Portland’s first union bike shop has its first union contract. On Jan. 26, workers at Community Cycling Center (CCC) unanimously ratified a one-year contract that increases paid time off, ensures annual cost of living raises, and establishes basic union protections like “just cause” discipline.
CCC is a nonprofit that operates a bike repair and maintenance shop at 1700 NE Alberta Street and runs programs to teach bike safety and basic repair to kids and adults. In May, managers voluntarily recognized International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 5 as the bargaining representative for about 20 workers, including shop mechanics, retail staff, and program specialists.
Under the contract, which expires March 2025, workers receive five paid “floating holidays” they can use as they choose to cover an absence. That’s in addition to the personal paid time off they accrue. On days the shop is closed for a holiday, CCC must offer other kinds of work to employees who ask for that option, so no one is forced to use PTO, a paid floating holiday, or go unpaid on those days.
The contract also codifies the shop’s existing practice to pay all positions a starting rate equal to Portland’s living wage, as calculated in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Living Wage Calculator. Right now, that rate is $21.58 an hour. However, MIT updates the wage annually to account for inflation, so workers’ pay would rise as it does.
