Oregon lawmakers have passed a bill that would change how certain manufacturers enforce mandatory overtime.
Senate Bill 1513 prohibits bakeries and tortilla makers from disciplining workers who refuse to pull overtime unless those workers get at least five days’ notice of the overtime shift.
The union-backed measure drew dissent from more than 20 Republican lawmakers, some of whom found five days’ notice impractical for manufacturers navigating staffing shortages and sick days during the pandemic.
“The reality is today worker shortages are absolutely real,” said Rep. Daniel Bonham, R-The Dalles. “And one of the few tools that employers have to guarantee their manufacturing process can continue is to utilize overtime.”
The bill now goes to Gov. Kate Brown for her signature.
The measure is narrow in scope. It would apply to about 300 bakeries and tortilla manufacturers across the state — businesses that employ roughly 6,000 people, according to the Oregon Employment Department.
Why bakeries?
Because the bill is aimed squarely at reining in overtime practices at the global snack giant Mondelez International, which owns the Nabisco plant in Northeast Portland. Mondelez earned $4.3 billion in net income last year, but workers say chronic understaffing at the plant has led to the rampant use of mandatory overtime.
Mondelez workers say they are routinely “forced” into overtime just minutes before the end of their regular shifts, setting off a scramble to rearrange child care or other caregiving responsibilities. Workers describe being stopped by supervisors while punching out, or by security on their way out, or even being approached in their cars.
“It’s very stressful. Really stressful,” said Joshua Roos, who is supposed to pick up his 3-year-old from child care after work. “It really makes me anxious every day. Every day it’s: Am I gonna get forced?”
Workers at the Nabisco plant who refuse mandatory overtime accrue “points” and can ultimately be terminated.
Mondelez did not respond to six requests for comment over a period of several weeks. It’s unclear if the company has taken steps to change overtime practices at the Nabisco plant in response to the potential law.
At a recent work session on the bill, Bonham expressed empathy for workers who testified about being compelled to work overtime on short notice. But he also raised concerns about the narrow class of businesses the bill targets.
“It does feel like we as the legislature are weighing into collective bargaining agreement negotiations,” he said.
To him, mandating five days’ notice of overtime was the wrong response.
“I know that my employees do not call in sick five days in advance, so it’s hard to schedule overtime five days in advance,” said Bonham, who owns a stove and spa shop in The Dalles.
It’s unclear how common it is for other bakeries and tortilla makers in Oregon to penalize workers who can’t work an overtime shift.
SB 1513 was championed by the Oregon AFL-CIO and Sen. Kathleen Taylor, D-Milwaukie, chair of the senate’s labor and business committee. She described the bill as proactive.
“While we are aware of these practices at the Nabisco/Mondelez facility, the objective in passing this legislation is to protect workers around the state and prevent this management practice from becoming widespread,” Taylor wrote in an email to OPB.
