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2013 NW RegioNal aTU CoNfeReNCe
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The Time is NoW foR gUaRaNTeed ResT aNd meal PeRiods
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BeTTeR CoNTRaCT UNiTed WiTh The PUBliC
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leTTeRs To The ediToR
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BylaWs ChaNge PRoPosals
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2013 CoPe CaNdidaTe ReCommeNdaTioNs
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meRaa & aTU loCal 587 2013 CookoUT
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The VieW fRom The BUses
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Visit online: www.atu587.com VOL. XXXVI, NO. 8
The President’s Report
by President, Paul J. Bachtel
Seeking Stable Funding for
TransitOur legislat ure’s recent
failure to provide local options for transit is truly
disappointing. Senate Majority Leader Rodney Tom, D-Medina, and the Republican-controlled Senate openly admit they’re holding King County hostage to insure they get the support needed to pass a road package. Governor Jay Inslee is considering another special session (possibly in December) to get the job done. Meanwhile Metro is making plans to cut 17% of service.
Will 17% of service actually be cut? I highly doubt it. The service reductions being discussed are a worst case scenario and General Manager Kevin Desmond is doing what all general managers do, he’s painting as bleak a picture as pos-sible in hopes of raising as much revenue as possible.
I also wouldn’t worry too much about layoffs. We can probably make it through 2014 and well into 2015
before layoffs become a reality. We have a lot of people coming up for retirement so attrition should be higher the next few years. Sales tax revenue is increasing and we still have the possibility of a spe-cial session in December, the 2014 legislative session, and maybe even the 2015 legislative session to obtain new funding options. King County and Sound Transit both have unused taxing authority. I know it’s difficult to work in such a politically charged environment, but please know much of what you’re hearing is just politi-cal rhetoric, not substantive.
The forces of change are build-ing. Two years ago Local 587 was fairly disorganized in our efforts to pass the Congestion Reduction Charge. We won that battle and in the process learned a great deal about coalition building. This year, the leadership of Local 587 was in-strumental in joining the forces of the ATU Washington State Legisla-
tive Caucus, Washington State Labor Council, Transportation Choices Coalition, Future Wise, and other smaller transit advocacy groups. Together, we made transportation a primary topic of conversation in the legislature. We walked a new governor down a path from not knowing transportation was even an issue, to making transportation his number one issue. All this will inevitably lead to stable funding for transit. But, not if the membership doesn’t get involved by writing to their state legislators. If you are like the majority and have never writ-ten to those who represent you in Olympia, go to http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/. Now is the time to renew our commitment to obtain our goal. We’ll get there if we don’t give up.
In solidarity,Paul J. Bachtel
President/Business Representative
August 2013
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SUNday MEETING Sunday, august 4, 201311:00 a.m.The Labor Temple, Hall #82800 1st Ave., Seattle, WA
Business of the Membership
At the July 2013 cycle of member-ship meetings the following business was addressed:
The membership voted to pursue the grievance of Lise McShane to arbitration.
The membership voted to pursue the grievance of Symantha Cola to arbitration.
The membership voted to pursue the grievance of Rosemary Hernan-dez to arbitration.
By a two-thirds vote the member-ship voted to accept the consideration of the proposed bylaw change of Article XVI, Section 2.
Motion: By Paul Bachtel to add a Sunday 11 am union meeting to the monthly cycle of union meetings beginning in August of 2013 for a three month trial period.
Motion passed.
Motion: By Linda Averill to ex-clude Dow Constantine, Mayor’s race
and Richard Colin from the COPE Endorsements and hold a public forum of Transit issues & invite all of the candidates in these races to present their positions and answer questions.
Motion failed.
Motion: By Esther Hankerson to pay up to $6000.00 towards sending the CISM (Critical Incident Stress Management) team to the September 19–22 CISM Training in Tukwila, WA paying for registration and Hotel.
Motion failed.
The following members were May pot draw winners: Linda Averill, Charter meeting, Randy Sanders Morning meeting, Lloyd Eisenman, JTA meeting, Robert E. Lee, Clallam County meeting and Geanna Du-monceaux, at the afternoon meeting. The Clallam County Rolling Pot of $650 was lost by Robert Eash. Next month it will be $675.
The Month at a Glance
Tentative AgendaCHaRTER MEETING Thursday, august 1, 20138:00 p.m.The Labor Temple, Hall #12800 1st Ave., Seattle, WA
MORNING MEETING Friday, august 2, 201310:30 a.m.The Labor Temple, Hall #82800 1st Ave., Seattle, WA
JEFFERSON TRaNSITSunday, august 4, 20136:00 p.m. Seaport Landing Retirement1201 Hancock StreetPort Townsend, WA
CLaLLaM TRaNSITTuesday, august 6, 20137:00 p.m.Vern Burton Memorial BuildingPort Angeles, WA
Membership Meetings:
Executive Board ReportJuly 23, 2013
Published monthly in Seattle.
Official publication of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587, AFL-CIO, representing employees of Metro/King County, Clallam Transit, Jefferson Transit, Seattle Personal Transit, and First Transit.
2815 Second Avenue, Suite 230Seattle, Washington 98121Telephone: 206-448-8588.
Affiliations: Washington State Labor Council, King County Labor Council, Northwest Joint Con-ference Board, ATU Legislative Council, Olympic
Labor Council.
Letters to the editorLetters/contributions must include printed names, signatures, work ID numbers, addresses and phone numbers that can be verified during working hours. Letters that cannot be validated will not be published. All articles/letters are subject to editing and should be limited to 1000 words or less. Not all letters can be published due to space limitations. Cut off is the 15th of each month. Any submission from a member of Local 587 to the News Review deemed unprintable by the Recording Secretary shall be forwarded to the Executive Board for final decision to publish.
Send letters to:
Judy Youngc/o ATU Local 587 News Review 2815 Second Avenue, Suite 230Seattle, WA 98121
WeiNgaRTeN RighTs sTaTemeNTI request to have a union representative present on my behalf dur-
ing this meeting because I believe it may lead to disciplinary action taken against me. If I am denied my right to have a union representative present, I will refuse to answer accusational questions and any I believe
may lead to discipline.
PAUL J. BAchTeL Pres/Business Agent email – [email protected]
NeAL SAfriN 1st Vice President/Assistant Business Agent / email – [email protected]
cLiNT DeVoSS 2nd Vice President/ Assistant Business Agent, Maintenance
email – [email protected] B. NeiL Financial Secretary email – [email protected] YoUNg Recording Secretary Editor 587 News Review email – [email protected] Affairs Officer MICHAEL MOORE
officerS of The AMALgAMATeD TrANSiT UNioN, LocAL 587:
Web site: http://www.atu587.com
Vehicle Maintenance Position #1 CORy RIGTRUP Vehicle Maintenance Position #2 DAN KENNy Vehicle Maintenance Position #3 RANDy STEINMANFacilities Maintenance ALFONSO ISLASupervisors KEVIN HENDRICKSSpecial Classifications ERIC BUTLERKing County Units Outside KCM NINUS HOPKINSTransit Operator Position #1 ANDREW JEROMSKy Transit Operator Position #2 VERITA ALEXANDERTransit Operator Position #3 TAMIEKO COOKTransit Operator Position #4 LISA NAULTTransit Operator Position #5 CHERISE MILLHOUSETransit Operator Position #6 NATHANAEL CHAPPELLE Transit Operator Position #7 LINDA ANDERSONTransit Operator Position #8 RAy MASONClallam / Jefferson County ROBERT EASHRail Representative CHUCK MILLER
WEdNESday MEETING Wednesday, august 7, 20133:30 p.m.The Labor Temple, Hall #12800 1st Ave., Seattle, WA
among Topics to be discussed: Grievance and Arbitration Update
Unfinished Business: None
“When my heart is overwhelmed lead me to the Rock that is higher than I”
~ Psalms 61:2
Please notify the union office of any member’s passing so that this information may be shared with the rest of our union family.
In Loving Memory…
dan Maher, retired as KCM 1st Line Supervisor and part time operator, passed away on July 11, 2013. Brother Maher joined the Local in 1973. He was 66 years old.
All Officers were present.
Motion: By Cory Rigtrup to recommend that the membership pursues the grievance of Jerrod McKenna to arbitration.
Motion: By Linda Anderson that the Local contribute $300 to the Seattle Labor Chorus.
Motion: By Paul Neil to increase the amount available for the regis-tration cost for the September 19 –22 CISM Training Conference in Tukwila, WA by $400 for a total of $2800.00.
Motion: By Paul Neil to recom-mend that the membership approve the bylaw proposal as submitted by
Andrew Price to change Article X, section 1 of Local Bylaws.
Note: The Executive Board voted unanimously against the amended bylaw proposal.
Motion: By Tamieko Cook to recommend that the membership approve the bylaw proposal as submitted by Jose Rosado to change Article XII, section 16.
Note: The Executive Board voted unanimously against the amended bylaw proposal.
Motion: By Nate Chappelle that Local 587 support and participate with the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists on August 17, 2013 ac-knowledging the march on Wash-ington by contributing $250.00.
TRANSIT WORKERS ENDORSE
LEGISLATORS WHO VOTE PRO TRANSIT
August 2013
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A r b i t r a t i o n U p d a t e1. Patricia Taimi: Grieved a five
day suspension for allegedly cutting off a bicyclist; settle-ment reached prior to arbi-tration removing the serious infraction with full back pay for the suspension served.
2. Karen Rispoli: Grieved dis-cipline issued and a forced transfer as a result of an ongo-ing equipment failure causing a door to remain open while a train was in motion; decision pending.
3. Vern Cavin: Grieved a five day suspension for a PED violation while dealing with a volatile situation on his coach; decision pending.
4. John Bouie: Grieved prefer-ential treatment given another member that prevented other members from receiving train-ing and promotional oppor-tunities; scheduled August 14-15, 2013.
5. Montee Gillespie: Grieved not being provided a career
service position when Metro employed him beyond the Project Temporary Employee time limit; scheduled Septem-ber 26, 2013.
6. Anthony Byers: Grieved sus-pension for alleged insubordi-nation; scheduled November 15, 2013.
7. donavan Rivers: Grieved Metro’s failure to properly assign overtime; scheduled November 13, 2013.
8. Anthony Byers: Grieved sus-pension for alleged gross mis-conduct; schedule pending.
9. Symantha Cola: Grieved improper pick procedures; schedule pending.
10. Rosemary Hernandez: Grieved improper pick pro-cedures; schedule pending.
11. Lise McShane: Grieved seri-ous infraction and suspen-sion for alleged improper e-mail; schedule pending.
Our Atlanta brothers and sisters, who haven’t had a raise in seven
years, faced a major effort to privatize one of the largest
transit unions.
The NW Regional ATU confer-ence is over & I’m sitting in my hotel room with a free concert
in the park across from my hotel. Since there is no hope of going to bed early, I’ve decided to write my News Review article for the August issue.
This was my first NW ATU con-ference and there was a lot to take in. I was honored to represent our Local 587 members. The first day of the conference was spent being trained on how to activate local union memberships and how to form coalitions with community partners to combat the nationwide practice of marginalizing and busting up unions, reducing or cutting services, and privatize transit services.
On the second day we heard from International ATU officers, including President Larry Hanley and several Vice Presidents. Their messages varied somewhat but the
one thing they all hammered home was the critical need to be united within our locals and the need to support other ATU locals & other unions in our efforts to protect work-ers’ rights, including fair wages and a safe work place.
2013 NW Regional ATU Conference
Submitted by Executive Board Officer Cherise Millhouse
President Hanley said that at last year’s conference locals challenged the International leadership to take a long hard look at themselves and determine if the International is based on the needs of workers 50 plus years ago or was it tooled for today’s issues. The president told us that the International leader-ship found they needed to retool the International Union so it could be effective in helping local ATUs with today’s problems by using to-day’s solutions. One example of that would be the Thank you handouts. The International printed 20,000 brochures for Local 587 alone along with t-shirts for our volunteers. The purpose of the handout is to thank people for using public transporta-tion and to educate what’s at stake if public transportation loses the support of the people, in terms of congestion and pollution, etc. Local 587 volunteers, (including some officers and executive board members, distributed the handouts at a Seahawk’s game this year, and they reported getting a lot of posi-tive feedback.
On the third day each local pre-sented a report to the group at large, recapping the issues that faced their local in the last year and how they were dealt with.
Each local also reported on the outcomes of their contract negotia-tions. What I heard from the other locals made one thing abundantly clear, Local 587 members are in a much better position than the ma-jority of other locals. For one thing, other than Canada, 587 has one of the largest memberships. 587 has a separate health benefit contract and we are able to negotiate for benefits. Some locals have no control over what benefits management offers them.
In California, our brothers and sisters pension plans are under at-tack. Their democratic Governor, Jerry Brown, not only wants to
limit pensions but wants to force employees to pay back employer-contributions they received from 2010 to the present.
Our Atlanta brothers and sisters, who haven’t had a raise in seven years, faced a major effort to priva-tize one of the largest transit unions. The ATU International joined forces with that local and community partners to squash that bill, which past in the state house but failed in the Senate.
Some locals have so few members they are unable to have any full time union officers. Some locals can’t even afford to pay part time union officers, like our brothers & sisters in Kitsap County. Their three union officers work their full time jobs and then work hard, at the cost of their health and/or spending time with their families, to do their best to represent their members. An Idaho local has only one volunteer officer.
All of these unions are at a major disadvantage. Their management has full-time employees who have all the time in the world to overload their local union(s) with grievances and arbitrations to overwhelm the union officers, and drain or exhaust what, if any money there unions have.
On the final day of the conference we elected NW Region conference officers. Each local is allowed x number of delegates based on the size of their membership. Regret-tably, in all organizations, politics always play a role in what gets done & how it gets done.
Our incumbent President was up for reelection, but because he was retired he was not eligible to run again because of the current bylaw language. Another Washington local was attempting to block any attempts to change the bylaws to al-low our incumbent president to seek re-election so they could bring their candidate through the back door & install him as president, without having a fair & open election. This local was taking this action because of a personal dislike that one of their members had for the incumbent president, not because the President wasn’t doing a good job. I was proud that our Union spearheaded an ef-fort to conduct a fair & open election. Unfortunately, our efforts failed. One local that recently joined the NW Region ATU’s, Denver was so upset by the back room dealing that they were considering withdrawing from the NW Regional ATU.
It’s just another example of how important open elections are and how we treat each other does matter!
August 2013
4
In less than three months our current Collective Bargaining Agreement expires, asking
Metro to restore a few minutes here and a few minutes there to the layover/recovery time is not going to happen. I would propose that we make the contract demand for guaranteed rest and meal periods at least as good as the Washington State guidelines. That would be the starting point, 10 minutes minimum paid in each four hour block of work, preferably between the first and
third hour of each four hour block of work. That would also mean that we demand a third rest period if we work 10 hours or more at the overtime rate. Rest periods would need to be guaranteed for ALL Transit Operators. For the Full Time Transit Operators and the Part Time Transit Operators who are working a straight through piece of work of five hours or more, they would be entitled to a meal period of at least 30 minutes, to commence after the end of the second hour and to be
completed before having to do any work in the sixth hour. Of course we would all like to see this meal period paid, but more importantly, even if it is unpaid, we need this time to recoup and recover so we can finish the rest of our shift without feeling so fatigued and stressed out. Our health and safety should be our number one concern.
The current layover/recovery times in our schedules only work when the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the traffic lights are all
green, everybody uses the Orca card and the Transit Operator never has to get out of the seat. We need to fix the schedules by demanding strong language which clearly defines and guarantees that we get at least the Washington State minimum stan-dards for rest periods and meal periods. Let’s be honest here, we did not have to have this defined language in the past because Metro used to have enough layover/recov-ery time built in to the majority of the scheduled work that it wasn’t an issue for the majority of the Transit Operators. That is not the case anymore.
We currently have approximately 1,700 Full Time Transit Operators. Let’s say for the sake of argument that 10% have Combos and another 10% are lucky enough to have the seniority to find and pick a piece of work that has at least a scheduled 30 minute paid layover/recovery time in their piece of work that starts af-ter the end of the second hour and ends before having to work in the sixth hour. That would mean that approximately 80% or about 1,340 Full Time Transit Operators are be-ing deprived of all or part of a paid 30 minute meal period each day. There are also some Full Timers and Part Timers who have some pieces of work that are over five hours at a stretch, they too would get a guaranteed meal period.
Our health is our most impor-tant asset; we need to be able to eat and drink before we report to work and we need to be able to eat and drink and use the restroom during our shift at Metro without fear of discipline. We have Operators who don’t eat or drink properly before reporting to work so they don’t have to use the restroom during their shift. We have Operators who are peeing in bottles, cups or bags in an effort to try and stay on a schedule that is unrealistic. When you don’t drink enough fluids you can get dehydrated or get a urinary tract infection. If you don’t eat enough you can get diabetes type 2 when your blood sugar gets out of whack. If you hold your urge to pee you can impair your decision making abilities. If Metro had its way, we would all be wearing Depends adult diapers.
Enough is enough, what good is a $30.00 an hour job if we are kill-ing ourselves? Remember when we had the “Work-to-Rule” campaign, with the buttons that we all wore that said, “We put your safety first?” Well we need to have a new slogan, “We put OUR safety first.”
In solidarity, Doug Frechin #13467,
North Base Shop Steward
The Time is Now for Guaranteed Rest and Meal Periods
Doug Frechin, Full Timer choosing to work Part Time
August 2013
5
Over the years, I’ve heard much lamenting over the lack of attendance at month-
ly union meetings. Periodic efforts are made to increase attendance, but I find these efforts don’t address the core reasons members stay away from meetings. After discussing why I think regular member at-tendance is important, I will cover some issues I feel inhibit meeting attendance.
Why to attend?It is not possible to make in-
formed decisions or have informed conversations without information. Much of the information Local 587 members need cannot be printed in The News Review or on websites. Strategies on contract negotiations, details on grievances, and union findings on management practices cannot be made completely public. Our full-time officers do what they can to make worksite visits to get this information to members. Oth-erwise, attending union meetings or relying on another member’s recollections, interpretations, and ability to be unbiased are the only other sources to get information.
At meetings we also vote on items that directly and indirectly affect members. Grievances are presented to the membership for consideration for arbitration. Motions are present-ed by members affecting areas such as how our union pursues aspects of contract negotiations, part-time driver pick option restrictions, and financial allocations for training and conferences. The decisions cost us money. They have an impact on our work schedules and our relationship with management.
Why not to attend?It is easy to depart a union meet-
ing and feel like one does after a full shift of interacting with the public. There is a great deal of disrespect, self-importance, and stifling of the democratic process that occurs at these meetings. When members regularly don’t feel heard, it is no wonder members don’t attend.
Not enough talkAbout a year ago, a grievance was
presented by the officers during a meeting. One or two people had the opportunity to comment, and then someone called for the ques-tion despite multiple people (myself included) having hands raised to comment on the issue. I voiced to the member who closed discussion my disagreement with that member’s choice to call for the question early in the process. The member responded it was that member’s right to do so. I responded I didn’t disagree with that sentiment, but I disagreed with the choice to enact that right at that time. Although I supported the grievance, I didn’t support steam-rolling it through the membership. A similar occurrence happened at a meeting a few months ago. I again privately voiced my disagreement to the member who closed discus-sion. This member claimed not to see anyone still having hands raised waiting to speak, and that the mem-ber generally tried to be conscious of whether that is the case. However, the member did the same thing the next vote that meeting. A similar occurrence happened again at the most recent meeting I attended. This time, I interrupted with a Point of Personal Privilege to raise the very points I bring forth in this article.
Members that take the time to attend meetings expect, and should have the opportunity, to participate in a democratic process. That means being allowed a fair opportunity to speak and have questions answered.
Even worse, in my opinion, is that in all three instances it was a part-time executive board officer whose behavior I called out. E-board offi-cers are charged with ensuring fair representation of all members in our union. Many members already don’t trust our full-time officers or don’t feel like they are part of our union. For our e-board officers to behave in this way only serves to increase the schism of “us versus them” mental-ity among our members.
Too much talkAnother (uninvolved) e-board
officer suggested to me one of the motivations for quick calling of the question may be due to complaints about some members talking repeat-edly and excessively at meetings. It’s hard to disagree with this point. I can think of several members I’ve witnessed over the years that seem to repeatedly attend meetings with an antagonistic agenda. I support the right of any member to voice questions, concerns, and sugges-tions as to the choices and direc-tion of our local. But I think any member that, month after month, takes as much as 15 minutes or more of personal talking time over the course of a meeting should reflect on whether they are truly further-ing the democratic process. I don’t claim in all cases such members are performing a disservice. Sometimes questionable choices are made by our officers, and being able to rely on certain people to keep our focus
honest is comforting. But I do ask those members to consider the big-ger picture. Many members choose not to attend meetings because they have the perception a few members use the meetings to further their own agenda, and that isn’t some-thing those members want to be a part of.
Lack of RespectInterrupting speakers. Couched
allegations. Presumed bias. Name-calling. Heckling. Personal attacks. Mocking. All the behaviors we’d never tolerate from the public, co-workers, or management, are now regularly present at our meetings. As a sister at the last meeting stated, we are supposed to be brothers and sisters. Why are we treating each other this way? If members pre-ferred to spend their time around that kind of disrespect, they’d be picking up overtime shifts on the 358.
Changing BehaviorsIf we really want to increase at-
tendance at our meetings, I believe we need to be more conscious of how and when we speak. Democracy is about including voices, not silenc-ing them. Disrespectful discourse, monopolizing speaking time, and use of technicalities prematurely to end discussion are all forms of bullying and intimidation that are typically used by management. To engage in these practices is to rel-egate attendees to being witnesses to our meetings, not participants. It is to embrace the very actions we perpetually fight to eliminate in our work environment. They have no place in a union hall.
Union Meeting ParticipationBy Joshua Laff, Shop Steward South Base
The current ATU 587 Metro Bus contract negotiations have the opportunity to provide the
greatest gains in ATU 587 history. This is the contract that once every twelve years is negotiated when at the same time, our “boss,” the King County Executive’s position is up for a vote. At the same time action from the shop floor has increased; community solidarity has grown, e.g. “I ♥ My Driver” buttons ap-pearing; Metro received a financial boost from members contributing over $30M in forgoing a pay increase and the taking from recovery time; and members have become active in demanding a fair customer complaint system. All of these actions place the contract negotiating committee in an unusually strong position.
Strong contract expectations come from ATU 587 officers’ support for the KC Executive’s request to keep his $200,000 job and preserving his nearly million dollar campaign chest
to protect his political career. That won’t neces-sarily make negotiations a slam dunk but if the negotiating commit-tee comes up short, the membership will likely consider the ball to have been dropped.
Shop Floor actions have raised the understanding that negotiations are about ball control. “Playing ball” with the public, build-ing those public relationships helps to maintain ball control. The number of members joining the Transit Riders Union demonstrates to our customers our willingness to make their fight our fight—that’s team work.
This team work keeps us in the driver’s seat to drive home to the public the plight of our working con-ditions and reveal the true costs to the taxpayer/voter. The Shop Floor’s work on building public relations is one of the strongest assets provided to
the contract negotiating committee.
Our contract ne-gotiations are further strengthened by our being recognized as the source of inside knowledge on how the public can obtain greater access to transit. From
the inside we determined over $20M can be gained from scrutinizing the bloated salaries of hundreds of King County salaries well into the six fig-ures; we’ve identified tens of millions of dollars that can be gained through more cost effective maintenance and design of transit.
We are able to further transit trans-parency by identifying the funds gained from correcting the unfair customer complaint system used in lieu of people management skills. All this and more available funding translated into tens of thousands of hours of transit service will resonate
with the public’s demand for more transit.
Establishing ourselves as the public’s “go-to-source” and pro-vider of transparency within Metro tremendously increases our public value. This public value empow-ers the negotiating committee to end the wrong-headed practice of concessionary bargaining and the worn out mantra of “what are you willing to give up?” too often heard by members asking that a contract element be added.
Making history, ATU 587’s King County Metro Bus 2013 contract could be the “big-one” to be proud of as the power of our position is used. Members will look forward to the long awaited fixing-of-the-work; a fair customer complaint system; significant differential pay for split work; adequate rest periods; restor-ing our previous COLA; and assuring our compensation out paces the real inflation.
Better Contract United with the PublicBy Atlantic Base Shop Steward Chuck Lare
August 2013
6
Letters/contributions must include printed names, signatures, work ID numbers, ad-dresses and phone numbers that can be verified during working hours. Letters that cannot be validated will not be published. All articles/letters are subject to editing and should be limited to 1000 words or less. Not all letters can be published due to space limitations. Cut off is the 15th of each month. Any submission from a member of Local 587 to the News Review deemed unprintable by the Recording Secretary shall be forwarded to the Executive Board for final decision to publish. Send letters to:
Judy youngNews Review Editor
c/o ATU Local 587 2815 Second Avenue, Suite 230
Seattle, WA 98121
seNd iN yoUR oPiNioNs NoTiCe To all ReadeRs
Views and opinions
expressed in News review articles are those of the
authors and not necessarily the official position
of Local 587
North Base Workout Room
UpdateHeartfelt thanks to Lindsey from
Healthy Incentives for a very fast re-sponse after the sudden elimination of our NB exercise room precluding an upcoming HVAC project. The Healthy Incentives people, show-ing common sense is not entirely dead at Metro, have designated an exercise area under a covered
Letters to the Editor…awning outside the VM lunchroom where we can once again work out. Unfortunately, at least for now, our old free-weights and some mats are the only equipment provided.
Time will tell if this is enough to get even a small portion of those of us who exercised regularly back. Our treadmills, the elliptical, and our scales surely could be set up somewhere in the area as well. But what we have is a good start. It was uplifting to have someone take the initiative to make this
managerial misstep right. Lindsey accomplished it confidently with compassion, common sense, and a contagious smile. Also accolades to her boss Karleen for her support!
In closing it should be noted that on May 5th the exercise room was shut down with just three days no-tice and cleared out. I just happened to leave the door open last week so everyone walking by could see that nothing has been done in that room since. Nearly three months later and our beloved workout room sits dormant, gathering dust, with the start of the HVAC project still off in the distance. And management expects us to work smart…
Dave DrewMechanic #46023
Spanish Language Update
While on vacation in sunny (horridly humid and hot) Mexico, I chanced to see Operations Bulletin #3673. Ah, the wonders of modern technology, that even while on va-cation I have the opportunity to be amused by the wonders of Metro wisdom!
The amusing item in question, specifically, was the notice regard-ing errors in the Spanish language content in the June time schedules. It wasn’t the fact that there were errors, nor that the errors even oc-curred in the FIRST such bilingual offerings. (Honestly, who proofs your stuff, Mr. Desmond? you know you can detail me for such things, right? I did, after all, do a relatively passable job on the 587 newsletter for eight years. But maybe that’s why you don’t.)
The amusing part was that King County, long fashioning themselves the leaders in so many things re-garding the diverse community they serve, did not include Spanish language content in their schedules UNTIL AFTER a federal audit. Wow.
From this I surmised that a high percentage of the Spanish speaking people that lived in Clallam County TEN yEARS AGO when Clallam Transit System issued their Span-ish language schedules must have moved to King County recently.
Man, I love working here!
Jennie GilHumble North Base
Operator Extraordinaire
KEEP YOUR ADDRESS
CURRENT!!(A request from our Local 8 Union office staff)
Throughout the year Local 587 mails letters to our membership. With each mailing sent, the union receives a small percentage of letters re-turned due to improper address.
Local 587 maintains a database that in part in-cludes the names and addresses of our King County Metro members. The King Coun-ty Metro section of the database is updated monthly from data provided by King County Metro.
If you are a King County Metro employee and your name and address is not current with King County Metro, you may not receive Union mailings. Please keep your name and address current with King County Metro.
Enjoy the Summer!
August 2013
7
June 17, 2013
To: All Members of Local 587From: Recording Secretary Judy Young
Proposal To Change BylawsArticle X, Section 11
Submitted by Andrew Price
In accordance with article XV, pertaining to bylaw proposals, the following bylaw proposal will be published in the News Review, and will be voted upon through the august cycle of Union meetings.
CURRENT LANgUAgE: ARTICLE X - MEETINgS
Section 11. Secret Ballots, Voice Vote And Show Of Hands
Voting on bylaw proposals and arbitration requests shall be by secret ballot. All other questions will be decided by voice or show of hands unless otherwise directed by a majority of those present.
PROPOSED NEW LANgUAgE: ARTICLE X - MEETINgS
Section11. Non-Secret Ballots, Secret Ballots, Voice Vote and Show of Hands
Voting on bylaw proposals shall be done by non-secret ballot. All vot-ers will be provided with a printed ballot containing a space for the voter’s signature, to ensure against votes being cast by persons not en-titled to vote. In addition members
will have the option to submit their ballot by proxy in sealed security envelopes provided by the Union. Voters wishing to vote by proxy will be provided with a ballot, a security envelope and a special recognizable outer envelope. Full instructions will be posted on the Union Bulletin Boards at all bases and on the Union website for marking and returning the ballots by the required date to proxies who have been chosen by the Union. Proxies may include union officers, and shop stewards or any member in good standing designated by the Union. All ballots submitted by proxy will require that they are submitted to the Union by the end of the monthly cycle of meet-ings. Proxy voting will not replace any other system of voting which is currently in place. The intent of proxy voting is to provide more options for those members who are unable to attend a meeting in person but wish to participate in the vote. Arbitration requests shall be by secret ballot. All other questions will be decided by voice or show of hands unless otherwise directed by a majority of those present.
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June 17, 2013
To: All Members of Local 587From: Recording Secretary Judy Young
Proposal To Change BylawsArticle XII, Section 16
Submitted by Jose Rosado
In accordance with the article XV, pertaining to bylaw proposals, the following proposal will be pub-lished in the News Review, read into the records at the Executive Board Meeting and subsequent cycle of membership meetings and will be voted upon through the august cycle of Union meetings.
CURRENT LANgUAgE: ARTICLE XII - gENERAL ELECTION - ELECTION OF OFFICERS
Section16. Post Office Box for Ballots
A Post Office Box shall be rented in the city of Seattle. Balloting shall be by mail with ballots due back in the Post Office Box by the close of business for business reply mail at that Post Office on the day of the election. The ballots shall be picked up from the Post Office Box at the close of business for business reply mail on the day of the election by the
Recording Secretary, in the presence of at least one member of the Election Committee and any observers, and returned immediately to be counted in the presence of the membership.
PROPOSED NEW LANgUAgE: ARTICLE XII - gENERAL ELECTION - ELECTION OF OFFICERS
Section16. Worksite for BallotsElection will be held at all work-
site with Pre-Polling to take place at the Union Office. Tellers and counters will be detailed from the membership and time loss will be paid. The ballots shall be returned to the Labor Temple where count-ing of ballots shall be by hand and recorded by the Recording Secretary with the Election Committee and any member wishing to witness the count as well as any observ-ers. Once Election is verified as completed then it shall be broad-casted to all worksites for posting. opeiu8aflcio
PUT C.O.P.E. DONATIONS TO WORK —
VOTE PRO TRANSIT
M. L. King County Labor Council
Labor Day Celebration
Monday, September 2nd11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Lower Woodland ParkShelters 1, 2 & 3
(N. 50th Street & Woodland Park Avenue N, Seattle)
Featuring live music by
The Haggis Brothers
Ice CreamHot Dogs
SodaPopcorn & Kettlecorn
ClownsGames
Face PaintingRaffle Prizes
It’s all free! Join us!
For more information call (206) 441-8510or email [email protected]
August 2013
8
Vice President’s Journal for August 2013
ATU Window ArtSubmitted by Annette Bishop, North Base Operator #2764
Top: Jackie Robinson waiting for the bus with an old suitcase by his side. The bus zone says, “End Zone.” Bottom: A flying saucer transporting a passenger with an Orca card. The bus zone says, “Twilight Zone.”
Vice President Safrin’s ReportBy Neal Safrin
Arbitration Update
We are currently awaiting the decision on the two arbitrations: the griev-
ance of Karen Rispoli and the griev-
ance of Vern Cavin. Sister Rispoli’s arbitration hearing was held on February 12, 2013 and we are still awaiting a decision from the Neutral Arbitrator. Brother Cavin’s arbitra-tion hearing was held on June 17,
2013. Thanks to Executive Board Officer Tamieko Cook for serving as Second Chair for that arbitration. We are not likely to receive the Neutral Arbitrator’s decision until autumn of this year.
The Union has reached a settle-ment in the grievance of Patricia Taimi. The negotiations were ex-tremely long, but the agreement is very favorable to both Sister Taimi and the Union. When you see Sister Taimi, please offer her your con-gratulations.
Our next scheduled arbitration is that of Supervisor John Bouie. We recently attended a pre-arbitration meeting to explore the potential for settling John’s grievance. The arbitration hearing will be held on August 14 & 15.
grievance UpdateI currently have 45 open grievanc-
es. Several of those are in abeyance, either pending the outcome of other grievances or awaiting information requests or legal opinions.
I represented members at three 1st step grievances either for ter-minations or suspensions. For one of those members, we were able to get her reinstated. I was also able to assist another member in retaining his job at a Probationary Termina-tion hearing. That member had been terminated for exceeding probation points.
Your Commercial Driver’s License
About twice a year, King County Metro’s Safety Department will send a list of the Operators about whom the Department of Licensing (DOL) has some question about the status of their Commercial Drivers’ Li-cense (CDL). Metro will investigate the employees to determine if their CDL has been suspended at any time that the employee was working for Metro and driving a bus.
Most often, a CDL is suspended due to an unpaid ticket and the Op-erator does not receive notification because he/she has moved and has not informed DOT of their change of address. Metro can certainly terminate you for driving a com-mercial vehicle while your license is suspended. Be mindful of paying all tickets immediately and informing the DOL of changes of residence. I currently have several operators who have received Pre-Discipline Letters indicating intent to termi-nate the Operator. Protect your job!
Until next month-In Solidarity,
Neal
August 2013
9
ATTENTION MEMbERS
Contract Negotiations, Millwrights, Wischmann Remand, Past Practice and a
Touch of Weingarten
Vice President DeVoss’ ReportBy Clint DeVoss
Contract Negotiations
We have started active con-tract negotiations, what this means is that both
ATU and METRO are presenting their respective proposals to the other side. This is a slow process, since we have 27 Articles in the Bus side contract and a few less than that in the Rail Contract. At the time this was written, for the Sections that I represent only two Articles of the Rail proposals have been presented. This took most of a day. Both sides have agreed to make minor changes, that for the most part are clarifications and items that will make things work better for both sides. More information will follow, as I am able to tell you.
Millwright ArbitrationCory Rigtrup, John Marx, and I
have multiple meetings with man-agement involving the issue of what work is Millwright work, and we have reduced the number of issues down to two or three from over 30. As you may recall ATU received an arbitrator’s decision requir-ing the return of the Millwrights back to VM and the return of their work, consistent with Art. 17.10G (A classification’s historical work to be performed only by the classi-fication performing the work). The Millwrights are back in VM.
Figuring out what work Mill-wrights have a historical right to under 17.10G has been much harder
than it seems because practices are different at different bases and there has been a blending of the work done by different classifications. All of those issues have, for the most part been thrashed out, except the two or three remaining ones. Hopefully, some final resolution will happen soon.
Wischmann Arbitration Remand Issues
ATU and METRO have agreed in principle on the language to resolve the duration of time that requires METRO to post and offer open po-sitions to members under Article 3.13 and 17.2F; and the equivalent RAIL language. With any luck by the time you read this article, we will have a signed MOA disposing of this remaining topic.
Past PracticeA “past practice” is a very spe-
cific thing; it is normally a situation where the contract is silent, and the union and management have de-veloped a practice for dealing with a particular situation. Usually, in order to argue a “past practice”; both management and the union knew about and agreed (either formally or informally) to the correct way of dealing with an issue and they have dealt with the issue in exactly same way for a long time (at least 2 contracts). Over time we have de-veloped ways of doing things in our work place, some of them could be
a “past practice,” but not all of them are, for variety of reasons. A practice may only have been happening at a few bases, it could be been done differently at different times, and there could be contract language that covers what should be done.
The most difficult “past practice” to prove to an arbitrator is one where there is contract language that is clear and unambiguous. Prevailing in arbitration over this type of issue seldom happens.
While it is always a good idea to cite and argue a “past practice” on grievances, in order to establish one we have to show that METRO has done it the same way all the time, that METRO management and the union knew about the practice and had agreed that the practice was the right way of handling the problem or issue. That is hard to do most of the time.
Weingarten RightsAs long as Weingarten Rights
have been around you would think that they would be well understood and adhered to. I have written other articles (Aug 2011, available at the union web site) on this subject so please refer to them for more detail,
and to refresh everyone’s memory about these important employee rights; they involve investigatory interviews that could lead to disci-pline. If management is just telling you what the discipline is or issuing the discipline, there is no right to have union representation.
If you are being interviewed by any member of the management team and you believe this inter-view could result in some form of discipline then you MUST ask for help. Otherwise, management has not violated your rights. you have to ask! How you ask is simple and there are no magic words. you can say something as simple as: “Do I need a steward?” If there is no stew-ard available management can ask you to go ahead anyway, wait until a steward is available, or stop the interview. These are the only legal choices that management has. So, if management goes ahead anyway just tell them you are using your Weingarten Right not answer their questions and CALL THE UNION AS SOON AS YOU CAN.
In solidarity,Clint DeVoss
Maintenance Vice President
WORK SITE VISITSScheduled worksite visits will be suspended during
King County Metro contract negotiations and resume shortly thereafter.
I will try to make ad hoc worksite visits when time allows. As always, I can be reached by telephone at (206) 448-8588 or by e-mail at [email protected]
In Solidarity,Paul J. Bachtel
President / Business Representative
If you are being interviewed by any member of the management team and you believe this interview could result
in some form of discipline then you MUST ask for help.
ATU Local 587 Latino Caucus Meeting
Prior to the Local’s Charter Meeting, the Latino Caucus Seattle Chapter
will be meeting at the
King County Labor Templeon
August 1, 2013 at 7:00 PM
August 2013
10
The Financial Secretary’s ReportBy Paul Neil
ATU NW Conference
New Member Applications submitted to the
ATU International in June:In the month of June 2013, we reported 23
new members to the ATU International. All are employed King County METRO. This brings our total active membership to 4113. This is a decrease of 20 members compared to this time last year when we had 4133 active members.
Bills:All financial figures are subject to the review
of the Executive Board.
Income:In June total income was $262,432.09. This
does not include approximately $5,000.00 of investment income which has not been booked yet.
Expenses:Per Capita payments totaled $61,152.50Other bills for payroll, rent, legal, etc to-
taled $199,901.94. This amounts to a surplus of $1,377.65 for the month.
Comparing last year to this year through the end of last month:Total income this year is $1,650,640.10 which
is an increase of $86,794.18 or 5.6%, Per Capita payments this year are $365,456.59 which is an increase of $17,519.11 or 5.0%. Other bills for payroll, rent, legal, etc this year are $1,330,371.81 which is a decrease of $35,756.46 or -2.6% and the deficit is $45,188.30 which is a decrease in the deficit of $105,031.53 or 69.9%.
Budget:Most categories of expenses were at or below
the budget projection except legal expenses. Total expenses are $16,088.28 or 1.3% above budget which is not a good thing. Assessable expenses, which are recovered the following year, are $55,000.00 over budget so far this year.
My activities for the month:• Went on a work site visit to First Transit
along with Vice President Safrin and Executive Board Representative Ninus Hopkins.
• Attended with all the other Fulltime of-ficers the bargaining sessions with KC Metro.
• Attended the Northwest Conference in Sacramento CA. This was the triennial meet-ing where we meet jointly with the California Conference Board and there were about 100 representatives from locals throughout the western US & Canada. Also attending were sev-eral representatives from the ATU International including the International President Larry Hanley and International Financial Secretary Oscar Owens. The conference held its elections and I was reelected without opposition.
• Along with Vice President Neal Safrin, Recording Secretary Judy young, Minority Affairs Officer Michael Moore and Executive Board Representatives Cook and Millhouse, I was in the Pride Parade helping to carry the ATU 587 banner and giving out candy. My hope is that in the future we as a Union can partici-pate in more community events such as this. If any member knows of a community event we should be participating in, please contact the Union office.
Financial Secretary’s July 2013 Membership Meeting Report
August 25th through 30th, 13 of your Union officers will be attending the ATU Inter-
national Convention in San Diego. This will be my 4th convention I will have the honor of representing ATU Local 587 at. At previous conven-tions, those delegates not on a com-mittee had a fair amount of down time which was spent socializing or if the convention was in session, listening to speeches from various
guests which is mainly politicians. This year the ATU International has decided to hold the “ATU Conven-tion Training Academy”. What is it?
There will be 3 workshops focusing on issues such as “The ATU Under Attack” which will discuss expanding privatization, rising service cuts and many other issues. Then there will be 27 skills workshops on such as “Leadership Skills to Build the Local’s Power”,
“Winning (More) Arbitration Cas-es”, “Leadership Development and Mentoring”. These sessions will be scheduled so delegates can attend all 3 of the theme workshops and 6 of the skills workshop. I believe this will be a valuable addition to the convention.
Participating in the governance of our international Union at the conventions is very important and necessary part of our jobs as local
officers but the conventions are long (a week), with a great deal of free time and very expensive. The airfare, hotel, per diem and time loss add up. These workshops should add significant value to the conven-tion and provide the delegates with addition skills to serve the member-ship better.
2013 COPE Candidate Endorsement Recommendations
PRIMARY ELECTION
Dow Constantine - King County Executive
Shari Song - King County Council Pos 9
Ed Murray/Bruce Harrell - Mayor of Seattle (dual endorsement)
Leanne guier - Pacific County Council Pos 4
Mike O’Brien/Albert Shen - Seattle City Council Pos 8 (dual endorsement)
Bailey Stober - Kent City Council Pos 6
Lynne Robinson/Vandana Slatter - Bellevue City Council Pos 6 (dual endorsement)
De’Sean Quinn - Tukwila City Council Pos 7
Martin Moore - Federal Way County Council Pos 6
Rich Erwin - Mercer Island City Council Pos 6
Richard Conlin - Seattle City Council Pos 2
Mary Hall - Thurston County Auditor
Sally Bagshaw - Seattle City Council Pos 4
Fred Butler - Issaquah Mayor
Will Hall - Shoreline City Council Pos 3
Courtney gregoire - Port of Seattle Commissioner Pos 2
Chris Roberts - Shoreline City Council Pos 7
Stephanie Bowman - Port of Seattle Commissioner Pos 3
Rob Dembowski - King County Council Pos 1
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August 2013
11
This is the total number of days Legislators spent in Olympia wrangling over budget and
policy bills that mattered to working families and anyone else who may have been paying attention. From January to June all 98 members of the House and all 49 members of the Senate debated how to fund education that was mandated after the recent McCleary decision by the Washington State Supreme Court and attempted to negotiate an Op-erations, Capital and Transportation budgets that all sides could agree on. As the session dragged on these bills were eventually passed and signed by the Governor.
However the bill of most con-cern to us as transit workers and members of this Union was the Transportation Revenue Package HB 1954 which included local op-tions, passed in the House but died in the Senate. The Senate never al-lowed the bill to come to the floor for a vote. The effort to save transit during this Legislative session had a strong coalition of supporters that included labor, environmental groups and business lobbying in Olympia to pass a Revenue Pack-age. On February 21st over two dozen members of 587 also traveled to Olympia to meet with members of the House and Senate urging them pass a local options bills giv-ing King County/Metro authority to impose a local annual vehicle fee and/or impose a motor vehicle
153 DaysSubmitted by Sara Franklin, COPE Chair and ATULC Lobbyist
excise tax (MVET) upon voter ap-proval or by majority of the county council. Many of the Transportation Committee hearings throughout the session were at capacity filling the room with both supporters and detractors, but it was clear passing a Transportation Revenue Pack-age had broad support from many
transit agencies and elected officials from suburban cities.
We have many transit leaders and advocates in Olympia leading the charge to fund transit, repair the roads and fix our transportation system and although we are disap-pointed they were not successful in their efforts this session to pass a
statewide revenue package, we must continue the fight to save service and save jobs.
Thank you to all the 587 members who volunteered their time to call Legislators, write letters, leaflet transit hubs and travel to Olympia to testify in support of transit.
Proud
To
be
ATU
180,000
Strong
August 2013
12
Retirees’ Corner The View from
the BusesBy Bob Morgan, Retired First-Line Supervisor
As has been mentioned in past articles writ-ten by me, many years ago some of us in 1st line did some things which were, by
today’s standards, grounds for discipline. There was however a game which we as coordinators played amongst ourselves for many years. I’ll explain how this game came to be.
Around 1977/78 a reporter for the then Seattle P.I. wrote a story about if there was a disaster, either natural or manmade, that Metro would be responsible for getting people out of harm’s way. This writer even said that the coaches would be signed with “The Last Express” and would be able to get a high percentage of folks out of Se-attle. Problem was he included the trolleys in his computations and since Mt. Baker and Madrona was the furthest east the trolley overhead ran…well the story was funnier than being reality. Most of us drivers and supervisors alike found it a good read but put no credence into it at all.
The next thing that happened was a Puget Sound ship pilot by the name of Ralph Nesland took a ship and ran it into the westbound open draw span of the then West Seattle Bridge. Some-how the term “bridge the gap” came into the lexicon of some of us. yes it really was a terrible situation, but credit the city and state with get-ting funds for the structures that you see today.
The next term that we all got used to was the “Peak Hour Surcharge.” This came as a way to increase fares to the commuters and not affecting those who rode during off peak times.
Now how to play the “game.” As coordinators sometimes after rush hour we had to exhale from the stress that came from the job. This game started when we were still underground on the 2nd floor of the Exchange Bldg at 2nd and Marion. The rules were simple. All you, as the coordinator, had to do was call a coach NOT assigned to your channel. It went something like this: you would try to act like you were looking for a coach for a road jump or to fill a trip and ask that coordi-nator for his/her channel. After making contact you would ask that operator the questions, with the key phrases included, something like this, “Hi, is this 256/1?” “yes it is.” “I’m looking at your schedule and see you’re the ‘last express’ on your route and after you ‘bridge the gap’ on SR 520 during the ‘peak hour surcharge’ what is your passenger load?” That was it. What did you win? NOTHING, you just had the satisfaction you just tricked the other coordinator into using their channel. Stupid, well maybe, but it sure made the time pass by. Oh and most operators thought it was a real survey. How often did we play this game? Maybe 2–3 times a month and
this would be both AM and PM coordinators. This continued well into the 90s then somehow it just died away.
Updates on retirees...Jim Vaughn is about 95% back to normal. His
only problem is he needs to gain back some of his lost weight. I was amazed the amount of support he received while in the hospital in Everett. So many friends from Metro came by to check on him, some daily. Paul Pioli even mentioned he stopped by his parish to light candles for Jim after seeing him a couple of times. Don’t ever think one doesn’t need friends looking over them in time of need.
At the June lunch in Tukwila I was surprised to see Rodney Ray. Rod was my boss in Service Quality for many years. yes, we always didn’t see eye to eye on some items but as is the case we are all retirees and that being said you drop those feelings in a hurry. Rod lives in Sun City West which is northwest of Phoenix. Steve Gris-som also came and it was a wonderful visit. At the July north end breakfast I noticed a person walk in and meet a friend for a meal. After we were done with our meals I went over to him and it was Brent Peterson who retired about a year after I did. He was glad to see all of us us and made a point of talking to all of us prior to us leaving. Also heard that Cevin Allen has sold his holdings in this area and is now is living in Miami full time.
Now for the bad part of this reporting, illnesses…
Dan Maher passed away the morning of July 11th from cancer. Dan hired on as an Operator in 1973 and went to 1st Line in 1978. He retired in 2001 and came back as a part time operator for 4 years. He also, after his retirement, went to work for Seattle City Light as a meter reader and was promoted to what would be the same as a Base Chief at Metro 6 years ago. I’m at a loss for words on this.
Lou Torres is about to go in for open heart surgery for a valve replacement and possible bypass. This may have already occurred as you read this.
Chuck Zigler is also dealing with a mas-sive growth behind his sinuses. The treatment will be chemo and radiation and he should be okay by year’s end. This all started with numb-ness to his face and then double vision in his right eye.
As usual a big Thank you to Al and Ruth
Ramey and Dave Carter for coordinating the retiree’s BBQ at Woodland Park. Attendance was down some this year but felt this was be-cause of the rain that morning. I also had a nice visit with Pres Paul Bachtel and we discussed the upcoming contract, I wished him well with what looks to be a difficult one for sure.
This will be my last column for awhile. As I mentioned my wife has retired and we will be gone on some RV trips for awhile. Also with the contract fast approaching I find it better that you pay attention to that. With what is happening around the area I hope you all do well.
Enjoy the rest of the summer...Bob Morgan
