At least 1,600 City of Portland workers are working past the June 30 expiration of their previous union contract. Significant issues remain between the City and the seven-union coalition known as the District Council of Trade Unions (DCTU), and the two sides have requested help from a state mediator.
The DCTU consists of members of AFSCME Local 189, Laborers Local 483, Machinists, IBEW Local 48, Operating Engineers Local 701, Plumbers and Fitters Local 290, and Painters Local 10.
DCTU leaders say two key sticking points preventing agreement are a City proposal for stricter rules on earning and using comp time, and a City proposal to make it easier to contract out work performed by union members.
In 2010, an arbitrator ordered the City to pay back pay totaling $200,000 to six parking meter technicians, after the City contracted out an upgrade to City-owned parking pay stations without notifying Laborers Local 483. And in February 2013, the City agreed to end an outside contract for temp services at rec centers, to settle a similar grievance. Now, the City is trying to win back in bargaining what it lost in the grievance process.
“We see what the City’s proposing as a true assault on core union values,” said Local 483 spokesperson Megan Hise.
Under the existing contract, the City has to notify affected union members if their work is going to contracted out. It also must demonstrate that contracting out will save the City money, and that the savings won’t be based solely on lowering wages and benefits. It’s a practice that puts the reputed “magic” of private sector efficiency to the test.
“We feel that [the contracting out clause is] not only good for job security for our members, but it’s a good protection for the taxpayer as well,” said AFSCME staff representative and DCTU chief negotiator Rob Wheaton. “We’re able to watchdog that it actually saves the City money.”
The City is proposing wage increases, but City negotiators are saying the raises won’t be retroactive to the June 30 expiration of the previous contract. One City negotiator told union bargainers the City will save $4,000 for every day longer that it takes to resolve the contract.
The next bargaining session is scheduled for July 10.
From my perspective I see the City of Portland is not even bargaining in “good faith”. They send their committee members to bargaining sessions who don’t have the authority to make decisions during a session; they have to take the union’s proposals back to the city council for consideration.
If the council is making the decisions…then they should be at the bargaining sessions.
I think that the City is purposefully stalling to run down the clock for mandatory bargaining so that they can “impose their last and final offer on the unions” and then claim to the public that they tried to bargain with the unions, when in fact the city’s committee members are just puppets for the city council.