Preliminary negotiations between TriMet and the union that represents its operators, the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757, mostly went nowhere this weekend after the two sides failed to agree even on some basic “ground rules” meant to guide more substantive talks on issues like health care premiums and pay.
But before talks stopped Saturday after several hours, the two sides did manage to jointly agree on one thing: the list of publications and media outlets who are explicitly allowed to attend the contract talks. (Once, that is, the talks actually begin; that’s still unknown.)
Update 3:40 PM: The union this afternoon has replied to TriMet with a letter (pdf) offering potential dates for negotiations to start. (In it, the union asks TriMet not to use email to schedule meetings, because of technical issues with it system. Emails sent to and from TriMet, it’s worth noting, also would be public records.)
The list of approved outlets looks much like a list sent out days ago by ATU, with the addition of the overlooked Portland Business Journal, a helpful suggestion from TriMet. Of note, it includes the NW Labor Press—which receives subscription money from ATU, and also from dozens of other local unions, but retains sole control over its editorial content.
But now let’s look at whom it doesn’t include: members of the public or any of the voracious, vociferous, and occasionally venomous amateur bloggers who make sport (and sometimes break news) out of charting the transit agency’s every snort and sniffle. That includes Al Margulies, who runs Rantings of a Former TriMet Bus Driver. And also Lane Jensen, who runs PDX Transit Lane.
That was deliberate, at least on TriMet’s part. Its officials have held fast to words like “mainstream” and “unaffiliated” when discussing this issue, and it’s clear the bloggers get under their skin with personal comments aimed at its top executives. But the move is also dicey. Margulies is a former employee and union member but has a following—getting a writeup in Willamette Week this year as someone to watch in Portland. His blog was first to post the video of a MAX train hurtling down Interstate 84 with its door open.
Margulies—whose blog includes a Photoshopped picture of TriMet GM Neil McFarlane’s head topped with a dick—has since blogged some of his thoughts:
The bloggers are a direct threat to the power brokers at Trimet. The bloggers are not constrained by niceties of politics or relationships or money. The bloggers don’t play that game. The bloggers create their material on their own time and at their own expense. They do it because they are passionate about the subject. Bloggers are not impressed with false promises and phony propaganda. Bloggers dont have ‘committees’ or ‘meetings’. Bloggers are completely independent of that nonsense. Trimet executives are so scared of them the will not allow them to attend the negotiations.
Further, to hear the union tell it (or at least read what it wrote in its press release after the negotiations Saturday), the question of letting bloggers in may have helped drive the impasse. The ATU says TriMet negotiator Randy Stedman said “fuck” and then, “to the surprise of those present, stated the meeting was over. The unexpected, abrupt ending of the meeting meant the Union did not have an opportunity to respond to Mr. Stedman’s concerns by presenting a counter proposal.” Update 8:40 AM: To clarify, ATU said in its press release that “In an effort to insure [sic] media access, the Union abandoned its position of allowing bloggers to attend.” The union also said it listed the names of three bloggers “well-known to be of particular concern” to TriMet management in the past,” and then, in the next paragraph, made its claim about Stedman’s alleged outburst. That was seen as a bid by the ATU to put the onus solely on TriMet.
But Oregonian commuter columnist and transportation reporter Joe Rose notes a back-and-forth between the union and TriMet that may point to another reason for the delay: an ongoing legal impasse over an arbitrator’s decision to side with TriMet over the two sides’ last contract agreement.
“It’s clear that the ATU does not want to enter substantive negotiations until their challenge to the past contract is decide,” TriMet said in their press release.
It’s tiring for the neck, but we’ll keep watching this game of ping pong. And we’ll try to get to at least the opening session of contract talks.
No Street Roots? No BikePortland? Disappointing.
That’s 19 media outlets on the list. If that is censorship, they’re doing a crappy job.
“Margulies—whose blog includes a Photoshopped picture of TriMet GM Neil McFarlane’s head topped with a dick—has since blogged some of his thoughts:”
~~~>That picture was not created by me but I do use it yes
And what is it Trimet is so scared of? We will disrupt the meetings? Well they can throw us out for good if that happens.
I’m ok with the Labor Press in any event and Portland A-Foot, even the Mercury passes (although some of your articles have been anti union and a former reporter of yours directly attacked me)
YOU GET SOME GUYS AND I’LL GET SOME GUYS AND MEET US BEHIND THE GAS STATION AND WE’LL SORT THIS OUT.
Who attacked you? And when? Not since I’ve been here. And, Al, that’s a worthy counter-proposal: Make it fully public and then boot out anyone only if they cause a stir. That served the Portland Police Association just fine—and there were no incidents whatsoever. Although there also were ground rules that banned live-tweeting, live-blogging, and audiovisual recording.
Amy Ruiz during the teenage kissing girl incident went after me.
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. I myself am a moderately known blogger and speaker. I think there is a large difference between a blog and a newspaper that has a blog. News organizations have some level of journalistic integrity and training. We at our blogs are unprofessional journalists, just passionate people who know how to operate a website.
And even if there wasn’t, Al and Lane are not people I’d let into a discussion like that. They’re a abrasive, self-righteous and only seek to bring drama and attention. It’s not just TriMet they slander. Their reaction to me disagreeing with their views on this issue was to slander me across their blogs as a fascist TriMet sympathizer, which came after I’ve supported Al for four years. That is not the person you look to for integrity on a story.
Do I think TriMet needs to be transparent on what they’re doing? Yes. Very. I am by no means a TriMet fan. Do I think Steadman was unprofessional in his response? Fuck yeah. He blew my mind. But Al and Lane have successfully ruined any chance us bloggers have to be taken seriously in a way that is beyond repair. I’m not surprised they shut them out so emphatically. They’ve boiled the independent activism down to patting themselves on the back for getting a reaction out of TriMet when they run more propaganda than TriMet ever has.
Anyone who is familiar with me (all 2 of you) will know I’m far from a TriMet supporter. You will note that even with OPAL I am one of their loudest dissenters. I rarely have a kind word to say about them and even though I’ve been saying lately that we need to act like professionals and adults, I often have to do it gritting my teeth. I am not on TriMet’s side in all this. But I’m certainly not on Al and Lane’s.
(I can’t believe they wouldn’t let in Street Roots, though, what the fuck.)
Cameron has gotten on his high horse and believes in Fascism.
Who is he (who is anybody) to use subjective criteria like he is doing.
There is only one reason to exclude anybody, if they disrupt the meeting.
The content that we publish is our business, nobody has the right to judge it.
Cameron puts forth the notion that somehow I have ‘ruined it for other bloggers’.
That’s an absurd statement, absolutely absurd and what it shows is how Cameron has allowed his emotions to overrule his intelligence in this situation.
“And, Al, that’s a worthy counter-proposal: Make it fully public and then boot out anyone only if they cause a stir.”
That’s what ATU wants, but TriMet is objecting — they’re even going to court with ATU over this.
TriMet is publicly funded, publicly owned and its entire purpose in life is for the good of the public. Everything about TriMet should be public, including these meetings.
I brought this up to Neil McFarlane directly, reminding him of *his promise* to provide increased transparency (after he hid management raises in the contingency budget last year during a huge fare increase & service cuts). He said he was concerned about outbursts, to which I told him that he should consider video taping and posting the sessions publicly; then there would be no outbursts. His reply was that “things can be taken out of context”.
I support TriMet, I really do — I even spent hundreds of hours writing a TriMet app; yet I don’t support their hiding behind closed doors for ANYTHING they do.
Listen for yourself:
http://vimeo.com/64420575 (starts at 34:30).
BTW: I have no affiliation with ATU; I’m just a guy who rides the bus.
Cameron (and anyone) has a right to criticize me, I am no stranger to being criticized so its part of being a controversial blogger.
But he as well as any government official, have NO right to exclude people from government functions, UNLESS THEY DISRUPT THOSE FUNCTIONS.
There has never been an incident of me disrupting any public meeting.
And I’ve been to plenty.
Hey Cameron. This is a simple ALL OR NOTHING media. EVERY SINGLE MEDIA OUTLET LISTED HAS A BLOG. This is pure discrimination. TriMet doesn’t want Al and I there because we know the truth on what the hell is going on inside the gold plated walls of Harrison Square.
Either TriMet needs to allow all the public or nobody. Having this “list” of people is discrimination. OPAL isn’t listed, is it? The list of outlets are biased towards TriMet to make the union look like shit.
It is time that the ATU 757 stands by their guns. CAMERON, shut the hell up. As I remember, OPAL were the ones screaming at the June board meeting. Al and I have NEVER screamed at a board meeting, yet we never disrupt the meetings. Yes, I CORRECTED Neil 1 time at the Board Briefing. Maybe, Cameron, you should look at yourself before pointing fingers. “Let he be without sin cast the first stone.”
By the way MAX has been critical of me also, to the point of fact checking some of my material and forcing me to edit some of my posts.
I’ve got a Tumblr devoted to pieces of pizza that look like Garfield. Why wasn’t I invited too?
Doesn’t Tri-Met allow workers of age to retire with full medical bennies after only 5 years of service? I mean, if that is true, Holy Shit! No wonder bus lines are being cancelled and it has become cheaper to drive a car rather than use Tri-Met.
“Doesn’t Tri-Met allow workers of age to retire with full medical bennies after only 5 years of service? ”
~~~~~~~~~~~~> no its 10 years at 58 and we do not get free health care
We’re getting off track here. The people who know the truth are being excluded from the negotiations. What better way to make everything transparent than having the two biggest activists against TriMet Management to show up? We’ve done our homework. We know where the money is going. What we don’t know is why TriMet is continuing to lie to the media? Better yet, why is the MEDIA hanging on every word that Neil and Mary spew out of their potty mouths?
No, this isn’t really off-track at all.
I had read before that only 5 years of service was required.
But OK, I’ll grant you a measly 10 years, at 58 and only paying co-pays, correct?
Doesn’t Tri-Met offer just about the best medical package of all transportation workers in the entire country?
And we are paying for this luxury you enjoy.
These negotiations and the battle over whom is allowed to watch is all part of the PR game.
What to focus on is the crazy bennies that their union has manged to win over on the public and put some pressure on these folks to get in line with the majority of the people who pay for their salaries and benefits.
FOOD COMES FROM PORTLAND!!!
The more coverage, the better. I am not anti-union, unless we have reached the point when the union has become more powerful than the company or organization that it negotiates with. ATU has drank (drunk?) everyone’s milkshake up. Even if bloggers like Al are let in, shining light on the excesses of the ATU contract will only help this discussion along.
This thread should be the only evidence required to prove that bloggers generally (and these bloggers specifically) shouldn’t be allowed.
18 print outlets and “television stations” is more than adequate coverage.
Colin: Mainstream media coverage is not enough. If you followed the happenings of TriMet like we do, you’d know that mainstream media coverage of TriMet is generally one-sided in TriMet’s favor, or (more typically) completely missing.
How many of those media outlets attend the currently public board meetings? How much coverage do you see about those? Basically zero. It’s a blogger (Jason M) — not TriMet — who films those meetings and puts them up on public access TV and the internet. If it weren’t for Jason your only access to those meetings would be to show up at 9am on a weekday, or PURCHASE the audio from TriMet.
Also look at this topic; this issue about public access has been going on for months. There is even a court case over this between ATU and TriMet. Has the mainstream media covered this? No — this is essentially the first coverage of this issue.
TriMet says they’re committed to transparency, yet they do not want those meetings made public. Doesn’t sound like a commitment to transparency to me!
Is OPAL (the transit riders advocacy group) invited? Nope!
@Al and Lane –
Excessive use of caps lock is the first step in convincing me that you are sane, reasonable and worthy of consideration as a professional journalist.
Look, whether people ‘like’ me or not is not relevant. What we are talking about is coverage of a public event. An event that affects everyone paying payroll taxes and fares into Trimet.
Trimet is supposed to be about the public. The fact of the matter is its about its executives who basically ‘own’ the transit system and manipulate it the best way for them.
These executives are making absurd amounts of money off the public tit.
Just look at the mainstream medias coverage of this event. The Oregonian completely left out the issue of Bloggers, the Tribune left out Randy Stedmans “your a bunch of fucking liars’ and there has been no coverage on the tv.
Let me also state that without Rantings of a former Trimet bus driver blog there would be NO (in caps) NO COVERAGE OF THE BOARD MEETINGS PUBLICLY, all the coverage emanates from the blog and the people that help me keep it going.
The live scanner account also was created by the Rantings blog, there are numerous other blogs that started on the rantings blog.
The blog has broken more then a few news stories..
So you can hate me if you want, but stop trying to put a lid of freedom of the press.
Anybody that supports exclusion of an actual source of news and opinion, weather they are ‘official’ or not supports government fascism , because that is what it is.
Nobody forces anybody to read any of it.
But it should be there as a reference for everybody.
By the way Kudos to the Mercury for staying current on this story and reporting it accurately
Sweet, you guys made the list along with such notables as the Hollywood Star!
Max: OPB had a story on the ATU/TriMet court kerfuffle yesterday. Mainstream, by definition.