Laborers Local 483, which represents workers at the City of Portland Bureau of Parks and Recreation, has a new publicity campaign calling on the City to end reliance on low-wage employees who are classified as seasonal even when they serve year-round, year after year.
The campaign, called “Play Fair PDX” launched Nov. 23 with a two-and-a-half minute video on YouTube. The video was produced pro bono by Mike Chastain of Umami Media, and includes cartoons by comic book artist Hazel Newlevant, who used to work for a Rec center. The campaign also has a Facebook page and a Twitter handle, @PlayFairPDX.
Parks alone has over a thousand workers classed as seasonals, the union says. Many are in fact seasonal, but others work year-round in a great variety of jobs.
Local 483 President Erica Askin said the union is challenging the bureau’s deployment of seasonal workers to do the work of union members, in a grievance that’s heading to arbitration. But the goal of the Play Fair PDX campaign is to build community awareness about it, and put pressure on the City.
As one of the cartoon characters in the video puts it: “When the community backs up the rec workers, we have a fair shot.”
