PAGE 2 | November 5, 2021 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
NORTHWEST
LABOR
PRESS
(International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X)
Established in 1900 in Portland, Oregon as a voice of the
labor 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 ben-
efit corporation owned by 20 unions and councils includ-
ing the Oregon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union or-
ganizations in Oregon and Southwest Washington.
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Editor & Manager: Michael Gutwig
Senior staff reporter: Don McIntosh
Office manager: Jill Lukens
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UNION ORGANIZING
Comic book workers of the world, unite!
Workers at Portland-based Im-
age Comics announced Nov. 1
that they’re forming a union
Comic Book Workers United,
affiliated with Communications
Workers of America (CWA).
The announcement drew imme-
diate congrats from national
AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler.
Founded in 1992 by a group
of prominent comic book cre-
ators, Image Comics has be-
come the third largest comics
publisher in the United States.
It’s best known for the Spawn
comic book series and for Invin-
cible, a comic series that Ama-
zon adapted as an animated se-
ries this year.
But a statement signed by
nine of the company’s 12 em-
ployees says too often they feel
their labor is taken for granted
and undervalued.
“We love what we do,” they
wrote. “But loving what you do
doesn’t mean you can’t or
shouldn’t ask for improvements
to your working conditions.”
Workers are asking the com-
pany to voluntarily recognize
their union.
CWA Region 7 organizer Ted
Hooker says there haven’t been
any recognized unions in the
comic industry. These workers
organized themselves, and then
reached out to CWA.
Visit http://bit.ly/cbwupdx to
find out more about the cam-
paign and sign up for updates.
–DM
Bus drivers win raises up to $6 an hour
Given a tight labor market and
especially a driver shortage,
Amalgamated Transit Union
Local 757 recently
negotiated big wage
increases in several
Portland-area bar-
gaining units.
The biggest were
at First Student,
which
provides
school bus service to Portland
Public Schools. Local 757
agreed to reopen its current con-
tract there, and negotiated an
immediate $6 an hour increase
for about 300 workers. The two
sides extended the contract
through Aug. 31, 2027, and the
top wage in the final year will be
$36.95 an hour. Local 757 pres-
ident Shirley Block
said members were
ecstatic, jumping up
and down at the Oct.
15 ratification meet-
ing.
Another group of
drivers who work di-
rectly for Portland Public
Schools also got raises of $3 an
hour, bringing them to a starting
wage of $22.64 and a top wage
of $31.58.
About 215 paratransit drivers
working for a TriMet contractor
also won big raises. Earlier this
year, TriMet canceled its con-
tract with First Transit to operate
TriMet Lift and gave it instead
to a company called TransDev.
Local 757 met with the new
contractor and after a rocky start
was able to negotiate similar
contract terms, plus improved
medical insurance and raises of
close to $3 an hour over the next
three years. Ratified by mem-
bers Oct. 25, it will increase the
top wage rate from $28.02 cur-
rently to $30.90 in 2024.
Block said every transit dis-
trict the union represents is cur-
rently hiring drivers.
–DM
Workers authorize
strike at Vancouver
Public Schools
By an 89% margin, members
of Vancouver Association of
Education Support Profes-
sionals (VAESP) voted Oct.
26 to authorize their leader-
ship to call a strike if they
can’t get an acceptable con-
tract with Vancouver Public
Schools. The priority issues
are inadequate pay and a
short staffing crisis.
They’ve been working
without a contract since Aug.
31.
VAESP, an affiliate of
Washington Education Asso-
ciation, represents approxi-
mately 600 school support
workers at the district, in-
cluding clerks, secretaries,
aquatic coordinators, tech
support personnel, and para-
educators who work with
special education students.
Paraeducators are the most
numerous classification in
the union, and they say a se-
vere staffing shortage is com-
promising safety in the class-
room.
The two sides were sched-
uled to meet again with the
assistance of a state mediator
Nov. 3, after this issue went
to press.
–DM