Talks balk, Local 5 walks

by Marcy Rein

Contract talks between ILWU and Powell's Books had been sputtering along for several weeks, with management showing little at the table.  Their rented mouthpiece, Larry Amburgey, routinely disparaged the union team and its proposals. 

On the store floor some supervisors seemed to be selectively enforcing new or long neglected policies.  People at the main location on Burnside Avenue were running ragged with overwork readying the new $3.5-million tower expansion for opening.

Then on Oct. 21 a supervisor fired Marty Kruse, one of the workers who had initiated the union drive.  In response more than 70 members of ILWU's newest local walked off the job six days later to protest discrimination against union supporters and uneven application of discipline.  The brief action succeeded beyond expectations.

"You could see the power we mihgt have in the future" said Sarah Race, a communications steward at Burnside.  "I'm hoping to feel it 100 times stronger"

The Oct. 27 "breakout" as the workers called it, started on cue at 3 p.m. Workers filed out of the store and massed on the front porch.  Some brought their coffee cups or caught a quick smoke.  Some held umbrellas as the crowd spilled out from under the roof and into the rain.  Members of longshore Local 8 brought the ILWU colors.

Spontaneous chants broke out "No contract, no peace!" and "What do we want? Contract! When? Now!" although anyone in the local will readily explain they're not a chanting crowd.

The group included steadfast union supporters, as well as some people who'd never been to a union meeting.

"My job is to process and sell books, not worry about union business" said Allen B. Lloyd, a senior used book buyer.  But the disparate treatment highlighted by the firing irked him.  Kruse got sacked for chronic tardiness, though Powell's workers aren't required to be strictly prompt unless their job demands it, and Kruse's position did not.

"Other individuals can get away with the same behavior Marty was fired for.  I don't believe in inconsistent treatment" Lloyd said "It's morally reprehensible".

Across town about 15 workers at Powell's suburban Beaverton store walked at 3 p.m. as well, cutting staff by more than half.

"We all walked out of the store in a line" said Betsy Breen, department head for receiving at Beaverton.  "It was neat to turn around and see everybody there"

After 10 minutes spent out front discussing the state of negotiations, they returned together.

"This was a big story" said chief communications steward Cal Hudson, who works in physical plant.  "The Beaverton workers are solid union supporters, but not considered to be very demonstrative:.

The Burnside action lasted just a little longer, and then about 15 people walked down to the NLRB office to file formal unfair labor practice charges.  They alleged discrimination not only in Kruse's firing, but in threats, disparaging statements and disparate treatment of union supporters.

The buzz from the action lingered longer still.  The frusteration and annoyance at management persist, fed by  by its ongoing inconsistencies in policy, intransigence at the table and disingenuousness in financial matters.

Attendance rules, often ignored in the past, have been invoked much more often recently.

"Employees of six, eight, 10 years have e-mailed me saying they'd been told they were in violation of the attendance policy when they'd never been spoken to before" said Jim Cowing, bargaining team rep from the tech store.

Annual raises, awarded in October, ran higher than last year's skimpy increases.  But absent a clear salary scale, some workers did far better than others.  Many bookskellers' raises fell below the 3 percent median increase.

Some workers in the Hoyt warehouse felt shorted as well.  "people didn't get the raises they though they should because their supervisors don't understand what they do" said Mike Parker, who works at Hoyt and serves on the bargaining team.

The union offered its economic proposals Oct. 4.  Key elements include bringing consistent salary steps pegged to seniority and skills.

Management said it would talk money Nov. 9.  But instead of presenting a counter-offer or even asking sensible questions about the union proposal, it rifled througha a raft of multi-colored pie charts purporting to show how the union's proposal would break its budget.

"They wouldn't want to give charts like they showed us to the people they borrow money from" said bargaining team member Carol Edwards.

For starters, some company assumptions departed from reality.  Management based projections on zero turnover, when it has hired more than 100 new people since the union election April 22.  It assumed the living wage would take effect immediately, when the union kept saying implementation was on the table.

In a move even more frusterating to serious discussion, management didn't provide documents on which they based their caluclations.

"We're not given background figures to back up their analysis" said Hudson.  "It's meaningless...a slap in the face".

Though Powell's does provide some information, it's difficult to interpret.

"Unlike other corporations, Powell's financial statements are not audited by outside accountants, making them hard to assess since their categories don't conform with generally accepted accounting principles" said Dr. Peter Donohue, an economist working with Local 5.  "it's like the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland saying, 'these words mean what I say the mean'"

Powell's Books Inc. is a limited liability corporation with Michael Powell as the sole owner.  He holds title to the land and the buildings at four Powell's locations, commercial real estate with a sales price conservatively estimated by Multonomah County at $5.5 million, not including the new tower.  The stores pay rent directly to Powell, in addition to his honer's share of sales and his own and his wif's salaries as employees.

Publicly available information shows Powell's profitability.  Since 1994 the company's worth went up 93.45 percent while sales rose only 27.3 percent.  This suggests management is holding down operating expenses by increasing the proportion of low paid workers, Donohue said.

"They're hiring on a 'use em and lose em' basis" he said.

Management spokesperson Larry Amburgey got to the heart of the issue when he told the bargaining team Oct 16 "Ability to pay is not the issue here.  It's not the appropriate stantard.  It is what management decides is appropriate".

As talks lurched on, Powell's workers hustled to get the tower open.  The $3.5-million addition to the Burnside location expanded the country's biggest bookstore by close to 70 percent.

Plans for a grand opening were scaled back, perhaps out of fear of union participation.  But at 5:30 p.m. the same day management came to the negotiating table crying poor, Michael Powell and a few top managers held their own private opening ceremony.  Clustered around the cornerstone of the new building, they clinked champagne glasses and chatted among themselves.

As The Dispatcher went to press, Powell's workers were planning appropriate activities for the day after Thanksgiving, the year's busiest shopping day.

"People are getting the idea we're going to have to put our foot down" said Hudson.