3 Bargaining Units Settle Contracts at Portland Schools by DON Mcintosh Some Portland Business Leaders

See Inside MEETING NOTICES Page 6 Volume 107 Number 13 July 7, 2006 Portland 3 bargaining units settle contracts at Portland Schools By DON McINTOSH some Portland business leaders. The Associate Editor three voting against the contract were Oregon’s largest school district ap- Dan Ryan, Sonja Henning, and Board pears to be backing away from open co-chair Bobbi Regan. For Ryan and warfare with its unions. Henning to take that stance surprised Portland Public Schools (PPS) has PAT President Ann Nice, given that different management this year than it PAT had backed them in the 2005 had during earlier rounds of contract election. talks, and seems to have adopted a less The district’s 210 cafeteria workers, hard-line stance. Still, the district’s represented by Service Employees Lo- three contract settlements in June look cal 503, also ratified a new contract in less like declarations of love than tem- June. The contract sets up a two-tier porary truces between adversaries. benefit system: Newly-hired part-time The district’s 47,000 students are workers, if any, will get no health ben- taught by 3,800 teachers, who are rep- efits, while current part-timers get pro- resented by the Portland Association rated benefits as before. of Teachers, an affiliate of the Oregon “It was rammed down our throats,” Education Association. Their new con- SEIU negotiator Lane Toensmeier said tract basically keeps the status quo for of the two-tier benefits proposal. the next two years. Ratified June 14, it “Loss of part timers’ health insurance gives them two 2.5 percent cost-of-liv- is huge, and our members know that.” ing raises. Teacher salaries range from Full-time cafeteria workers — de- roughly $34,000 to $67,000, depend- fined as 30 hours a week or more — ing on experience and educational will continue to get full family health qualifications. benefits, with the employer contribu- Re-hired on Wednesday The contract also maintains teach- tion cap raised from its current $764 a ers’ existing health and other benefits. month to $779. The contract also con- Since 2003, PPS and PAT have tains two 3 percent wage increases, On strike by Friday worked to contain health care costs. As one of which is retroactive. The group Nine months after he was fired for union a result, the District’s monthly contri- had been without a contract for nearly bution per teacher decreased from a year, so the new two-year deal goes activity, a settlement brokered by the Na- $930.42 to $829.52. At the same time, to June 30, 2007. Pay for this group of tional Labor Relations Board returned Cliff the teachers’ monthly premium con- workers ranges from $9 to $13 an Puckett to a job as a carpenter on the Benson tribution, which began in 2004, is now hour. PPS’ Nutrition Services is a self - at $75.96 a month. The new contract supporting department that collects Tower construction project in downtown runs through June 30, 2008. federal funds and student lunch money Portland. PPS management had wanted to of about $2 per meal to feed over That was Wednesday, June 28. rewrite rules governing teacher hiring, 20,000 students a day. Two days later, he was out again — on a one-man un- assignments and transfers, but agreed The union had wanted protection fair labor practice strike against his employer, Newway instead to form a committee to look at against contracting out cafeteria work Forming. changes. If representatives from both to private companies. “No,” was the Joined by organizers and out-of-work members of the sides find changes to agree on, they’d district’s answer. Carpenters Union, Puckett’s picket called Newway unfair, be referred to teachers for a vote. The third group to reach agreement because it was clear that the company wasn’t going to let In a press statement, PPS Board in June consisted of 1,300 clerical him back to work like an ordinary member of the crew — Co-chair David Wynde said the agree- workers, nurses and library and making concrete forms at the high-rise condo project. Instead, Puckett was a marked man, segregated from ment “reflects the greatly improved re- teacher assistants represented by Port- the union to work crews. lationship between the school district land Federation of Teachers and Clas- co-workers, working directly with a supervisor in another part of the building. When he applied, Puckett didn’t hide the fact that and our teachers.” sified Employees Local 111, an affili- he was a union carpenter. So why did Newway hire But teachers are likely to notice and ate of the American Federation of But then Puckett, 28, wasn’t a typical employee. He’s a member of Carpenters Local 1388, and a paid organizer him? Newway manager Mark Vanlanderzele de- remember that three of the seven Teachers-Oregon. Their contract con- clined to speak with the Labor Press, but Puckett Board members voted against the con- tained two 1.5 percent increases, one with the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters. At Newway, he’s a “salt,” union jargon for someone thinks it’s not uncommon for union carpenters to tract — and argued that the district of them retroactive, meaning their work nonunion, in violation of union rules. If so, should have trimmed teacher health June check will contain a $200 to who gets a job at a company with the intent of promoting benefits, echoing a position pushed by (Turn to Page 9) (Turn to Page 10) Let me say this about that —By Gene Klare Portland-based Carpenters Industrial Council formed by national mergers The Portland-based Western Council doors.” of Industrial Workers has merged with The Carpenters Industrial Council three other councils to form the national will represent approximately 26,000 Carpenters Industrial Council. workers in 15 states. The name change was effective July The Western Council of Industrial 1. The founding convention of the or- Workers was chartered in 1985. Its pred- ganization — which consolidates the ecessor was the Lumber Production and Southern Council of Industrial Workers Industrial Workers, which was chartered in Mississippi, the Carpenters East in 1937. The Southern Council of In- Coast Industrial Council in Marion, Vir- dustrial Workers was chartered in 1967 ginia, and the Midwestern Council of cil, will serve in that capacity for the and represented 4,400 workers. The Industrial Workers in Oshkosh, Wiscon- new council. Carpenters East Coast Industrial Coun- sin — is set for May 17-24, 2007. “The national Carpenters Industrial cil was chartered in 1996 with the The council is a division of the Council is being formed with a focus on merger of the Mid-Eastern and Mid-At- United Brotherhood of Carpenters and structuring a union that can withstand lantic councils and represented 3,000 Joiners, an affiliate of the Change to Win and meet challenges of the future,” said workers in seven states. And the Mid- labor federation. Pieti. The building blocks, he said, are a western Council was chartered in 2002 Fame for Herb Waits The newly consolidated council will “dynamic organizing program to bring with the merging of the Midwestern In- be headquartered in Portland at 12788 union representation to more workers in dustrial Council and the Great Lakes HERB WAITS JR., 83, a retired member of Tualatin-based United As- SE Stark St., and Mike Pieti, executive our industry sectors whether it’s lumber, Regional Council. It has more than sociation of Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 290, steps into Labor’s Hall of secretary of the former Western Coun- panel products, cabinets, windows or 11,000 members. Fame in this issue of the Northwest Labor Press. The NW Oregon Labor Retirees Council, sponsor of the Labor Hall of Fame, conferred the honor on Waits by a door-opening vote at a meeting in the NW Oregon Labor Coun- cil boardroom in the Scandia Building at 1125 SW Madison St. in Portland. Court reinstates retiree benefits at Rexam The Retirees Council inaugurated the A California District Court gave a Washington. The Vancouver plant was Silgan and later by Rexam. Hall of Fame in 1997 to bestow recognition group of Rexam retirees a major victory represented by Local Lodge 1374, an af- The court cited language in the union on retired unionists for their contributions when it ordered Rexam, the giant con- filiate of Machinists District Lodge 24. contracts and benefit plan documents to their unions and to the broader labor sumer packaging and beverage can The Vancouver plant operated as the that promised retirees lifetime coverage. movement. John Klein of the Teamsters is manufacturer, to reinstate retiree med- National Can Company, then changed District Court Judge Claudia Wilken president of the Retirees Council, and ical and prescription drug benefits that to American National Can in 1989 fol- granted a request for a preliminary in- Harold King of the Western Pulp and Pa- Rexam unilaterally terminated effective lowing a buyout. American National junction against Rexam, ordered the per Workers is secretary-treasurer. Jan. 1, 2006. was purchased by Silgan Can in 1996 company to “reinstate all medical and HERBERT WILLIAM WAITS JR. Rexam is one of many corporations and the plant was shut down in 1999. prescription drug benefit plans provided was born on Sept. 15, 1922 in Klamath across America pushing to drop retiree Rexam acquired American National before Jan. 1, 2006” and declared Falls in Southern Oregon. His father, Herb health benefits. Can in 2000. Most of the retired Ma- “Rexam is also enjoined from terminat- Waits Sr., was a skilled pipe trades crafts- The court’s decision applies to Ma- chinists Union members were covered ing the health benefits of any class mem- man who in 1929 was elected as the busi- chinist Union retirees from now shut- under the American National Can retiree ber receiving or entitled to receive bene- ness agent of UA Plumbers and Steamfit- tered can plants in Vancouver and Kent, insurance plan, which was assumed by fits under these plans.” ters Local 191 and also was elected to the same office in the Klamath Falls Building HERB WAITS Trades Council.

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