by Siegner and Company shut down the painting job Monday, June 7. The protest resumed again June 9. At right, eight-year-old Calen Byram was ready to stop anyone who wanted to cross the picket line. (He’s the son of Labor’s Community Serv- ices Agency director Eryn Byram, who came out to show support for picketers.) By Don McIntosh Since a May 21 unfair labor practice picket shut down a con- struction site at Portland’s Mc- Daniel High School (formerly Madison), Painters Local 10 members have picketed eight other times at six other job sites. The unfair labor practice protests may have gotten contractors’ at- tention leading up to a June 15 wage reopener bargaining ses- sion with a federal mediator. Painters say their wages have fallen behind inflation and be- hind all other construction trades in the last few decades. But members of the multi-employer Signatory Painting Contractors Organization (SPCO) have said the economy’s too uncertain to give big raises after the $2.62 one they agreed to last year, and they’ve ignored the union’s re- quest to show what work they have scheduled in the coming year. That’s the grounds for the ...Central City Concern fights union From Page 1 “[The antiunion campaign] was really disrespectful to the other union members at the other CCC facilities,” Thompson said. At Blackburn, Thompson says, turnover is high: More than a third of the staff that were there in November are already gone. Because many of their replace- ments were brand new, Thomp- son thinks some may have been willing to heed the CEO’s appeal to give her a chance to do things better—without the union. In an unfair labor practice charge filed with the National Labor Relations Board, AF- SCME Local 88 alleges that Central City Concern crossed the line in its antiunion cam- paign—trampling on workers’ rights and violating federal labor law. Specifically, AFSCME cites coercive rules and statements, and changes made to terms and conditions of employment to forestall the union campaign. The case is pending. Thompson says as the vote neared, it was looking like a union defeat, but AFSCME de- cided to go forward with the election as a demonstration of how far publicly funded non- profits will go to fight unioniza- tion. Central City Concern gets most of its funding from tax- payer funded public agencies, especially Multnomah County. County leaders may be con- cerned about public funds hav- ing been used to pay for antiu- nion lawyers, training, and materials. AFSCME is working with Multnomah County chair Deb Kafoury on a resolution that would hold publicly funded behavioral health nonprofits to the same neutrality and recogni- tion standards as public employ- ers—if they want to continue to receive funding and grants for contracted services from the county. The County Commis- sion would hold a hearing on the resolution and take testimony before voting on it. union’s “unfair labor practice” charge—bad faith bargaining. At each of the protests, painters who were scheduled to work that day declined to cross the picket line. Other building trades workers also stayed off the job at the May 21 McDaniel picket and at May 28 and June 1 pickets at a downtown apartment project. Since then, the pickets have been at painters-only job sites: June 4 at a Worksource of- fice remodel at 6401 SE Foster; June 7 and 9 at Christensen Oil on 440 N Columbia Blvd., June 10 at a remodel of Reed Col- lege’s Parker House, and June 14 at an Umpqua Bank branch in Happy Valley. Local 10 members have voted to strike SPCO contrac- tors if necessary, but union rep Scott Oldham clarified that tech- nically these initial actions aren’t strikes but rather union picket lines set up in protest of unfair labor practices. Like other union members, Local 10 mem- bers have the right not to cross picket lines, and so far none have done so. The pickets appear to have riled at least one contractor: Oldham says Ian Siegner, presi- dent of Siegner and Company, drove by the Reed College picket, yelled, “Losers. You all are losers!” and gave picketers the middle finger. Siegner did not immediately return a call seeking his version of events.
