FILE - Supporters for city workers in Portland hold a rally at the Bureau of Transportation’s Stanton Yard in North Portland, Jan. 18, 2022. District Council of Trade Unions’ negotiations with the city have reached an impasse and DCTU is considering striking next month.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Portland’s new city council entered office amid tense, drawn-out labor negotiations between several different public labor unions and the city. Now, after a week on the job, some elected officials are trying to turn down the heat as 1,200 city employees consider striking next month.
“It’s time we signal that this new city council is a labor council,” said Councilor Mitch Green, who represents Portland’s west side and some southeast neighborhoods in District 4.
Two unions could walk off the job as soon as February: American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 189, which represents more than 1,000 workers across nearly every city department, and the District Council of Trade Unions (DCTU), which represents around 200 engineers, painters, plumbers, electricians, and other trade workers across city bureaus.
Both unions have been negotiating with the city since April, and bargaining sessions have been deadlocked over wage increases and overtime pay.
“The biggest thing is dollars and cents,” said DCTU Council President Mark Hinkle. “That’s where we’re stuck.”
Both unions’ two-year contracts expired at the end of December. They are now at an impasse with the city, after submitting their final contract offers. If neither party can reach a solution by the end of January, the two unions are prepared to call for a strike.
“While we have reached tentative agreements on many issues with both unions, we remain far apart on monetary terms,” wrote city spokesperson Carrie Belding in a Thursday email.
City’s budget woes
The city is facing its own financial woes, as it anticipates needing to patch a $27 million budget gap in the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.
Despite the looming budget crunch, some councils are already jockeying for cash in the current fiscal year. Next week, Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney will introduce an ordinance — informed by the views of several other councilors — to spend $4.6 million to allow councilors and the mayor to hire more staff and cover other office costs in the months leading up to the next budget year. While councilors largely agree that expanding the current one-staffer-per-councilor model would improve their work, some are weighing the need against the labor requests.
“Next week the council will be discussing a proposal to add millions to our budgets for increased staffing — millions that could be used to instead settle a fair contract with our city’s unions,” wrote Councilor Candace Avalos in an Instagram post Thursday night. Avalos represents District 1, which includes almost all Portland neighborhoods east of Interstate 205.
Avalos is floating a trimmed-down proposal, spending just $1.5 million to cover five months’ salary for one additional staffer per each councilor. She said this could help free up city dollars to cover unions’ financial needs.
“While it is incredibly true that city councilors are not properly staffed to meet the many demands of our new legislative roles and constituent services,” Avalos continued, “I will always prioritize our city’s frontline staff over my own office’s budget needs.”
On Thursday evening, members of AFSCME Local 189 held a “practice picket” for off-the-clock employees outside a city building downtown to rally members. Avalos and other city councilors, including Green, stopped by to show their support.
Green is part of a council duo taking another tack to alleviate labor tensions.
Previous council stoked city-union tensions
In December, Portland City Council voted to give the city attorney’s office the authority to file an unfair labor practice complaint against AFSCME for allegedly violating its contract with the city by holding another practice picket earlier last year. AFSCME leaders contend that picket was allowed, since it took place during non-working hours.
The 3 -1 vote by the former city council only stoked tensions between AFSCME and the city at the bargaining table. (The only vote in opposition to this complaint was cast by Councilor Dan Ryan, the only member of the previous city council to remain in office.)
Green, in partnership with fellow District 4 Councilor Eric Zimmerman, wants to signal a new chapter of city leadership to union members. On Wednesday, councilors will consider a resolution co-led by Zimmerman and Green to reverse the previous council’s vote to authorize a labor complaint. The proposal was first reported by Willamette Week. Green says it’s a way to “hit the reset button” on the relationship.
“The decision by the previous council turned the heat up unnecessarily during a pretty contentious bargaining period,” Green told OPB. “We want to turn down temperature and show unions that the incoming city council actually has their back.”
AFSCME Local 189 President Rob Martineau said this is a welcome move.
“This would send a strong, positive message to our membership, who have felt disconnected from, and unseen by our elected leaders, that our new Council expects a different approach to their workers moving forward,” Martineau told OPB.
City employee strikes have become a recurring theme in Portland, as the city grapples with financial troubles. In February 2023, more than 600 city workers with Laborers’ Local 483 walked off the job for three days after contract negotiations broke down over wages. In 2022, the city reached a last-minute contract agreement with DCTU just days before its members planned to strike.
Hinkle with DCTU said he’s hopeful that new city leadership could set a new tone for labor relations in City Hall. He pointed to a recent hour-long meeting with Mayor Keith Wilson, where Wilson just listened and took notes while DCTU members spoke about their top priorities.
“It was the first time in my 25 years in this union that a mayor has done that,” said Hinkle. " It tells me we have a good opportunity to change course.”