Whoops, hollers and banjo music filled a corner of downtown Portland on Thursday evening as employees of Powell’s Books Inc. celebrated the hearty ratification of their inaugural union contract.
The vote, 293-37, means higher pay and enhanced benefits for workers and marks a strong victory for the fledgling International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 5, which struggled through more than 10 months of tense, sometimes contentious negotiations before reaching an accord. And it gave the San Francisco-headquartered ILWU a landmark entree into the unionization of service workers.
“Nothing in Powell’s history has brought the community so together,” said an exuberant Carol Edwards, an employee of the flagship downtown bookstore Powell’s City of Books and a member of the bargaining team. “This was an inspiring process.”
As the crowd of about 50 employees and union activists sang and shouted outside Powell’s City of Books, owner Michael Powell answered questions from members of the media at corporate headquarters a block away at West Burnside Street and Ninth Avenue.
He had opposed the union when it was first formed in April 1999. He did not attend negotiating sessions, nor did he address the gathering after Thursday’s vote tally, which represented an 80 percent turnout.
“This has been a difficult time at Powell’s,” he said. “It is my hope that these months of negotiations have taught us how to air our differences, debate issues and find solutions that all can accept.”
He said he was “pleased and relieved” by the vote and “excited about the future.”
Even ardent union supporters acknowledged that the past 10 months had frayed relations between workers and management. Tempers flared among the ranks as well.
“By no means is there complete and total happiness among everyone,” said Jeff Hensley, an 18-year employee of Powell’s and a member of the ILWU bargaining team.
Contract provisions include an 18 percent pay raise over a three-year period, broader medical benefits, improvements to the company’s 401(k) plan and dispute-resolution policies. Both sides reached a tentative agreement Aug.1.
Union activists said that the contract will improve communications between workers and management and that it will help employees achieve a “living wage” of $10.36 an hour. They said the past several months, marked by rallies and sometimes bitter exchanges with Powell’s management, should not permanently harm relations.
“I see (unionization) as a natural development,” Hensley said, “not as a bad thing or a mark on (Michael) Powell.”
Marti Michael, a seven-year employee of Powell’s, was one of the few employees to vote against ratification. She said she disliked the way she thought activists had forced divisions between those who support the ILWU and those who don’t.
“Powell’s will never be the same,” she said. “It’s just sad. The environment is totally different. It’s them against us.”
Powell, who bought a single store from his father in 1982 and expanded the company into a chain of seven Portland-area outlets and an Internet site, has prided himself on creating an enterprise that fosters a feeling of community and encourages a free exchange of ideas.
Powell’s City of Books, with its maze of new and used books, is one of the largest independent bookstores in the country.
In a statement issued Thursday evening, Powell said he looked forward to working with employees “to ensure that Powell’s will continue to hold a position of community pride and be a bookstore of national significance.”
