{"id":1054,"date":"2022-12-16T19:39:06","date_gmt":"2022-12-16T19:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2022\/12\/16\/pbot-maintenance-worker-concerns-deepen-as-strike-looms-bikeportland\/"},"modified":"2022-12-16T19:39:06","modified_gmt":"2022-12-16T19:39:06","slug":"pbot-maintenance-worker-concerns-deepen-as-strike-looms-bikeportland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2022\/12\/16\/pbot-maintenance-worker-concerns-deepen-as-strike-looms-bikeportland\/","title":{"rendered":"PBOT maintenance worker concerns deepen as strike looms \u2013 BikePortland"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Sweepers parked in PBOT\u2019s Albina Maintenance Yard. (Photo: Jonathan Maus\/BikePortland)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cUnless there is a really dramatic change\u2026a strike is very likely.\u201d<\/p>\n

-James O\u2019Laughlen, Laborers\u2019 Local 483<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

A few months ago, some Portland Bureau of Transportation maintenance staffers made their grievances with the city public<\/a>, sounding the alarm on a crisis that had been simmering for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of my coworkers and myself work 70 to 80 hours a week during weather emergencies,\u201d PBOT traffic crew leader Andrew Sterling testified at a September Portland City Council meeting. \u201cThen we have to pick up where we left off for maintenance operations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sterling is the Vice President of Laborers Local 483<\/a>, the union that represents PBOT maintenance workers. The union had already been running into trouble negotiating a new Portland City Laborers\u2019 (PCL) contract with the city back in September, and frustrations were brewing. Now, almost three months later, the situation still hasn\u2019t improved \u2014 and may be coming to a breaking point.<\/p>\n

State of the union<\/h2>\n
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Leaves and puddles obstruct bike lanes across the city, including this one on N Rosa Parks. (Photo: Taylor Griggs\/BikePortland)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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(Source: Local 483)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

If city maintenance problems were evident in the early autumn when Sterling gave his testimony, they\u2019re glaringly obvious now that winter has come. From bikeways covered in drain-clogging leaves that create huge lakes of rainwater<\/a> to streets coated in slippery, dangerous ice<\/a> to broken shards of glass filling up the new Division St bike lanes<\/a>, hazards abound.<\/p>\n

Portlanders aren\u2019t staying silent about their frustrations with the status of our streets. It seems like every day that social media is abuzz with people citing their concerns about the state of Portland\u2019s streets \u2014 especially the ones designated for people biking and using active transportation. Earlier this week, bike advocate Cathy Tuttle tweeted a video<\/a> that showcased the dire state of the new protected Broadway bike lanes downtown (the next day, it was cleared<\/a>). In some cases, people are deciding to take matters into their own hands<\/a>, taking to the bikeways with rakes and leaving with bags of debris.<\/p>\n

Advocates don\u2019t mind doing a bit of volunteer grunt work. But it seems as if these maintenance duties have fallen on the shoulders of individuals just trying to use bike lanes as intended. What\u2019s going on here?<\/p>\n

PBOT points to the ever-expanding, $4.4 billion maintenance backlog <\/a>which the transportation bureau simply doesn\u2019t have the budget capacity to handle right now. But Local 483 union representatives say a lot of it has to do with the way maintenance staffers are treated. Department morale is subzero and getting worse.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are overtaxed and burnt out, and it\u2019s been that way for years,\u201d James O\u2019Laughlen, Field Representative & Organizer for Local 483, told me in a phone call earlier this week.<\/p>\n

When I talked to O\u2019Laughlen in September, his message was much the same. Now, he says the fact that tension between the union and the City of Portland has only grown stronger in the last three months is cause for real alarm.<\/p>\n

The PCL bargaining team lists their goals for the new contract as follows:<\/p>\n

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\u25cf Generous across-the-board pay raises that honor our members\u2019 sacrifices and keep up with the rising cost of living<\/p>\n

\u25cf Targeted class wage Increases to retain and recruit in demand workers whose positions are understaffed and underpaid.<\/p>\n

\u25cf Equitable and Enforceable Contract Language that will hold the city to their word and force them to live their stated principles.<\/p>\n

\u25cf Improved Safety with more resources and new policies that keep our members safe while they serve the city through crisis after crisis<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

According to O\u2019Laughlen, the city isn\u2019t being upfront with the financial package they\u2019re willing to offer. The PCL bargaining team is asking for 10% wage increases for all maintenance division staff, which includes cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) appropriate for the dramatic inflation we\u2019ve seen since the last time the union updated their contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve left us in limbo,\u201d O\u2019Laughlen said.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Laughlen said he thinks there could be several reasons why city negotiators haven\u2019t tried harder to meet PCL requests.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re either playing some kind of game and thinking they can benefit from it in negotiations, or they just don\u2019t prioritize this kind of work over other things on their plate,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the same disregard and disrespect for our members and what they\u2019ve been doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of November, there were dozens of staff vacancies within the maintenance division. Most notably, there were 36 vacancies in the Utility Worker II position, which O\u2019Laughlen described as the \u201cbackbone position of PBOT,\u201d who work on everything from the emergency crews to street repair to sewer cleaning.<\/p>\n

As you can imagine, all of these vacancies are spreading workers thin \u2014 and are a major reason why our streets are in the shape they\u2019re in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re stuck in a loop of crisis, which is a bad way to do anything \u2014 but particularly city infrastructure,\u201d O\u2019Laughlen told me. \u201cWe need to have a routinized process that stays ahead of the schedule instead of falling behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

What a strike would look like<\/h2>\n

The next bargaining session the PCL team has scheduled with the City is on December 20th. O\u2019Laughlen said they\u2019re not optimistic.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless there is a really dramatic change in what they\u2019re willing to offer and how they\u2019re willing to engage in the conversation\u2026a strike is very likely,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A maintenance staff strike could occur as soon as February. O\u2019Laughlen said that if you thought things were bad now, just you wait. A strike would mean no employees to clear out sewers, sweep the streets, clear ice and more. People would notice the effect immediately, and it would also hinder the city\u2019s ability to get larger projects done even after things have cooled down.<\/p>\n

As far as the more than $4 billion backlog is concerned, O\u2019Laughlen said it\u2019s no excuse for abandoning the needs of frontline staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe resources for what we\u2019re asking are absolutely there. We\u2019re the fundamental foundation that you have to built upon for those other aspects of the work,\u201d he said. \u201cIf our workers aren\u2019t there with sufficient numbers and sufficient talent, nothing gets accomplished. These are the bills you have to pay in order to get to anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, O\u2019Laughlen is hopeful that change within the city government will help with the crisis in the long-term.<\/p>\n

\u201cIdeally charter reform leads to more ownership of the issues we\u2019re facing so it doesn\u2019t fall just on one commissioner,\u201d O\u2019Laughlen said. (Former PBOT Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty indicated a similar line of thinking during her meeting with the Bicycle Advisory Committee earlier this week.)<\/p>\n

In the meantime, O\u2019Laughlen said employees have to advocate for themselves and the integrity of the city. It hasn\u2019t been easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur folks are civil servants. The pride they take in providing these services to the city is a major part\u00a0 of why they do what they do,\u201d O\u2019Laughlen told me. \u201cWe hoped that bargaining would restore that pride. But it\u2019s been the opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Taylor has been BikePortland\u2019s staff writer since November 2021. She has also written for Street Roots and Eugene Weekly. Contact her at taylorgriggswriter@gmail.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n