DEMOCRACY DISREGARDED

"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."   Alfred Einstein

Democracy Disregarded

IN THE END...

Ballots:

5176 Ballots were mailed out

2350 voted

 (about 100 less than last time)

45.4% of membership voted on the rerun

Final count:

PRESIDENT

Shirley Block - 1279 

Bruce Hansen - 680

Henry Beasley - 381

VP

Jonathan Hunt - 1192

Chris Day - 1111

Bruce Hansen

In this day and age,  evil seems to prevail. That's why people like Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are the frontrunners for the Presidency of this Country.  It's come down to who hates the most and who're the biggest crooks liars and thiefs.

The real winners are those who see our politics, be it National or a local Union election,  as a Revolution for Change. We've planted the seed - watch it grow come the next election. The losers, at least today are the members of ATU 757. The real losers are those who didn't care enough about the quality and safety of their jobs to vote.

Bruce Hansen did the right thing - always has - that's who he is.  I'm proud of him for taking on the faces of evil. And in the end he's the real winner as are all of us who supported his extraordinary level of experience, brilliance, knowledge and compassion for todays Worker vs the Trimet business as usual, Oligarchs. A system made up of greedy hateful retaliatory bullies. Not surprisingly similar to the traits of Shirley Block, Jonathan Hunt and Mary Longoria.  It's a conundrum.

If Trimet Union members are to survive they'll eventually need to form a Union of their own. Trimet members with a strike clause could / would quite literally shut Tri-County service down within hours.

Chris Day

He gave Hunt a run for his money.  I'm confident this won't stop him from focusing his energy on the business dealings of our Union. An overseer of how things are supposed to be. A mosquito in their ass!!

VOTE

DON'T BE A DICK!

V O T E

VOTE

VOTE

VOTE

VOTE

Union label from the early 1970s. 

This print shop printed newspapers, pamphlets, and flyers for many radical movements.

NO STRIKE CLAUSE - EVER WONDER HOW IT CAME ABOUT?

So, here's something that just blew me off my feet.  I contacted NW LaborPress in March to see if they'd be willing to go through their archives to find an article Jonathan Hunt wrote in 2006 about giving up our Right to Strike.

Our ATU website archive only goes back to 2009.

I talked with Office manager Cheri Rice – several times. My phone shows 7 calls. She was very nice, initially. Explained that the archives were not electronically kept. Explained that they were trying to get a paper out and wouldn't have time that particular week. Explained she was part-time. No problemo. 

Couple weeks later I called back. She asked if someone named 'Don' called me. I said, "No". Each call I made I offered my time and assistance and if that wasn't OK then I offered to pay them for theirs.  Each call she reiterated that someone would get ahold of me. No worries.  No one ever did.

So now we're down to 12 days before the votes are counted and I'm not hearing back. They just went silent.  

Just got off the phone with her. Ms 'nice as apple pie' suddenly turned into the evil one. Rude, flippant, interrupting, yelling then she hung up on me.  But before she hung up, she said something that was of such concern that, instead of leaving to run some badly needed errands, I'm writing this.

Cheri asked,  "Didn't you hear back from the Union?

Me, "No, why would I hear back from them?" 

LaborPress, "We aren't allowed to give out any information without their permission."

Me, "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

LaborPress, "NO!  WE TALKED TO THEM. YOU HAVE TO GET THEIR PERMISSION!!  YOU!!"

Me, "Huh?  I'm frustrated because you never got back with me. I've been waiting all this time. Why didn't you just tell me that in the first place?"  "I wanted to publish it on my blog before the election." 

LaborPress, "ARE YOU THREATENING ME???!!!!!  

Me, "Who'd you talk to over there?" 

LaborPress, "SQUACK ARRCK SHRIEK...  SLAM goes the phone!!  !!!  

hmmm...

T  H  I  N  K  

A  B  O  U  T

I  T !!

CAN YOU HEAR IT?

VOTE

VOTE

VOTE

VOTE

We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?

Ray Bradbury

IS JONATHAN HUNT.... PART III!

The screenshot below is from the Facebook ATU member only site.  Members were having a discussion about the "BLOCK SIGN-UP PILOT PROGRAM".  

Some were asking questions, others were interpreting their take on it, a couple of  Officers were explaining and some were just voicing frustration. Business as usual...  Then...

...Jonathan Hunt

 Current VP of ATU 757

pops in.  

click image for zoom

THIS is one of the main reasons there's so much discontent and misinformation among our Workers.  Who do you go to, to get factual consistent answers?  Who do you go to if you want something explained or your voice heard?  Even if you were to go to a meeting, 'the team' will cut you off.  "No time for questions!!" Shirley's not any better. She doesn't return calls or emails or allow members to talk in the meetings.

The Crying emoji is what you get when you ask Hunt, or Hunt lets you know he's aware of your concerns. One of many ways to let you know that you're not important enough to deserve his time. He thinks your questions are irrelevant and whinny and cry baby stuff, even though they affect your scheduling, pay time, family time yada yada yada... It was like he (quite literally) came, dumped and left.

If he's not gonna do his job - who needs him?  What he makes could be better spent on a real lawyer.

ARROGANT OR BURNOUT OR BOTH?!!

It's always been difficult if not impossible to document his responses. He's one of those guys that's got a smile for your face and a knife in your back. That's the only consistent thing I know about him and I find it creepy.  He wins these elections because it's hard to vote an incumbent out and because he's part of the Ron (the Union is my personal property) Heintzman group.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER:

PART I

PART II

VOTE

FOR YOUR FUTURE:

BRUCE HANSEN for PRESIDENT

CHRIS DAY for VICE PRESIDENT

'THE TEAMS' LATEST

This e-mail is from Krista DeLisle, ATU 757's new Labor Law Consultant.  

TriMet Executive Board Officers, 

I am planning to come to your properties tomorrow and put up flyers inviting members to the April Board Meeting. If you would like to set up a time for us to speak with some members, or let me know where to leave the flyer if you will not be available, please let me know ASAP. 

We are also going to be launching a new website soon, and would like to take some pictures at each property while we are out there. If there is something you would like included, or something/someone you would not, please let me know ahead of time. 

We will likely be out after noon, and will hit as many properties as we can. If we cannot make it, I will bring the flyer on another day or email it to you. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. 

As always, thank you for all of your help. 

In Solidarity,
Krista DeLisle

LinkedIn resume:

Labor Relations Consultant -  although not officially until she was admitted to the Bar on 11/30/15

Amalgamated transit union local 757

August 2015 – Present (9 months)

Law Clerk:

The Law Office of Christopher J. Graves
February 2015 – February 2016 (1 year 1 month)He's not listed on the OBS Member Directory site. 

Law Clerk
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757
May 2013 – May 2014 (1 year 1 month)

click image for zoom
e-mail says "US or WE". As a Labor Law Consultant, with slightly over 4 months 'official' experience  (re: screen shot above), Ms DeLisle must know that if the "US" or "WE" includes either of the two who're currently running for re-election, like Shirley Block or Jonathan Hunt, their presence can compromise the election as well as her Bar. Wonder why they didn't wait until after the election?  Perhaps 'US and WE' received the wrong advice??  
If you witnessed Shirley Block and or Jonathan Hunt campaigning with Krista DeLiske call DOL - Chad Markham at 206-398-8099. 
Unions are about Labor Law. It seems for the dues we pay, ATU should provide their members with the absolute very best legal available. Not a buncha law clerks (one of whom I understand couldn't pass the Bar 3 times) and a consultant. 
Law clerks and a consultant aren't gonna provide us with equal footing when going up against Trimet's six figure union busters. Trimet'll chew her up and spit her out before she can find the elevator. Why not get a real lawyer in there, unless 'The Team' has already gone through the $600,000 Bruce Hansen accumulated while he was President?!! 

SAFETY ON TRIMET? - OXYMORON

Man with BB gun orders TriMet riders off bus on West Burnside Street

From OregonLive.com

Interesting they made a point of saying the gun was a "BB GUN".The Operator wouldn't know if the gun was real or not, just that it was and that their life on the Bus may never be quite the same again. I hope Trimet doesn't use the "BB" thing as another excuse for not providing safety to their Operators. 

THERE'S A HACKER IN THE HOUSE

I was notified by Google that a hacker was working on getting into all of my Blogger sites that have to do with recently published information regarding the ATU 757 re-election. We will be notifying the DOL as soon as the ISP # is confirmed.

Strikes me as odd how some folks in this Country believe the First Amendment is only for their use but be damned anyone else...

Nevertheless, we're working on it, in the meantime this Blog may seem a bit disgruntled in places.  Read on - the message remains! lol

YA WANNA KNOW WHY TRIMET ISN'T WORKING WELL WITHSHIRLEY BLOCK

Let me tell ya, through her own words and actions.

Shirley Block, current President ATU 757

Running for re-election

The video is from Trimet's Board of Director's Meeting, 

March 23, 2016

Slider to:  12:30 - Start of Shirley Block's testimony to the Board of Directors.

*Slider to 14:04 - Shirley Block, "We can and will respond to Trimet's anti-Union tactics with Destructive protests and legal actions... if that is the path we are forced to take by an agency that is unwilling to change. But if possible we would prefer to take a different path. If possible we would rather share a path of mutual respect and collaboration to achieve our goals. Unfortunately, I am here today because time and opportunity to achieve the normal path is running out. In fact many workers feel the time and opportunity to take other action has passed. For a very good reason these workers believe that only major disruption of Trimet Operation and service and legislation priority in Oregon can bring about meaningful change. "

Slider to 15:48 - Bruce Warner and Board member (Dr. Bethel) seem genuinely surprised and concerned to hear what she's saying.  

Her words were explosive. If things have gone this sour in the short time she's been in office (since July), to the point where she's threatening the Board of Directors with "DESTRUCTIVE PROTESTS",  then something's terribly wrong with her Presidency!!

Everytime I hear her talk in front of a group like this, who have the ability to 'do us great harm',  I find myself embarrassed for her.  She's unprepared and unrehearsed.  Her delivery was choppy.  I can re-wind the video from home to better understand what she says. The board of Directors might end up having to though, with her threats.  Dr Bethel was the only Board member who expressed concern. She had to call it to the attention of Bruce Warner.  She's aggressive and puts out the attitude that it's an 'us against them' thing.  Don't misunderstand. It is 'us against them' but in a professional way. Her LaborPress articles (see below) are humiliating. They cheapen the way the Union does business.  After all, WE HAVE A NO STRIKE CLAUSE THANKS TO JON HUNT. NO CLOUT!!  We're in a situation where the only tool we have is 'NEGOTIATION' or we find ourselves forced into binding arbitration.  The President we elect, ESPECIALLY IN THIS ELECTION needs to be experienced at negotiating contracts, needs to have an intellectual balance with the other side of the table, needs to have an amicable relationship with the other side of the table and needs to know when the last best offer is in fact the last best offer. 

I think the image above portrays the behavior of both Shirley Block and Jonathan Hunt when dealing with Trimet.  They hired Ron Heintzman as a consultant - another 'get in your face' name calling bully from the past.  Their threats, yelling - name calling, accusations, attitude puts people on the defensive. In my experience Trimet is retaliatory.  They're not gonna work WELL with her. If she wants to address the sign-up block's, new member orientation, Operator safety, lunch schedules or a myriad of other issues it needs to be done professionally. You don't just suddenly run to the Board of Directors and start threatening them because you've exhausted all yer other resources by treating those that coulda helped you like crap. Ya gotta have some common sense about how your behavior effects those who have more power than you.  

Labor Press NW
Shirley Block, ATU article
2011, 2012, 2013

When she was a Union Officer, she sat behind a computer and cussed Trimet Management / Executives  out.  Series of screen shots below shows some of it. I'm not gonna sit here all day and go through every article she wrote but you get the idea.  

click images for zoom.

LaborPress, July 2013.

Conventional wisdom tells us that ya don't publish these types of things about the very people you're going into negotiations with. She was meeting with Management on a regular basis on behalf of  the white shirts.  And now of course as the President of the Union. 

My mother used to tell me that you can get more with honey than with vinegar. No matter how angry I got writing the Blog about Cyber Stalking I always kept it on the facts and always professional.  When you start attacking people, calling them names etc., treating them as though they're not relevant, not worthy like she has through these reports, you loose your audience, they're not hearing your message all they're hearing is your anger.  Shirley has a lot of anger - so much so that it's kept her from properly representing the membership she vowed to represent. 

She threw religion and fear into this one. 

LaborPress, August, 2013

LaborPress from December, 2013

Later on in the article she invites Randy Stedman to go to Africa with her on vacation.  In any professional situation you have to be consistent in your behavior.  That would be a highly inappropriate suggestion had he taken her up on it, not to mention the conflict of interests.  When you represent as many members as ATU 757, you can't risk stepping on the toes of those who would do your members harm. Stay on subject - stay on policy - practice humanity.

I dealt with these folks myself. They are psychopaths. No way around it. Shirley's right, Stedman's a monster. BUT Shirley, in her position as President of the Union has a responsibility to all of us to stay professional in her dealings with him.  No name calling, no using religion against them, don't accuse them of being liars and thieves and you don't throw up their past and above all,  don't do it publicly in the LaborPress and Margulies Blog. It's harassment! Does she have the ability to write a report without humiliating them?

Should she be re-elected,  It'll  be a tremendous injury to every member of this Union. Stedman's team isn't taking her seriously. She's a joke. They don't wanna work with her abusive threatening tactics and they shouldn't have to, no one should. Again, there has to be an intellectual balance. There has to be mutual respect. Dignity. In this day and age you can't be shitting on the very people who have power over you. 

LaborPress from  October, 2015

This statement is a total cop-out. As a professional, she should never ever have placed herself and the Union in a situation where she has to come back, again in a public format, begging and apologizing. That act, in and of itself could cost the Union 'power' through negotiations. 

click image for zoom

source: Rampant Lion aka Tom Horton 

Slider to: 51:00 - Randy Stedman, Executive Director of HR and Labor Relations.  

Margulies posted the video portion of Randy Stedman speaking to the Board of Directors. He says, "Randy Stedman clearly states he wants Bruce Hansen president of ATU757"  Not true, he doesn't even come close to suggesting it.  Stedman's discussing the facts as they exist, from his perspective as a lawyer.  Margulies has a history of manipulating the meaning of words by inserting his own interpretations. 

I don't think Stedman cares one way or the other who negotiates the contract as long as everyone is respectful of one another.

IF YOU VOTE FOR 

SHIRLEY BLOCK

YOU'LL END UP WITH

BUPKIS

TRIMET FACT CHECK REGARDING RUMORS FROM CURRENT ATU 757 TEAM

Trimet Factcheck

Regarding all of the rumors that have been circulating on various Blogs, through e-mail, campaign literature, mailings, social media, FB sites, twitter, etc.  

Be LEERY, VERY VERY LEERY of any and everything you hear or receive.

Examine who it's from. Examine their motives and ESPECIALLY ANYTHING FROM THESE FOLKS and their groupies: 

Received this in todays mail.

From the left. Jonathan Hunt, current VP.
Mary Laongoria, Secretary/Treasurer,
Shirley Block, current President. 

Their motives are clearly power and pay. More on that next posting. 

Al Margulies, Rantings of a former Trimet Operator blog.

Bob Cummings, former spotter, red head, beard.

 twitter account. He uses other aliases and accounts as well such as Rantings and Dora Morgan. You'll know by the content. 

Lane Jensen, 

Went to jail for cyber harassing one of Trimet's spokespeople. Continues to harass Operators by posting our work on-line and anything else Al, Bob or Henry ask him to do. 

Henry Beasley 


He's running for President,  his wife is an outspoken member which is a good thing except her comments reiterate her husbands. They're not from her own thought processes.  She get's angry and lashes out, sometimes inappropriately at anyone who disagrees with him and as a result is passing on incorrect information at the garage and on social media. 

For some reason Henry doesn't understand how ATU works. For example, he complains that the Blocks signup pilot program should've been voted on by the members and ratified. Totally off the wall, not based on past practice or anything factual. We've never voted on a pilot program. We don't vote on Trimet's policies and procedures. That's why we have a Union - those types of items are negotiated.

Take a deep breath, clear your mind of everything you've heard and get the documented proof here:

This is a copy and paste from their website or you can click this. 

The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) is sending out false information to its members and the public that is meant to confuse, cause dissent and mislead. We set the record straight.

• Meals and Breaks Side Letter
• Four-Day Operator and Packaging Pilot Program
• New Employee Union Orientation Meetings

Meal & Breaks Side Letter

The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) has sent a letter to its membership with false claims that the long-established 2005 meal and break period agreement is no longer in effect. The agreement ensures that bus and MAX operators have adequate break times built into schedules. We set the record straight.

TriMet has filed an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) complaint against the ATU and asks the Oregon Employment Relations Board (ERB) to rule, once again, that the 2005 Side Letter is still active and enforceable. The needless controversy is an attempt to divert attention from an investigation and compliance agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor voiding the most recent election for President and Vice President and requiring the ATU to hold another election for those offices by April 30.

CLAIM

The ATU claims the 2005 meal and rest break has expired.

FACT

False. The agreement was signed in 2005 between TriMet and the ATU President Al Zullo. The enforceability of the agreement was upheld by the ERB in UP-55-05 in a 2008 decision. The 2005 agreement was included as a “Side Letter” to the Working and Wage Agreement. The agreement was “brought forward” during the most recent negotiations (see page 18 and page 6 of accompanying table) and noted in TriMet's Final Offer submitted to ERB in May 2014. Additionally, the Tentative Agreement ratified by the ATU membership (see page 3) and TriMet Board states that side letters brought forward were included in TriMet's Final Offer. The Side Letter remains in effect. The agreement ensures that bus and MAX operators have adequate meal and break times built into schedules

CLAIM

“The agreement was implemented without a vote or approval of the membership.”

FACT

True. Not all negotiated agreements between TriMet and the ATU have been submitted to ATU membership for ratification. A 2008 ruling by the ERB found the ATU had committed an unfair labor practice by refusing to acknowledge the 2005 Side Letter as a binding agreement.

CLAIM

In a February 2016 letter to the Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI), the ATU claims that the 2005 Side Letter is not valid because it was not renewed when the collective bargaining agreement expired on Nov. 30, 2012. The ATU also claims that it had offered to meet and negotiate a new agreement.

FACT

False. TriMet included the meal and break period Side Letter in the list of agreements brought forward to the current Working and Wage Agreement that expires on Nov. 30, 2016. Both parties have continued worked in accordance with the 2005 agreement to implement the plan as laid out since 2005. Since there is an active agreement already, there is no need to bargain a mid-term change. Even so, the ATU did not contact TriMet to negotiate a new agreement prior to its letter to BOLI.

Four-Day Operator & Packaging Pilot Program

3/25/2016 UPDATE: Four-Day Operator and Packaging Program MOA 

The Four-Day Operator and Packaging Program Memorandum of Agreement (Packaging MOA) has resulted in improved safety, better work schedules and work/life balance for bus operators since it was signed by the ATU bargaining team and TriMet management in August 2014. See the benefits and facts about the program below. The ATU continues to claim that TriMet is refusing to end the program. We set the record straight.

The impetus behind creating the Four-Day Operator and Packaging Pilot Program Memorandum of Agreement, also known as the Packaging Program MOA, was to address negative effects of the Hours of Service policy that the ATU and TriMet negotiated and which took effect in February 2013. The ATU refers to this as the “block run” program. The Packaging Program MOA solved the issue of operators’ schedules being made more difficult by sometimes requiring them to move to other garages to sign a full week of Hours of Service compliant work, or resulting in the need for them to work a day or more on the extra board in order to complete their weekly schedules. The Packaging Program improves bus operator assignments to provide adequate rest time; it provides them the ability for operators to sign Hours of Service compliant work at their preferred garages; and it provides predictable work assignments and better work/life balance.

Representatives from the District and the ATU met for more than a year as the parties worked together to create the agreement that was signed by the entire ATU bargaining team and TriMet management in August 2014. The results of the Packaging Program MOA include:

• Reduced split shifts for full-time Bus Operators (from 131 to 39) and provided more straight runs
• Nearly eliminated all split shifts on weekends for full-time Bus Operators (from 50 to 0 on Saturdays and from 28 to 1 on Sundays)
• Created new four-day schedules (4 x 10) for both Full-Time and Part-Time Bus Operators
• Reduced the overall span of hours for split shifts, from a maximum of 14 hours to a maximum of 13 hours

The Packaging Program MOA was negotiated by a Joint Labor Management Team “to make Bus Operator assignments better and to provide adequate rest time between assignments.” It builds on an earlier program from 2007 that created a 3-Day Part-Time and 4-Day Full-Time schedule that was agreed to by then-ATU President, and current Vice President, Jon Hunt.

The ATU is claiming that the Packaging Program MOA must be voted on by the ATU membership. We set the record straight.

CLAIM

The new ATU leadership wants to end the Packaging MOA, what it calls “block runs.” The ATU claims in a March 18, 2016 letter that TriMet refuses to cancel the program.

FACT

False. In a July 7, 2015 letter, newly elected ATU President Shirley Block called for an immediate end to the program. However, the Packaging MOA requires that the pilot program be in effect for a year before it can be revoked, which meant it is in effect until the end of the Fall 2015 Service signup (November 2015). Watch Randy Stedman, TriMet’s executive director of Labor Relations and Human Resources, set the record straight on this issue at the March 23, 2016 board of directors meeting. 

The ATU did not object to the Packaging Pilot program and it remained in place for the Winter 2015 Service signup. 

President Block attended a Nov. 2, 2015 labor-management meeting where improvements were made and the parties agreed to extend the Packaging Pilot for Spring 2016. Ms. Block also reviewed in advance a communication to bus operators on those improvements. 

CLAIM

The ATU claims that the Packaging Pilot was to end after the Spring 2016 signup. 

FACT

False. Either party can terminate the MOA for the next feasible signup period. However, the ATU did not give notice to TriMet of its desire to cancel the Packaging MOA program in accordance with the Packaging MOA until March 10, 2016. By that time, it was too late to return to cafeteria-style signups for Summer 2016 signup. As TriMet bus schedules are developed months in advance, Fall 2016 signup is the earliest opportunity to eliminate packaged work.

Negative impacts of ending the Packaging MOA program 

The impact of discontinuing all but the five-day work week options for Full-Time and Part-Time Operators would mean more split shifts, later shifts and fewer weekends off. A preliminary estimate is that: 

• Weekday Full-Time split shifts would increase from 32 to more than 110 (11 of the current 32 are on four-day duties, 21 on five-day duties)
• Saturday Full-Time split shifts would increase from 0 to about 40
• Sunday Full-Time split shifts would increase from 1 to more than 30
• Weekday Full-Time straight runs that end by 4:30 p.m. would decrease from 236 to about 170
• Full-Time Operators with weekends off would decrease from 270 to about 200 (not including extraboard)

CLAIM

The ATU continues to make the same claim – that the Packaging Program MOA was not valid because it was not ratified by the members. 

FACT

False. TriMet has a long history with the ATU of mid-term agreements signed only by the President and/or small bargaining team without a vote membership. The enforceability of such agreements was upheld in UP-055-05 by the Oregon Employment Relations Board (ERB). 

CLAIM

The ATU claims that our actions are anti-union and negatively impact our operators. 

FACT

False. This program is of tremendous benefit to hundreds of bus operators, providing better schedules and more life/work balance. TriMet remains open to additional labor-management meetings to discuss ways to further improve the Packaging Program.

CLAIM

ATU President Shirley Block claims in letters dated Feb. 10, 2016 and March 10, 2016, that while the parties can meet to discuss options for changes to the sign-up, any new agreement reached would have to be voted on or approved by the membership.

FACT

False. Contrary to the position taken by President Block beginning with her letter dated July 7, 2015 about the Packaging MOA to which we responded the next day, there is nothing in the Collective Bargaining Agreement that requires that supplemental agreements be submitted to a vote of the membership. Additionally, the Oregon Employment Relations Board (ERB), in UP-55-05 in a 2008 decision, upheld that not all negotiated agreements between TriMet and the ATU must be submitted to ATU membership for ratification. The ATU makes this same false claim in the recent Meal and Break Period Fact Check.

CLAIM

Ms. Block further claimed in a related letter dated July 7, 2015, that the pilot program was the subject of an unfair labor practice (ULP) complaint pending before the ERB.

FACT

False. The assertion was in reference to FR-001-15. However, the charge was filed by Ms. Block against the ATU; TriMet was not a party to the case. The ERB dismissed the complaint.

CLAIM

In her Feb. 10, 2016 letter to ATU members, ATU President Block again states that the agreement is not valid because there was no member ratification and goes on to say that TriMet was ending the block run program effective for the Summer signup.

FACT

False. Based upon UP-055-05, there is no legal support for the ATU to repudiate the Packaging Program MOA on the basis of member ratification. Furthermore, ATU President Block waited until March 10, 2016, to notify TriMet of her position, by which time Summer schedule runs were already completed. This was an effort to stir up controversy rather than helping ATU members.

The Packaging Program MOA was negotiated and agreed to two months before the parties ratified the 2012-2016 Collective Bargaining Agreement and duly signed by all members of the respective bargaining teams. There is a long history of mid-term supplemental agreements that always include the signature of the current President. The original 2007 agreement was signed by then-President and now current Vice President Jon Hunt.

There have been numerous labor/management meetings related to this matter since it was signed in 2014, including the most recent one in November 2015, which President Block attended. Because the Packaging Program MOA was validly entered into, the ATU cannot now condition additional changes upon a vote of the membership.

CLAIM

In both the Feb. and March 2016 letters, ATU claims that, "This will affect all Bus Operators, Controllers, Rail and Road Supervisors..."

FACT

False. By its terms, the Packaging Program MOA only affects Bus Operators, and does not include Controllers, or Rail and Road Supervisors.

Either party can terminate the MOA for the next feasible signup period. However, as TriMet bus schedules are developed about four months in advance, the soonest a change in schedules could take effect is Fall 2016.

TriMet remains open to hold labor-management meetings to discuss further improvements to the program. Joint labor managements meetings have resulted in a number of improvements since signing the 2014 agreement.

TOP

New Employee Union Orientation Meetings

As of March 4, 2016, TriMet has stopped paying new union employees to attend a two-hour member orientation at ATU offices. The ATU is claiming that we are discouraging new employees to meet with union representatives. We set the record straight.

CLAIM

ATU claims that TriMet is not allowing union employees to attend union orientation.

FACT

False. TriMet employees can go to union orientation sessions at the ATU offices on personal, unpaid time, but TriMet is not paying them for this time because we believe it violates the law to do so. As of March 4, 2016, TriMet ended a past practice that paid new employees to go to the ATU offices for a two-hour union membership orientation. We made the change after legal counsel advised us that paying new employees to attend a union orientation session was unlawful.

We believe using public money to benefit the ATU, which is a private entity, is an unfair labor practice under ORS 243.672(1)(b). That provision prohibits an employer from “assist[ing] in the formation, existence or administration of any employee organization.” We believe our position in this matter is consistent with Oregon Employment Relations Board (ERB) precedent. See City of Portland, 8 PECBR 8115 (1985); see also Carruthers v. Port of Astoria, 249 OR 329 (1968). In addition, ORS 243.670(2) states that a public employer may not “Use public funds to support actions to assist, promote or deter union organizing.”

CLAIM

The ATU claims that TriMet unilaterally made the change to discourage new union employees to attend orientation meetings at the ATU offices.

FACT

False. Members are welcome to go to the ATU union hall on their personal time, and the ATU may also make orientation presentations to new employees of reasonable duration during TriMet’s new employee orientation on its premises. Many labor contracts contain such a provision. This change also does not affect other lawful purposes for which TriMet employees go to ATU’s offices on paid time, such as contract negotiations or labor management meetings.

Additional Background

The needless controversy regarding union orientation is another example of the ATU making false claims against the agency and an attempt to divert attention from an investigation and compliance agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) voiding the most recent election for President and Vice President and requiring the ATU to hold another election for those offices by April 30.

Additionally, the most recent contract expires on Nov. 30, 2016. State statute prevents TriMet's union employees from striking. TriMet and the ATU are bound by binding interest arbitration if the parties are unable to reach a negotiated agreement. That means an outside arbitrator selects only one proposal and there is no vote to ratify. With the contract end approaching and no ability to strike, ATU leadership instead is focusing on a negative public relations campaign to pressure TriMet to make concessions in the next labor contract.

TriMet remains committed to providing employees and retirees with fair benefits, while being fair to taxpayers and riders.

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