Management letter to city of Portland

About 60 City of Portland employees escorted their union representatives to the offices of city commissioners and the mayor Feb. 22 to hand-deliver a letter signed by more than 500 co-workers responding to a missive sent to them by the Bureau of Human Resources outlining some of the city's positions for collective bargaining.

Negotiations on a new contract between the city and a half-dozen unions that bargain jointly as the District Council of Trade Unions began Feb. 1. The talks were ushered in a day before with a unity rally at City Hall that drew about 800 people.

Ground rules for bargaining hadn't even been finalized when the city contacted rank-and-file members with a letter that read, "the nature of collective bargaining is often closed and secretive. As your employer, the City of Portland has set a goal to open up the process to provide members of the DCTU with accurate, timely information."

The letter was particularly irksome because members of the 15-plus person union bargaining team have constantly been asked to please not lobby commissioners or the mayor about bargaining issues.

"It was totally inappropriate," said Jim McEchron, business manager of Laborers Local 483, and a bargaining team member. "It implied that the union and the membership were somehow two different entities and that we, as leaders, wouldn't tell our members what was happening in negotiations."

In their written response, the DCTU said, "The membership recognizes threatening and self-serving management explanations about bargaining issues when they see them. Our bargaining teams not only speak for us, but they speak to us, as well."

Commissioners Erik Sten and Jim Francesconi, Mayor Vera Katz and auditor Gary Blackmer met briefly with the group. Commissioners Dan Saltzman and Charlie Hales were not available.

"A few years ago this (the letter) would have been illegal," said Yvonne Martinez, a representative for AFSCME Local 189 and the lead spokesperson for the DCTU. But the rules have changed for public employee collective bargaining since passage in 1995 of Senate Bill 750. That bill eliminated a previous ban on direct communications between employers and employees during negotiations.

"They asked us not to go directly to commissioners to discuss bargaining, then they send a letter to all our bargaining unit members. They can't have it both ways," Martinez said.

The AFSCME rep said after delivering their response it appeared the commissioners and mayor "got it," and that their intent was not to provoke a fight or circumvent the bargaining process.

Whatever their intent, the DCTU said the letter written by Human Resources Director Yvonne Deckard certainly strengthened their memberships' resolve.

"The DCTU expects to mobilize like we never have before," McEchron said.

As the letter signed by more than 500 workers said: "We are not going to go quietly through another bargaining session like 1996 or 1998. Concessions and take-backs will only be bought with a terrible price."

Bargaining is scheduled to resume Thursday, March 22.