These are Deeply Strange Days for Labor, and no more so than right here in River City. TriMet workers represented by the amalgamated Transit Union Local 757 have been working without a contract from TriMet for many months now. And Management just keeps clearing the table. ( TriMet’s general counsel's name is - Wit for it - Brian Playfair). While Union leadership was attending a national meet-up, one day into the convention TriMet management directly contacts every bargaining unit member to inform them that TriMet will be freezing wages (in December, over 60 days from today) and charging for health insurance (in January, over 90 days from today). Legal? No. Deceitful and underhanded? Yes. TriMet managemen pullled it off in the absence of the Union officerss. Still, as a courtesy to TriMet, the Union agreed to mediate with management over the unfair labor practice complaint. The mediation date is October 22, 2010. and that rumbling noise you hear in the background? No. Nope. That's not the bus. That's the sound of TriMet making mistakes with public money and crying poor at the same time. In response, the Union is setting up a website within the next two weeks. This website will be for the purpose of gathering and publishing information about TriMet management’s wasteful practices. The website will provide you with the opportunity to provide information in confidence, without being identified. Follow this one closely: the feces are about to engage the air circulation devise.
- KBOO