In
Brief
Former OSEA Members Win $800,000 Suit
A federal court awarded $800,000
on Sept. 5 to four people who were
twice fired as Lincoln County
sheriff’s deputies by former Sheriff
Everett Hockema. The former
Oregon State Employes Association
(now OPEU) employes contend
they were fired for union activity.
Each of the plaintiffs was awarded
$100,000 in compensatory damages '
and $100,000 in punitive damages.
Hockema and the County are
appealing the verdict and the award.
The former deputies—Henry
Blum, Barbara Dollowitch, Richard
Shawver and Donald Schmidt—
sued the County and Hockema,
NLRB Hits
Union Busting
Strategy
A recent National Labor Relations
Board ruling may set a precedent
for attacking the sophisticated
psychological tactics used in some
union busting campaigns.
Ruling that the tactics employed
by General Electric Corp, were part
of an illegal strategy to discourage
support for the union, the NLRB
has thrown out the result of an
election at the GE plant in
Winchester, Virginia, which the
International Union of Electrical
Workers lost.
Management strategy to defeat
the union included surveillance of
union meetings, coercive inter
rogation of employes, plus more
subtle devices such as a survey of
employes designed to determine
what problems the workers wanted
corrected and the establishment of
an employe-management “ sound
ing board" to deal with problems
unearthed in the survey.
Using Time Clocks Against Unions
Against ATT
A new personnel policy which
required unionized clerical and
technical employes—but not non
union workers—to punch time
clocks, has been ruled dis
criminatory by an arbitrator. He
ordered the time clock rule at
Aetna-Standard Engineering Co. in
Pennsylvania rescinded, because the
An employer’s refusal to furnish a
union with photocopies of griev
ance-related materials unlawfully
hinders a union’s ability to fulfill its
duties as bargaining representative,
the U,S, Court of Appeals for the
First Circuit ruled.
The court found no legal basis for
American Telephone and Telegraph’s
historic refusal to furnish the Com
munications Workers of America with
copies of informât ion needed to
process grievances. ATT has in
sisted the information be copied by
hand.
r
H
E OREGON
A
publication of tha Oregon Public Employas Union, SEIU
The Oregon Public Employe is published monthly (except August) by the Oregon
Public Employes Union, a public employe labor organization. Editorial and
advertising offices are located at 1127-25th Street S.E., Salem, Oregon 97301.
Second Class postage paid at Salem, Oregon.
Subscriptions: $5 per year.
USPS: 411-480 ISSN: 0279-9367
POSTMASTER: If undelivered, please send form 3579 to OPEU, P.O.Box 12159,
Salem, OR 97309.
HEADQUARTERS O FFIC E
1127-25th S.E.
P.O. Box 12159
Salem, OR 97309-0159
Telephone: 581-1505
Portland members call: 223-1569
Elsewhere; 800-452-2146
(8 a.m. - 5 p.m.)
P EN D LETO N OFFICE
424 S.W. 6th
P.O. Box 1659
Pendleton, OR 97801-0510
Telephone: 276-4983
(10 a.m. - 2 p.m.)
P O R TLA N D O FFIC E
2154 N.E. Broadway, Suite 204
Portland, OR 97232-1571
Telephone: 249-2981
(8 a.m. - 5 p.m., except
12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.)
SALEM O FFIC E
1870 Hawthorne, N.E.
Eldred Realty Bldg., Suite 103
Salem, OR 97303-1620
Telephone: 588-9230
(8 a.m. - 5 p.m.)
M EDFO RD O FFIC E
1133 S. Riverside, Suite 7
Medford, OR 97501-0160
Medford members call: 779-4324
Elsewhere: 800-452-7965
(8 a.m. ■ noon)
EUGENE O FFIC E
1748 W. 18th Avenue
Eugene, OR 97402 3625
Telephone: 342-1055
(8 a.m - 5 p.m.)
Page 2
Blum was president of the local
chapter of OSEA. The other three
served on the OSEA negotiating
team.
The Oregon Employment Rela
tions Board subsequently found
Hockema and the County guilty of
multiple unfair labor practices and
ordered the deputies reinstated
immediately.
The plaintiffs were rehired on
Oct. 12, 1978, but were immediately
fired by Hockema, who this time
gave each a letter stating several
reasons for dismissal, including
irresponsibility and dishonesty.
Court Rules
VOLUME XXIN, No. 8
OCTOBER 1881
P U B L IC
EM PLOYE
contending they suffered embar
rassment, ridicule and loss of pay as
a result of Hockema’s actions in
1977 and 1978.
The plaintiffs alleged that
Hockema, after having expressed
“great displeasure” over the depu
ties’ association recent affiliation
with the Oregon State Employes
Association and over the union’s
bargaining proposals, fired them
Aug. 9, 1977. They said Hockema
gave no written reasons for the
firings, but that he later indicated
the terminations were “ because of
the collective bargaining negotia
tions.”
Cities Increase
Revenues Through
User Fees
In a survey of 594 cities, the
congressional Joint Economic Com-
.m itte e found th a t m ore and m ore
cities are imposing a user fee for
previously free services.
Half the cities surveyed were
expecting to be short of money this
year, with the likely result of higher
taxes, service cutbacks and layoffs.
In addition, more than half of the
union contracts in big city police,
fire and sanitation departments will
expire this year.
In response, 20 percent of the
nation’s cities are requiring user
fees, particularly in the West and
Northeast.
California cities are perhaps the
most creative in devising new
sources of income. Sports leagues
are charged $1,000 to use playing
fields. An ambulance ride costs $50.
A home buyer faces an array of
charges that can add an average
$6,000 to the cost of buying a
house.
The user fees now pay for fire
stations, schools, water, sewer and
other services formerly paid from
property taxes.
Portland OPEU
Office Plans
Open House
The Portland branch office of the
Oregon Public Employes Union has
moved and will hold an open house
on Oct. 21 from 5-7 p.m.
The new address is 2154 N.E.
Broadway, Suite 204, Portland, OR
97232. The new telephone number
is 249-2981.
The branch office was previously
at 2300 S.W. Sixth Avenue.
company “ has not proved that it
has a substantial business justifica
tion for the rule.”
The arbitrator also noted that the
rule is discriminatory because some
nonunion employes may consider a
time dock “ demeaning,” and there
fore might be discouraged from
joining the Steelworkers.
Family Fund
Established
for PATCO
Strike activity by the nation’s air
traffic controllers is continuing
despite th e Reagan a d m in istra tio n ’s
claim that PATCO members have
been fired and will not be allowed to
return to work.
Union members who want to
walk picketlines along with PATCO
members in Portland and Eugene
are always welcome, according to
PATCO officials.
In addition, OPEU members can
help by contributing to the PATCO
Family Fund, which was established
by the AFL-CIO. Contributions to
the fund can be mailed to 815
Sixteenth St., N.W., Washington,'
D.C. 20006 or to PATCO’s Local
540 office at 915 N.E. Davis,
Portland, OR 97332.
A retired couple from Maine were
the first to contribute to the
PATCO Family Fund.
In a letter accompanying their $10
contribution, they said they were
outraged at the jailing of strikers,
the heavy fines levied against the
union and by other tactics which
they had “ associated with totali
tarian regimes.”
They said they had followed
through with letters to Reagan and
the Maine congressional delegation
protesting the “ vindictive punish
ment of strikers.”