Security guards seek first ILWU contract at Metro

Though sick with pneumonia, Paul Bigman, an organizer with International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 28 of Portland, went to a meeting April 23 to ask an employer to give his members a better deal.

Backed by two dozen supporters from his and other unions, Bigman was given three minutes to speak at the monthly meeting of the Metropolitan Exposition-Recreation Commission (MERC), the committee of Metro that oversees the Oregon Convention Center. Local 28 is seeking a first contract for nine recently-unionized security guards.

"For a brief period after Sept. 11, 2001, protective workers became heroes because they ran up the stairs of the World Trade Center while executives ran down," Bigman said. "Within a few months, we all returned to the norm: Management went back to viewing security as the folks you send out to do your dirty work, then ignore."

Bigman said the officers have few requests. And he said MERC has agreed to the most important one - scrapping a "pay for performance" proposal, which he characterized as treating officers "like trained spaniels doing tricks for a bone, or in this case, a bonus."

Now all that remains is the wage issue. Bigman said officers are asking for a 5 percent raise to make up for wage freezes in recent years. But MERC's offer - a 0.4 percent increase - is an insult, he said. It would amount to less than $10 a week, and would be offset by a new employer policy of charging $20 a month for parking.

"We will, if necessary, bring this to the community, to your constituencies and those of your political sponsors, and to those who might have events at MERC facilities," Bigman said. "Longshore doesn't shy away from tough fights. We took on the Bush Administration, the PMA (Pacific Maritime Association) and the West Coast Waterfront Coalition, and we won."