The Portland City Laborers’ Strike ended on February 6, 2023. Today, Portland City Laborers have not received full payment on these bargained contract improvements. The contract Portland City Laborers won last February represents critical acknowledgments of the labor that makes the City work. Our bargained victory and its long-delayed implementation by the City impacts the integrity of hundreds of working families, whose economic victories undeniably set a precedent for all other workers in our city.

With Mayor Wheeler’s present 11th-hour amendments to his proposed FY 2023-2024 budget, these hasty rate reductions threaten to lay off the very workers who won these important improvements – before the benefits have even been fully realized. The BES & PBOT budgets are tightly constructed and rely on minimal increases to rates. History tells us that management targets labor first to make up budget shortfalls.

Together, we say NO.

• NO to the penny-wise and pound-foolish missteps of Mayor Wheeler.
• NO to political theater.
• NO to short-sighted band aids on issues that the Mayor has long ignored until his re-election came into focus.
• NO to rate reductions that do nothing for working Portlanders and those on fixed incomes – only businesses.
• NO to reductions that will cost Portland residents more in the long-term.
• NO to continued disrespect of Portland City Laborers.

NO COSTLY RATE REDUCTIONS – NO LAYOFFS – NO DISRESPECT

Sign our petition TODAY to stand with Laborers’ Local 483, Portland City Laborers, and the District Council of Trade Unions!

Petition Link: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/no-wheeler

As noted in previous updates, PROTEC17 is following the policy development around the City’s Future of Work very closely and have been meeting with City leaders and elected officials throughout 2022. We understand that this is a huge priority for Portland members, whether you’re currently remote, hybrid, or on site — and we are committed to ensuring the flexibility and support that everyone needs to be successful at work.

On Wed., Dec. 21, PROTEC17 and other City unions submitted a demand to bargain in response to the Mayor’s announced mandate that 50% of employee’s work hours should be on site. We hope to utilize the Interest Based Bargaining (IBB) process that netted significant improvements for members during our previous, full contract bargaining as there are interests well beyond how many hours workers must spend in the office.

We will continue to make space for this topic at future chapter meetings as new information becomes available and provide updates here. If you are interested in participating in a sub-committee to support bargaining, please contact your Union Representative.

PROTEC17 has had a requirement in the CBA for annual performance evaluations for many, many years and this has been a recurring discussion at the bargaining table, mostly because the City has failed to consistently conduct evaluations. This has been problematic for members who are in their probationary period, or want support for professional development, or are facing discipline for not meeting expectations. During the 2017 bargaining cycle your bargaining team expanded the language around evaluations during the probationary period to address the issue of members being let go without any notice that they weren’t meeting expectations. For the most part this was successfully implemented, but regular evaluations for non-probationary members remained inconsistent.

This time around, there was robust discussion at the bargaining table on how to best ensure that managers are having performance and professional development conversations with members. The PROTEC17 bargaining team pushed to move the City onto a single, trackable performance evaluation system due to years of managers failing to conduct timely evaluations and then denying training and/or promotional opportunities. Because the City was already using SAP Success Factors for non-representatives, it was logical to extend this tool to our members. The goal is to ensure managers are having regular conversations with members. A fact-finding investigation should never be the first time a member learns of a performance concern.

The bargaining team has received lots of questions, concerns, and rumors due to the bumpy and inconsistent rollout of Success Factors. Due to these concerns, I’m going to take a moment to clearly state: This is NOT a ploy by the City or HR to get our members onto merit. In fact, you should be aware that all of our classifications on merit were specifically removed from that system because of documented concerns that it supported favoritism, racism, sexism and bigotry.

I firmly believe a performance evaluation should be focused on an employee’s career goals and opportunities for professional development. The Success Factors platform allows for those conversations to be documented and tracked and in the end we will know exactly which managers are supporting professional development and which are not.

Your leadership team is continuing to work with Labor Relations and City managers to provide clearer, more consistent information regarding Success Factors. However, please keep in mind that the Success Factors rollout will NOT impact your annual step increases or cost of living adjustments.