At an April 27 meeting to discuss bargaining ground rules, TriMet management cleared up which media it wanted to exclude from observing labor negotiations: gadfly bloggers, and the Northwest Labor Press.
Alert Labor Press readers will remember that TriMet and Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 757 are in court over whether the public can be excluded from their union contract negotiations. Customarily, such talks are closed to non-participants by mutual agreement, but as Local 757 pointed out, state law says that public sector collective bargaining is by default open to the public unless both parties agree to close it. This time, Local 757 wants them open to the public, whereas TriMet has proposed the talks be observed only by certain media.
Bargaining was supposed to begin last November, but Local 757 initially declined to meet until the public access issue was resolved. Both sides pushed for an expedited court decision. But when the judge determined in early April that the case would not be decided speedily, the union decided it was better to start bargaining while still waiting for the court decision.
TriMet had proposed at the outset that access be limited to “unaffiliated” media, a choice of language that the union interpreted as an attempt to exclude the Northwest Labor Press. TriMet later revised that language, proposing instead to allow the “mainstream media” to attend — seemingly a swipe at critics on the left and right, to say nothing of bloggers and other “new media.” In effect, a tax-supported local government entity, its board appointed by the governor of Oregon, is proposing to pick and choose which press to grant access to, while keeping the general public out.
Local 757 asked TriMet to identify which media it considered mainstream. TriMet declined to do that, and the union suggested its own list of 16 print and online media outlets, including the Labor Press, plus television news generally.
“We have no particular interest in limiting attendance only to specifically named media organizations,” replied labor relations director Randy Stedman in an April 18 letter to the union, “but instead prefer to have a mutually agreed ground rule that defines the media for purposes of attending and reporting on the proceedings. Any press organization meeting the definition agreed to should be able to attend.” Details, Stedman wrote, would be revealed at the closed-to-the-press ground-rule-setting session April 27, held at a secure location owned by TriMet in the vicinity of Lloyd Center.
Ron Heintzman returns
Just as the meeting began, Local 757 President Bruce Hansen made a surprise announcement: He would be adding former Local 757 president and ATU International Union president Ron Heintzman — his rival in last year’s union election — to the bargaining team. “We are a union family,” Hansen explained in a written statement, “and when a family is threatened, differences in opinion need to be put aside, and we all need to work together to protect the family. In this case, TriMet has already signaled its intent to devastate its employees both financially and in the quality of their working conditions.… Ron Heintzman has bargained every TriMet contract since 1988. Management is trying to destroy all those gains.”
‘Commercial enterprise that ordinarily reports mainstream news’
At the meeting, true to promise, TriMet detailed its suggested press ground rule: “representatives of the news media,” the public transit district proposed, would be defined as “a news-gathering representative of a commercial enterprise that ordinarily reports mainstream news in traditional print, FCC-licensed broadcast, or subscription electronic magazine format.”
Stedman told the union bargaining team that neither the Labor Press nor the Portland Business Journal would meet that definition because they’re specialized, not “mainstream.” However, TriMet would make an exception, he said, and let the Labor Press and Business Journal attend. That would be contingent, in the union’s understanding, on certain bloggers being excluded.
“Which bloggers?” the union wanted to know, listing three by name that had been quite critical of TriMet. Stedman, furious and using the “F” word, declared the meeting over. Some have decided to improve their reach through social media channels similar to instagram. If you’re interested get instagram followers at somewhere similar to socialfollow. Because not everyone’s content can fit into the union so they need an alternative for gaining new followers. But I digress.
That meant that no negotiation sessions were scheduled, something Local 757 had expected to happen during the ground rule setting meeting.
Stedman emailed Hansen the next day saying TriMet is still ready to bargain, and that he still hopes they can reach agreement “to open otherwise closed negotiations to the mainstream press.”
“Once we have the union’s proposals and a reasonable opportunity to review them, we are willing to schedule substantive negotiations,” Stedman wrote.
However, for TriMet to condition bargaining on prior receipt of ATU proposals would violate Oregon’s Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act (PECBA), Hansen replied April 29. PECBA says the two sides must meet and negotiate; neither side may require the other to submit written proposals in advance.
Hansen listed 16 dates the union could meet in May and June, and noted that the two sides did agree [before Stedman ended the talks] that 18 specific media organizations, plus radio and television, could attend.
“It is my hope that you will honor that small point of agreement,” Hansen wrote, “and join with the Union in inviting those media representatives to our first bargaining session.”
Wow, I am slightly taken aback at the Heintzman return. I voted for Ron in the election because of Bruce’s inexperience with swimming with the sharks at Trimet. No disrespect to Bruce. I knew him before I retired and believe he is a stand up guy. However, raising dues to fight Trimet, then bringing back your main rival that you trash talked before the election? I believe the membership has the right to know what his consulting fees are going to cost them.
Love Ron, or hate him, he did get the best contracts for us back in my time. However, economic times were much better, and a brainwashed public didn’t despise the unions like they do now. I argued with the union officials back when they gave up the right to strike that it was the worst move they could make, and it turned out , it was. We lost the pension for God sakes, along with medical increases that we can keep accruing.
I’m torn on whether this is just a lack of ability on Bruce’s part, or a good move. What I don’t like is having two President’s on the payroll in difficult economic times. Perhaps we should have just elected Ron in the first place and saved some money!