News briefs


Teamsters settle strike at Tillamook cheese factory

TILLAMOOK — Teamsters at Tillamook County Creamery Association ended an 11-day June 12 after resolving differences over health insurance premiums.

About 250 members of Teamsters Local 58 in Vancouver, Wash., walked out June 1, arguing that the cost of the health care package offered by the company would offset any increase in wages over the life of the agreement.

To end the strike, Tillamook agreed to cover about 13 percent more of any health insurance premium increases. In return, workers agreed to a smaller pay increase — 7.8 percent instead of 9 percent — over the three-year term of the contract.

Affected by the walkout were nearly two-dozen stationary engineers represented by Gladstone-based Operating Engineers Local 701.

Local 701 represents two separate units at the creamery. A unit of 20 employees has a contract in place until 2007; but a second unit of three workers has been without an agreement since February. The union has filed two unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board for failure to bargain.

The company, located on the North Oregon Coast, is the second-largest cheese producer in the country. The company distributes cheese and ice cream to states from the West Coast to the Mississippi River.

“We’ve worked very hard to help the company grow and we’ve met every production need,” said Tomi Dressel, a 30-year Teamster at the Tillamook plant. “They’ve made nothing but multi-million-dollar profits in the last five years, and now they’re just snubbing us.”

 

Oregon Senate passes 'right to form unions' bill

SALEM — The Oregon Senate approved a bill June 8 that affirms one of the centerpieces of the AFL-CIO’s efforts to strengthen the rights of workers to form unions — a requirement that employers recognize unions when a majority of their employees sign written requests for union representation. The majority recognition requirement contained in Senate Bill 426-A applies only to public-sector workplaces governed by state law, but it also signals support for similar reforms in the federal laws that govern union rights in the private sector.

The bill generated heated debate before it passed 17-13 on a near party line vote. Democrats voted for it, except for Senators Joanne Verger (Coos Bay) and Kurt Schrader (Canby), who voted against the bill. 

All Republicans voted against it, except for Senator Ben Westlund (Tumalo), who voted for it.

During the debate, opponents of the bill tried to characterize the determination of majorities by signed requests as inferior to majorities determined by “free and fair secret ballot elections.” But supporters countered that workplace elections dominated by employers are often neither free nor fair.

“Even today, in 2005, employers will coerce, will intimidate those trying to form unions,” said Senator Charlie Ringo (Beaverton), who carried the bill on the Senate floor. “This bill is intended to be a fair and simple way for workers to organize.”

Coincidentally, Ringo’s argument received further validation from a new report issued by American Rights at Work. The report, entitled “Free and Fair? How Labor Law Fails U.S. Democratic Election Standards,” concludes that “union representation elections fall alarmingly short of living up to the most fundamental tenets of democracy.”

“There are 57 million workers in the U.S. who say they would like to have a union,” says Oregon AFL-CIO Organizing Coordinator Matt Swanson. “What’s holding them back? The answer lies in how the current process has become less about protecting employees’ freedom of association and more about delays and intimidation to deny workers the right to form a union.”

 

Employees at KOIN-TV vote for CWA

Michael Pieti, executive secretary-treasurer of the Western Council of Industrial Workers (WCIW) in Portland, has been named to the Oregon Forest Resources Institute (OFRI) board of directors.

State Forester Marvin Brown appointed Pieti to replace Brad Witt, secretary-treasurer of the Oregon AFL-CIO, as the employee representative on the board. Witt resigned from the board in January after being selected to fill a vacancy in the Oregon House of Representatives.

Before beginning his union career, Pieti worked for 13 years at a Boise Cascade Corporation sawmill in Yakima, Wash. He represents the third generation of his family to work in wood products. While with Boise Cascade, he served as a steward, trustee and recording secretary in the Lumber and Sawmill Workers (LSW) local union, a WCIW affiliate. He joined WCIW as a union organizer in 1985 and has since held various positions with WCIW an affiliate of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. He was elected to his current position as WCIW’s chief executive in 1996. 

WCIW represents 9,000 industry workers in five Western states.

The Legislature created OFRI in 1991 to improve understanding of forestry and the state’s forest resources and to encourage sound forest management. It is funded by a portion of the harvest tax on forest products producers.

 

Prestige Care nursing homes stay non-union

A drive to unionize Oregon nursing homes has faltered in recent weeks. Workers at four nursing homes voted not to join Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 503, and the union cancelled an election at a fifth location.

All five were units owned by the Prestige Care chain, which committed to neutrality as part of a deal between the union and four industry leaders. Prestige signed contracts at four other Oregon nursing homes in January.

SEIU cancelled the election at Timberview Care Center in Albany when it appeared likely to lose. And it lost elections at Chehalem Health and Rehabilitation in Newberg; and Camelot Care Center in Forest Grove; Molalla Manor Care Center; and Creswell Care Center.

The union plans to contest the result of the Creswell and Molalla elections, charging that management interfered with the workers’ right to unionize. The National Labor Relations Board is also investigating a separate series of charges in which the union accuses management of violating labor law by unilaterally implementing new drug and alcohol policies.

WCIW's Pieti named to state forestry panel

Michael Pieti, executive secretary-treasurer of the Western Council of Industrial Workers (WCIW) in Portland, has been named to the Oregon Forest Resources Institute (OFRI) board of directors.

State Forester Marvin Brown appointed Pieti to replace Brad Witt, secretary-treasurer of the Oregon AFL-CIO, as the employee representative on the board. Witt resigned from the board in January after being selected to fill a vacancy in the Oregon House of Representatives.

Before beginning his union career, Pieti worked for 13 years at a Boise Cascade Corporation sawmill in Yakima, Wash. He represents the third generation of his family to work in wood products. While with Boise Cascade, he served as a steward, trustee and recording secretary in the Lumber and Sawmill Workers (LSW) local union, a WCIW affiliate. He joined WCIW as a union organizer in 1985 and has since held various positions with WCIW an affiliate of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. He was elected to his current position as WCIW’s chief executive in 1996. 

WCIW represents 9,000 industry workers in five Western states.

The Legislature created OFRI in 1991 to improve understanding of forestry and the state’s forest resources and to encourage sound forest management. It is funded by a portion of the harvest tax on forest products producers.