ATU press release on negotiations

The Union and TriMet management teams met on April 27, 2013 to guide negotiations between the parties. This effort was not successful. In an effort to insure media access, the Union abandoned its position of allowing bloggers to attend. Specifically, the Union made the following proposal:

Pending a legal decision regarding the public meeting status of their labor negotiations, the parties agree that the following print media entities proposed by the ATU meet the definition of “representatives of the news media”:

Oregonian                             Portland Mercury                SE Examiner

Willamette Week                   Beaverton Valley Times      Portland Business Journal

NW Labor Press                   Gresham Outlook                 SW Connection

Portland Afoot                      Hillsboro Tribune                Sellwood Bee

Asian Reporter                     Hollywood Star                    Television Stations

Portland Skanner                 Portland Tribune                

Portland Observer               NW Examiner

The Union understands that TriMet’s acceptance of the above list is contingent on the Union agreeing that certain bloggers will be excluded, specifically . . .[names omitted]

In an attempt to address TriMet’s concerns over bloggers and by way of example, the Union listed the names of three  bloggers that were well-known to be of particular concern to TriMet management in the past.

In responding to the proposal, TriMet’s negotiator Randy Stedman, used the F-bomb and, to the surprise of those present, stated the meeting was over. The unexpected, abrupt ending of the meeting meant the Union did not have an opportunity to respond to Mr. Stedman’s concerns by presenting a counter proposal.

Bruce Hansen, the Amalgamated Transit Union’s president, stated, “This was disappointing but will not affect the parties’ scheduling of bargaining sessions. Parties in collective bargaining frequently do not agree on ground rules. The failure to have ground rules does not delay the beginning of bargaining.”