Portland Workers' Rights Board hears Powell's Bookstore case

By DON McINTOSH, Staff Reporter

Thirteen months after the idea was planted in Portland, a Workers' Rights Board went public June 13 with a hearing at St. Andrew's Catholic Church in northeast Portland.

The board is a 58-member body composed of community leaders - clergy, elected officials, labor leaders, business people, activists and academics - who are willing to use their individual and collective moral authority to investigate, publicize and resolve situations where workers' rights allegedly have been violated. At least 16 other cities have such bodies.

The board is a project of Portland Jobs With Justice.

Powell's Books was selected as its first case. Workers there are represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and are struggling to get a first contract. Since bargaining began last September, the ILWU has filed 10 charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), accusing Powell's of multiple violations of the labor law, including spying on, discriminating against, and firing employees for supporting the union, and changing hours or working conditions without agreement from the union.

Seven months after the first charge was filed, the NLRB hadn't even begun to look into the case, though Cathleen Shelton, head of the agency's Portland office, says she now has two agents investigating and expects some initial determination in July.

Not inclined to wait, the Workers' Rights Board was called into action. Seven members agreed to take part in the case: State Representative Diane Rosenbaum, Rabbi Aryeh Hirschfield of Congregration P'nai Or, professors Mary King and Jos� Pad�n of Portland State University, Reverend Cecil Prescod of the United Church of Christ, Reverend Marilyn Sewell of First Unitarian Church, and Marvin Sirkin, author of "Detroit: I Do Mind Dying."

Nine Powell's workers gave testimony before the board panel and an audience of about 100. Doug Chase, an eight-year employee, said he was a vocal opponent of having a union at Powell's until he began attending bargaining sessions in September, which were open to all employees. "The more sessions I observed, the more I felt this isn't right," Chase said. "It was difficult to watch this attorney insult my co-workers."

Wendy Brown, an employee in the shipping department, testified that she and other experienced pro-union workers fumed while an anti-union co-worker still in his four-month probationary period was promoted over them.

"I still have to take time out of what I'm doing to train him. And then he goes and brags about all the overtime he's earning while we're out on strike," she said.

Linda Chavez-Thompson, executive vice-president of the national AFL-CIO, also attended part of the hearing and testified about violations of the right to organize. And Margaret Hallock, director of the University of Oregon Labor Education and Research Center, testified about the importance of union security - a requirement that all workers in the bargaining unit pay union dues.

After hearing testimony the panel came back with three recommendations: That Powell drop his opposition to union security; that both sides agree to an independent estimate of the cost of their proposals, and that Powell meet with the board to find ways to expedite the talks.

"I appreciate that there are a variety of people in the community who feel they have a stake," Powell told the Northwest Labor Press. "But I don't think people who are unfamiliar with nine months of negotiations would be much help ... Their timing's not great. I think we're in the home stretch in contract negotiations."

Powell also says he has a strong philosophical objection to union security. "It never occurred to me that I would be at a company where your condition of employment is subject to your being a member of an organization. All the arguments in the world can't convince me that I should fire someone because they don't want to be a member of some organization."

Though Powell earlier rejected offers to meet with the Workers' Rights Board, he has called members of the board that he knows personally, including Multnomah County Commissioner Diane Linn, who agreed to set up a future meeting with other such members.

The Workers Rights Board has set up a hotline for abused workers. The number is 503-813-8714.