Holiday Open House andCelebration on December 19All employees who are represented by Local 88 are invited to our year-end get together, as well as celebration of the successful passage of the Multnomah County Library District. If you haven’t been to our office, stop by and see where we hold our monthly meetings. Elected officials from Multnomah County have been invited.

This is a fun, family-friendly event, and all are welcome. Santa will be there for the young andyoung at heart.  Stop by on your way home from work.  We look forward to seeing you!

What:  Holiday Open House and CelebrationWhen: Wednesday, December 19Where: 6025 E Burnside St, PortlandTime:  6 to 8 p.m.Food:  Appetizers and beverages providedOther: Gift cards and prizes awarded throughout the evening

Questions?  If you have questions or would like to volunteer to help with this event, contact Susan Palmer: secretary@afscmelocal88.org

Multnomah County Library District: We Did It!Together, we accomplished something remarkable. We secured amore literate future for tens of thousands in our community, andstrengthened a cornerstone of our democracy. We came togetherand said, “Yes, we believe in the power of a strong library.” Wepassed the library district measure! Each and every vote for our li-brary is a reflection of what we can accomplish together.AFSCME Local 88 is very proud to have been a part of this his-toric campaign. This defining moment was made possible by thetireless work and generosity of thousands of volunteers and sup-porters. It was an honor to work on this campaign with The Li-brary Foundation, Friends of the Library, Brian Wilson, and es-pecially our hard-working and committed volunteer coordinatorand Local 88 member, Nicole Newsom. We also thank the citi-zens of Multnomah County for their commitment to making agreat community.

AFSCMELOCAL 88

www.afscmelocal88.org503-239-9858 • 1-800-792-0045

6025 E Burnside, Portland, OR 97215

PAGE 6 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS DECEMBER 7, 2012

General Membership meets 7p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 19, pre-ceded by a 6 p.m. stewards’ meet-ing.

Executive Board meets 6:15 p.m.Wednesday, Jan. 2.

Oregon AFSCME Retirees meet10 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 18. CallMichael Arken for info: 1-800-521-5954, x226.

Meetings take place at the AFSCMEoffice, 6025 E. Burnside, Portland.

AFSCME Local 88 Calendar

Vol. 113, No. 23 Portland, Oregon December 7, 2012

Official Publication of AFSCME Local 88

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Volume 113Number 23December 7, 2012Portland, Oregon

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InsideInside Meeting NoticesMeeting Notices

Bargaining for a new union contractat TriMet reached an impasse beforetalks even started.Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU)

Local 757 and TriMet have been wran-gling for several weeks over whether ornot negotiations should be open to thepublic and to the media. The unionwants them open. TriMet does not.The dispute stalled talks that were

scheduled to begin Nov. 30 — the daythe current contract expired. The sidesare asking the courts to decide the mat-ter.“We look forward to quickly resolv-

ing this issue and moving forward withnegotiations,” said ATU PresidentBruce Hansen. “Once that occurs, ne-gotiations can begin.”However, in a Nov. 30 press release,

TriMet said ATU was a “no show” tothe first round of bargaining. Theagency said it sent its contract proposalto the union “so it could start the 150-day clock for negotiations as requiredby state statute.”

The union was stunned. In a letter toTriMet’s director of labor relations,Randy Stedman, Hansen wrote: “It issurprising to learn that the TriMet man-agement team chose to arrive ... for ameeting that the parties knew in ad-vance would not be taking place.”The union said the “bargaining clock

has not been triggered” because bothparties have not met to exchange pro-posals, which state law requires.Some 2,000 bus and light rail opera-

tors and mechanics represented by Lo-cal 757 are working under the terms ofa contract imposed in binding arbitra-tion last July — four-and-a-half monthsbefore it expired. State law bars Oregonpublic transit workers from striking; in-stead, if contract bargaining reaches im-passe, union and management presenttheir final offers to an arbitrator, whopicks one side’s offer in its entirety.State arbitrator David Gaba pickedTriMet’s offer. However, when makingthe announcement, Gaba said some

ATU talks at TriMetoff to a bumpy start

UNION LABEL: The ultimate hard-to-find giftRemember Charles Dickens and the

ghost of Christmas future? One hun-dred sixty-nine years after A ChristmasCarol was published, today’s Tiny Timswill have a grim future indeed if theywait for a change of heart from today’sEbenezer Scrooges. We need the BobCratchetts of the world to unionize andwin back health care, paid time off anda living wage. In that spirit, we proposethe following early New Year’s Resolu-tion — Buy nothing from sweatshops,and look for the union label. Of coursethe union label can be hard to find thesedays. So we’ve done the looking andcome up with 10 gift ideas for goodsand services brought to you by localunion members.

1) BLANKETS.The gift of warmthstarts with wool. Beautiful PendletonWoolen Mills blankets, like the queen-size mineral-umber Yakima camp blan-ket, $124, are quality-made by mem-bers of Service Employees InternationalUnion (SEIU) at mills in Pendleton,

Oregon, and Washougal, Washington.And they last a lifetime. Buy them atPendleton outlet stores, retailers likeMade In Oregon, and online at pendle-ton-usa.com.

2) BOOTS. Danner hiking andhunting boots — made in Portland bymembers of United Food and Commer-cial Workers (UFCW) Local 555 — areserious business. We won’t say they’re

indestructible, but let’s just say youcould go through three $100 pairs ofsweatshop-made boots at other manu-facturers or you could buy one $300pair of built-to-last Danner boots andsupport a fellow union member. Getthem at Danner’s Portland outlet store,12021 NE Airport Way, or at Al’sShoe’s and Boots — a long-time sup-porter of the NW Labor Press — at5811 NE 82nd Ave. [Danner does im-port some boots, so check the label: Ifit’s U.S.-made, it’s union-made.]

3) BOOKS. Forget Amazon.com,notorious for its nonunion sweatshopwarehouses. At Powell’s Books, the na-tion’s largest independent book store,workers are represented by Interna-tional Longshore and Warehouse Union(ILWU) Local 5. Books, gifts, and giftcards are available at six Portland-arealocations and online at powells.com.

4) WINE.Year after year, ChateauSt. Michelle produces top-ranked wines

as judged by Wine Spectator and Wine& Spirits magazine. And they’re madeby members of United Farm Workersand Teamsters Local 117 in Washing-ton’s Columbia Valley wine region.[Tip: It tastes best and costs least whenpurchased at unionized retailers likeFred Meyer or Safeway.]

5) CHOCOLATE. See’s Candiesgift boxes are available in all price-ranges, and are made in California bymembers of Bakery, Confectionery, To-bacco and Grain Millers. A 25-piece as-sortment runs just $19.40. We’re hop-ing to receive the egg nog or white minttruffles this year!

6) DINNERWARE. Fiesta dinner-ware is colorful, timeless, and proudlyU.S.-made in Newell, West Virginia, bymembers of Glass, Molders, Pottery,Plastic and Allied Workers (GMP) Lo-cal 419.

7) COOKWARE. There’s quality

American steel in All-Clad pots andpans, union-made by members of theUnited Steelworkers (USW) Local3403 in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

8) MUSIC.Visualize a union mem-ber. Do you see the trombone? At mostmajor symphony orchestras, AmericanFederation of Musicians helps ensure a

(PHOTO RIGHT) Richard Swyers of AFSCME Local 2067 joins Santa’s elves in dancing to Christmastunes performed by Norman Sylvester and Friends during a holiday party Dec. 1 sponsored by theMarion-Polk-Yamhill Counties Central Labor Council. An estimated 400 kids and parents sang holidaysongs, watched a movie, and met Santa Claus at The Elsinore Theatre in Salem. Afterward, everyonereceived a goody bag. The labor council funds the annual event — now in its 72nd year — throughdonations from more than 14 union affiliates and unionized businesses in the community. Santa is playedby Jack Rusen of Albany Steelworkers Local 6163; Sylvester is a member of Musicians Local 99; and Swyersworks for Salem’s Public Works Department.

Unions helpmake spiritsbright in Salem

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