Portland, AFSCME Local 189 settle 2001 dispute

The City of Portland and its biggest union have agreed to settle a two-year-old dispute over an “illegal strike” by parking patrol officers.

On June 13, 2001, during a campaign by city workers to win a good union contract, a coalition of unions held a “Solidarity Day,” in which city workers were asked to wear armbands to show their support for the union bargaining team.

Members of Local 189 of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) who patrol for parking violations wanted to wear the armbands, but were forbidden by management on the grounds that they come into contact with the public. So some officers used a different tactic to get the city’s attention: When they came across cars parked at expired meters, they wrote warnings instead of tickets. The day-long action resulted in 97 percent fewer tickets being written, costing the city $30,000 by management’s estimate (half that amount by the union’s estimate).

Management struck back. It placed written warnings in the personnel files of all employees who took part, and it filed an unfair labor practice charge with the Oregon Employment Relations Board (ERB), demanding the union reimburse the city for the lost revenue. The city argued that AFSCME engaged in a work slowdown, which amounted to an illegal strike under Oregon laws governing public sector unions.

ERB, which administers laws that govern public employee collective bargaining, ruled in management’s favor at the preliminary hearing, agreeing that the parking patrol officers’ action was an illegal strike. The union appealed however, and the case had not yet gone to trial.

When Rick Henson became the staff representative for AFSCME Local 189 late last year, he inherited a bumper crop of bad feeling from the last contract fight. With his own negotiations to prepare for, he wanted to clear the slate of past conflicts.

“It’s tough to shake hands and be buddies if we’re being sued,” Henson said.

So he shopped a compromise to city managers. But he didn’t get results until visits with city commissioners showed city managers that a majority of the City Council wanted the relationship with labor repaired.

The involvement of the commissioners (including Jim Francesconi, who now heads the department that includes the parking patrol), ensured a settlement.

In the settlement, the city agreed to remove the warning letters from personnel files and drop the unfair labor practice charge. The union pays no penalty, but it accepts ERB’s preliminary ruling, and promises to inform its members that sit-downs, slow-downs, rolling, intermittent or on-and-off-again strikes are illegal, and that anything less than “full, faithful and proper performance of their duties,” is a violation of the Public Employees Collective Bargaining Act.

City Council approved the resolution in a 4-1 vote May 22. Only Commissioner Dan Saltzman voted against the settlement, saying he preferred to let the case go to trial, to set a legal precedent.

© Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc.