Category: Communications

All About Dues

Update (3/15/2024) – Great News! The City has finished processing our demand for interim dues and dues will begin being deducted from member’s paychecks on 3/21/2024.

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A Message from Your Union Treasurer 

Dues graphic.

Hello Union Siblings! 

Dues are a crucial part of having a strong union – they allow us to pay for needed expenses, maintain an infrastructure, get the trainings we need to fight at the contract table, and have the resources to exercise our power. Most importantly, dues allow us all to contribute to building this union together.  

Dues also generate a lot of questions! Let’s take a minute and dig into dues together.   

What are CPPW dues right now? 

In early December, with a vote of 91% in favor, the CPPW membership voted to institute flat interim dues of 0.5% of gross monthly salary as a temporary measure to raise money to fight for our first contract. 

Why aren’t dues being taken out of my paycheck? 

In late December, CPPW alerted the City that they should begin a dues paycheck deduction from all signed members in good standing as of 1/4/2024. Unfortunately, key City administrators say they need additional information from us in order to start the process. At the same time, those City administrators have not shown up to the scheduled meetings where we are supposed to be answering their questions. It is our legal right to fund our organization with interim dues from paycheck deductions. We will continue to press on this matter and will escalate as necessary to get this process going. 

If the City is not taking any dues now, will there be any retroactive dues? 

No. The CPPW membership will not be penalized for the City’s failure to deduct dues in a timely fashion.  

Why do we need interim dues? 

Traditional dues are implemented as part of a final contract with an employer. In the meantime, interim dues are essential to CPPW’s success in bargaining. Interim dues will pay for legal fees, administrative costs, printing, communications, technology, training fees, and more. A dues paying membership also demonstrates to the City that CPPW’s people support the union effort and are ready to back up that support with action! 

What will dues be once we have a contract? 

CPPW has designed a Progressive Dues structure which makes dues both affordable and equitable. This dues structure was codified in the Constitution and Bylaws, specifically Bylaw 2.  

What are progressive dues?  

Progressive Dues are a more fair and equitable dues structure where every person’s base, pre-tax wages are divided into brackets which correspond to a specific dues percentage. If, for example, a member made $50,000 or less annually their dues would be 0%, the next bracket ($50,000-$75,000) pays 1.45% on that $25,000 and so on. 

To put progressive dues in context: 

  • Average CPPW Wage is $102,500 – dues at this wage would amount to .93% (less than 1% of your base wages) 
  • Highest CPPW wage is $163,321 – dues at this wage would amount to 1.75% 

How does this compare to other Unions? 

  • AFSCME 189’s dues are a flat rate of 1.77% for all members. 
  • ProTec 17’s dues are a flat rate of .85% for all members. 

How can I find out what my dues will be within the Progressive Dues structure? 

CPPW has created a table to illustrate the dues percentage which corresponds to each income bracket. There’s a lot of great information in the table, this is what you’ll be looking at: 

  • Column 1: Annual Salary 
  • Column 2: Hourly Rate 
  • Column 3: Corresponding Dues Percentage 
  • Column 4: Amount of Dues Per Pay Period 
  • Column 5: Total Amount of Dues Per Year  

CLICK HERE to view the Progressive Dues wage table where you can look up your dues amount. 

If you have questions please do not hesitate to reach out to treasurer Chris Gustafson at: [email protected] 

Letter To Council re: Layoffs.

Members, The below letter was submitted to the Mayor and City Council members on Monday, November 27, 2023.

Mayor Wheeler and Commissioners,

Three weeks ago, the Bureau of Development Services’ outgoing Director, Rebecca Esau, announced layoffs at the bureau after more than a year of well-observed macroeconomic forces driving down the permit revenue upon which the bureau depends for its operations.

On November 1, CPPW requested to meet with City Human Resources and BDS officials to bargain to help mitigate the effects of the revenue shortfalls not just on our members but on all staff who might be affected.

We finally met with officials of the City’s Labor Relations and HR on November 21. In that meeting Labor Relations presented us with information on the nine CPPW members that BDS planned to lay off, beginning the notification process the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. In that meeting Labor Relations was unable or unwilling to answer any questions of substance regarding how the layoffs were determined and whether any managers were being laid off. Labor Relations claimed that BDS had made all of the decisions. Labor Relations was unwilling or unable to provide us with additional information on whether contractors or temporary employees were released first, or whether any attempts had been made to protect seniority, all items required under HRAR 7.06 Layoffs & Recall.

The CPPW consists of over 700 Analysts, Financial Analysts, Coordinators, Administrative Specialists, Technology Business Representatives and Multimedia Specialists. These people have years of deep, expert knowledge of how our bureaus and programs work. The City of Portland is about to go through some once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and challenges, and CPPW members are eager and excited to contribute collaboratively in helping the City be successful. We think our members, and the members of the rest of the City’s organized workforce have a lot to offer in helping BDS through this period of uncertainty.

At this time we are writing to remind you that PECBA makes layoffs a mandatory subject of bargaining under the post-election, pre contract status quo. Our City colleagues in other unions have contracts requiring bargaining in this situation and have informed you of their insistence to bargain about these matters. We strongly encourage our elected representatives to direct BDS and City HR to come to the table with CPPW and the other unions to work collaboratively on a path forward that minimizes the impact on our most precious resource, our people.

Our members have a number of ideas that can be used in combination in order to reduce the impact of the financial shortfalls. Frankly, we are incredulous that these do not seem to have been discussed in any of the communications from BDS management to date.

  • Voluntary retirement incentive programs.
  • Redeployment analysis and assistance for affected employees.
  • Reductions in services in alignment with reduced building and permitting activities.
  • Management span-of-control analysis that shares the burden of layoffs with management and staff.
  • Reductions in hours and voluntary furloughs.

If layoffs become absolutely necessary:

  • A COBRA safety net program to help employees retain their health insurance.
  • Enhanced wellness and mental health services.
  • Job placement assistance with other public entities.

Of course, any work we do now, specifically around BDS, can set the stage for healthy, collaborative work that we all may need to do in other bureaus as the City works through the challenges of the 2024-25 budget.

We look forward to meeting with you and discussing these matters in early December, 2023.

 

Join our Discord! (No, not an argument.)

Email sucks, we all hate it. As a way of fostering better communication and collaboration, CPPW has established a Discord server for the members to use to engage in a more relaxed and chat-like way. Discord is a collaboration platform that was developed to support the gaming community. It has a more whimsical feel tha, say, Microsoft Teams, but it has all the same features, text, voice and video chat, file sharing, public and private channels.

If you feel comfortable diving right in, just go straight to The Water Cooler Channel and sign up. More info on getting started and how to Discord is available on the CPPW Discord Page.