by

Randy Dropping The F- Bomb

Contact: Bruce Hansen, ATU President

(971) 300–2780

ATU and TriMet Teams Fail to Agree on Ground Rules

The Union and TriMet management teams met on April 27, 2013 to guide negotiations between the parties. This effort was not successful. In an effort to insure media access, the Union abandoned its position of allowing bloggers to attend. Specifically, the Union made the following proposal: Pending a legal decision regarding the public meeting status of their labor negotiations, the parties agree that the following print media entities proposed by the ATU meet the definition of “representatives of the news media”:

Oregonian Portland

Mercury SE Examiner

Willamette Week

Beaverton Valley Times

Portland Business Journal

NW Labor Press

Gresham Outlook

SW Connection

Portland Afoot

Hillsboro Tribune

Sellwood Bee

Asian Reporter

Hollywood Star Television Stations

Portland Skanner Portland Tribune

Portland Observer

NW Examiner

The Union understands that TriMet’s acceptance of the above list is contingent on the

Union agreeing that certain bloggers will be excluded, specifically . . .[names omitted]

In an attempt to address TriMet’s concerns over bloggers and by way of example, the Union listed the names of three bloggers that were well-known to be of particular concern to TriMet management in the past.

In responding to the proposal, TriMet’s negotiator Randy Stedman, used the F-bomb and, 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.

Bruce Hansen, the Amalgamated Transit Union’s president, stated, “This was disappointing but will not affect the parties’ scheduling of bargaining sessions. Parties in collective bargaining frequently do not agree on ground rules. The failure to have ground rules does not delay the beginning of bargaining.”

by

ATU President Strengthens Bargaining Team

ATU President Strengthens Bargaining Team

Saying that “all resources and experiences are necessary” Bruce Hansen, ATU president has called on former ATU 757 president and former ATU International president, Ron Heintzman, to join the Union’s bargaining team.

“We are a union family and when a family is threatened differences in opinion need to be put aside and we all need to work together to protect the family. In this case, TriMet has already signaled its intent to devastate its employees both financially and in the quality of their working conditions,” says Hansen. He noted that his executive board agrees with his decision. “Ron Heintzman has bargained every TriMet contract since 1988. Management is trying to destroy all those gains.” As an International officer, Heintzman also bargained scores of contracts nationwide.

Heintzman was Hansen’s closest rival for the Local’s presidency in 2012. When asked about involving his rival, Hansen said “My priority is, and has to be, what is in the best interests of our members who work for TriMet. The extraordinary behavior of TriMet’s management team requires an extraordinary response. Bottom line, it only makes sense that we have someone at the table who has Mr. Heintzman’s history and experience. We are grateful that he has agreed to serve.”

by

Detailed Inventory of TriMet Contract Changes

Dear ATU Member and Concerned Citizen:

As you know, the Union has offered to begin negotiations even though it is still awaiting a judicial determination on whether the bargaining sessions should be open to the public. It has informed TriMet that an extensive number of sessions will be required to address the 400+ contract changes TriMet has proposed. TriMet representatives appear to be balking at that request, claiming the agency has proposed fewer than 30 changes. Given this huge discrepancy, we feel it is important for everyone to understand how we arrived at our number of 400+ changes.

As anyone familiar with labor agreements and contracts understands, revisions made by an employer to the sentences in a single paragraph can mean sweeping changes to a number of employee rights and working conditions.

Therefore, in order to identify the full impact of the changes, Union officers spent hours going through the TriMet document line-by-line. The result is the attached 11-page inventory of TriMet’s changes to the parties’ labor agreement. Each change is identified by Article, Section, Paragraph and Topic category. This information allows you to locate the change in the TriMet document.

The accuracy of the Union’s 11-page inventory of changes can be verified by comparing its entries to TriMet’s proposal. The webpage below links directly to TriMet’s proposal. That proposal identifies the changes TriMet wants in the form of cross-outs and underlines of the text. Note that TriMet alone made all marks in this 169-page document. https://www.dropbox.com/home/TriMet’sJanuary2013Proposal

In the meantime, as soon as the two teams have settled on an initial round of bargaining sessions, we will post/email the schedule to everyone.
DetailedInventoryofTriMetContractChanges

by

The Real Reason Behind the TriMet Fare Increases

An internal TriMet document indicates that the elimination of zones pricing and fareless square, as well as last year’s fare increases, were undertaken in order to fund and accommodate a $16 million high-tech fare collection system, says transit workers’ union president, Bruce Hansen. He cites evidence found within the pages of a 64-page document obtained by the Union from an anonymous source.

“TriMet has been telling the media and the public that financial problems and worker health insurance were the reasons riders have seen fares rise and services drop,” Hansen noted. “Now we find that, in 2011, management decided to invest in a new, multi-million dollar electronic fare system. That proposed system required them to raise fares overall, drop reduced fares tied to distance traveled (the “zone” system) and eliminate fareless square. They laid out the plan in 2011 and they followed it . . .in fact, they implemented it early.”

According to the Union, the document and the proposed purchase raise a number of serious public policy issues. These are:

• If the system is in such financial straits, why does management continue to invest in “bells and whistles” electronic gadgetry that it admits will cost them more to run? Is $16 million a sound public investment during a time when the agency is claiming financial crisis? Especially when history has shown that electronic ticket machines have high failure rates–even when they are brand new?

• TriMet has been experiencing a flat ridership rate for years. Should the cost of a ride keep going up just so TriMet can buy more things and build more rail? Research has shown that, as the fares go up, ridership rates typically drop–particularly during times of economic distress.

• During the interest arbitration hearing with the Union, TriMet’s general manager testified under oath that, among other things, the cost of operator health care and pensions had required a fare increase and service reductions. Now it turns out that these changes were planned in 2011 and were all about acquiring enough money to purchase and accommodate new electronic gadgets. Is it acceptable for a public agency to mislead the public, the workers and the courts in this way?

“TriMet’s recent fare changes, coupled with reduction of service, have created a crisis situation for many of our passengers–especially the low income, disabled and elderly,” says Hansen. “Operators are reporting that the two-hour window for transfers no longer works. More and more of our riders are missing their connections. A three-hour window needs to be instituted immediately. People need to understand that, when our riders are stressed, it creates equal stress on the workers who interact with them. That’s because the operators want to help people solve these serious problems but their hands are tied. And, as is human nature, rider frustration targets the operators for decisions over which the operators have no control.”

Hansen made the following observation. “It seems that the primary goal of a transit agency has been lost amid all this capital expansion and technology purchases. We are supposed to be providing good, dependable and affordable service to the community–so good, that they want to use the system. Instead, the cost of having to pay for all these expenditures is making our riders’ lives harder and driving them away. Who decided that our transit system had to be the most new-fangled one in the country? Shouldn’t our primary focus be the passengers and the good of the community?”

Attached: Excerpt of Fare System Migration report; Excerpt of testimony under oath
Full report available from the link below.
Press Release031813
PRAttach031813

by

Oregon Employment Relations Board Denies TriMet’s Motion to Stay the Board Order

The transit workers’ union president, Bruce Hansen announced that the Oregon Employment Relations Board today denied TriMet’s Motion to Stay the Board’s order in UP 39-10. This case addressed health insurance charges to employees in 2011. The decision means that TriMet must post notices of its illegal actions and reimburse members for health insurance premium contributions and medical expenses while TriMet’s appeal is pending. “It is important to remember that the overwhelming evidence in this case proved that TriMet decided to charge employees more for health insurance for the wrong reason. It was not to save money. Instead, the evidence showed it was to punish the workers because their union filed a complaint charging TriMet with negotiating in bad faith.” Hansen said. “The problem is that our justice system suffers when one party to a dispute has the power to punish the people who are objecting to law violations and mistreatment. That is the issue the Board addressed, and correctly, I might add.”

Attached is the Board’s order.PR031513UP03910Ruling