Unions are making themselves heard in Portland right now.
Whether itâs a grocery store boycott, a potential university workersâ strike, or an under-the-wire contract negotiation victory for medical workers, everywhere you look this late summer and early autumn, a union is making waves. Dubbed StrikeWatch2k19 (by⌠me), this confluence of local union actions can make it difficult to keep track of whoâs doing what, and where.
To that end, hereâs an update on where things stand with unions at three major Portland employers: Fred Meyer, Portland State University (PSU), and Kaiser.
Fred Meyer
United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 555âa union that represents 20,000 local grocery store workersâcalled for a customer boycott of all Fred Meyer stores last Sunday.
The call to boycott came after 15 months of contract negotiations, during which Fred Meyer management largely failed to budge on workersâ requests for higher wages, and a fix to the grocery giantâs demonstrated gender wage gap.
UFCW is also negotiating contracts for workers at QFC, Safeway, and Albertsonsâbut according to union organizers, Fred Meyer management has been the most unwelcoming of workersâ demands.
UFCW workers voted to authorize a strike in August, and soon after, Fred Meyer began posting signs in its stores seeking âreplacement workersâ in the event of a strike. Fred Meyer offered $15 an hour for the gig, more than sometime longtime store employees earn.
The union chose to call for a Fred Meyer customer boycott in lieu of a strikeâat least, for the time being. The next round of contract negotiations began Thursday and will wrap up on Friday. Depending on how those negotiations go, UFCW could escalate their tactics as soon as this Saturday.
PSU
As PSU students began moving into their dorm rooms on Thursday, university workers picketed outside a recently renovated university building.
The workers are part of SEIU Local 503, which represents the clerical and office staff, IT workers, childcare specialists, kitchen workers, custodians, and other non-faculty, non-admin workers at all seven Oregon public universities. Video from Margo Craig, news editor at the Pacific Sentinel:
also on âmove-in dayâ #seiu classified workers picketing outside 724 Harrison, prepared to go on strike if #seiu503 and the university donât come to an agreement over contract disputes by Monday https://t.co/4lulos0qaY pic.twitter.com/Krb7txXqXv
â margob (@margob20) September 26, 2019
The union is considering striking after failing to come to an agreement with university administration over wages. From the Mercuryâs previous reporting:
The union is asking for two cost-of-living wage increases in the next two years (a 3.75 percent increase in 2019, and a 3.5 percent increase in 2020), as well as for new built-in raise opportunities for longtime employees. Management has countered with an overall 2.5 percent cost-of-living wage increase over the next two years, and no new raise opportunities for longtime employees beyond what is already guaranteed in current employee contracts.
Another bargaining session is scheduled for this weekend. If the two parties fail to reach an agreement, SEIU plans to officially go on strike this Monday, September 30âthe same day classes start at PSU.
Kaiser
Unlike their counterparts at Fred Meyer and PSU, local Kaiser workers got some good news about their contracts this week.
About 80,000 Kaiser workers from across the country, including 8,000 workers in Oregon and Southwest Washington, had been preparing for a possible strike after five months of futile contract negotiations. Workers, represented locally by SEIU Local 49, were asking for higher wages, a ban on subcontracting, and protection of employee retirement benefits. They won those thingsâor at least, won a tentative agreement promising themâafter a bargaining session wrapped up on Wednesday.
âThis is great news for workers,â wrote Rae Dunnaville, a spokesperson for SEIU, in an email to the Mercury. âThe tentative agreement is very strong."