Portland Mayor Keith Wilson caves to the public unions and city employees days after taking office

Will public employees ever be mandated to return to work? Apparently not anytime soon.

It only took a few days in office for Keith Wilson to recant on a campaign promise to return city workers to their offices downtown. “Given the current budget constraints and our ongoing efforts to address unsheltered homelessness, the full return of staff to the office will not be feasible in 2025,” Wilson told Willamette Week today.

I believe that is code for: Mayor Wilson doesn’t want to challenge the city employees or the public unions that represent them.

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Prior to 2020, 2,950 City of Portland employees worked downtown full-time. Critics say it is hypocritical for public leadership to suggest they are working to revitalize Portland’s downtown without first returning the city’s workers to their offices.

Former Mayor Ted Wheeler already-kind-of-sort-of mandated a compromised policy for workers to be in the office 20 hours per week effective a year ago this month. It only took four years after offices were essentially abandoned in March of 2020 to mandate half time at the office. As our former mayor turned up the heat, workers and their unions cited not wanting to return to work because of the cost of parking and daycare. Some said the quiet part out loud. They were watching their young children at home while working, but they maintained their work was top-notch and focused. Employees also indicated it wasn’t their responsibility to revitalize downtown Portland. Of course, they knew parking, daycare costs, and the job location were aspects of their jobs when they accepted their positions.

I am surprised how many Portlanders don’t know that most of our administrative bureaucrats in our county, city and state offices have been working from home in some capacity since 2020. The waste astonishes me. Government employees follow the same virtual schedule while tens of thousands of square feet owned and leased require electricity, security, cleaning, office equipment, furniture, and upkeep. The sheer waste is astounding. If you have read the city’s new charter (and I hope you have) you would know that returning city workers to work is one of the few decisions our new Mayor Keith Wilson has the authority to make. The new charter has stripped a large amount of power from Portland’s mayoral office.

The mayor now leads the executive branch, is responsible for the city’s budget, and has administrative authority over the city manager. He has no veto power at city council, and except to break a city council 6 way tie vote, he doesn’t get a vote either.

• Did you know supervisors, investigators and detectives at the Portland Police Bureau are still working from home? I have been told by officers who report on the streets that these positions working from home make it difficult to reach people, share information, and sometimes to complete files and reports. Some “reports” are required to move drug deflection and prosecution forward, so as you can read this isn’t a big deal at all. [sometimes all I have left is sarcasm]

• Multnomah County Commissioners and County Chair, Jessica Vega-Pederson and their staff work from home at least 2 days a week. That is except for Julia Brim-Edwards and her team. I heard when Brim-Edwards took office and determined she and her staff would work daily at the county offices, she was warned that she would become the least-liked county commissioner. Brim-Edwards decided she and her staff would do their best work collaborating in the same office.

• Last year after the scathing Multnomah County audit of the Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS), I visited their SE Portland office building. Not a single person was there in the middle of a weekday. According to county employees, Dan Field, the JOHS director, and his staff only go to the office if they have meetings. So much for a homeless county emergency!

• Also last year, I had a meeting in a conference room on the first floor of the Portland Building with Millicent Williams, Director of PBOT. After I left the meeting, I asked for a tour of PBOT offices. (I believe it is the 8th floor.) I was told by building security that there were very few employees in the office, and due to this, they couldn’t authorize me with an escort that day to see what was happening (or not happening) up at PBOT’s offices. Here is b-roll footage from that day:

But wait! Let me pour some more salt on that wound.

The Michael Graves-designed Portland Building was renovated at a cost $195 million in 2020. It was remodeled to accommodate offices for 1500 city employees. This taxpayer remodel is obviously beautiful ,but decidely a large waste of cash resources, considering the offices are barely used.

I haven’t mentioned the cities $27 million deficit in this article, but you know about it right? You also know about the $8 million+ spent to remodel city hall for the new 12 commissioners. Does anyone know if new city councilors are are using those new offices or working from home for their $133,207 salaries?

Politicians typically don’t like to challenge public unions in Oregon. One main reason is because the unions handsomely fund the vast majority of Democrat campaigns. One has to wonder if Mayor Wilson got funded by these same unions as well? Looking into his campaign finance records, this doesn’t appear to be the case, but if you have heard of a PAC working to get him elected - let me know. Keith Wilson is a private business owner, turned mayor. We should expect him to stand up to the public employees. If it isn’t money, why did he back down? Is he weak? Is he too much of a “nice guy?”

80% of City of Portland’s workers are represented by 14 public unions. AFSCME is the largest union for the city employees. Last year 1000 or so employees managed to get special waivers to exclusively work at home. No one in the local press has reported what positions these are or what the criteria was for remote work exceptions.

Back in the summer of 2023, I was reporting a considerable amount about this work-from-home city phenomenon placing undue pressure on Mayor Wheeler. A follower sent this video to me, which shows the Lloyd Center DEQ office, a state office.

It is often deflating being a private citizen in Portland wishing for our economic conditions to rebound, as we continue to pay for inefficiencies, pay raises, overtime, new vehicles, poor roads, subpar school scores, unsafe and filthy streets, and insufficient emergency response in a very highly taxed city, county and state.

I can only speculate Mayor Wilson’s strategy here, if there is indeed a strategy at all. Perhaps the same qualities that got him elected by a considerable margin - his likability and amicability - may not be a good fit for a withering Portland after all?

I have heard Wilson referred to as a one-issue-politician more than once. Wilson’s sole promise of his campaign was to eliminate street camping within a year, which he has no real authority to implement.

Zilch, only influence.

Wilson will need buy-in and majority votes from city council. Additionally, I would argue Multnomah County Commission will need to be on board too, as they have the lions share of the human services money allotment. Wilson had a knack in his campaign for winning over different political persuasions. Whether this translates into him being a successful mayor - only time will tell.

Since no doubt Wilson will read this, here is a personal note:

Mayor Wilson, we need a win out here in Portland. Our friends continue to move, small business is drying up, public safety is a mess, and many of us are barely hanging on financially. The least the city employees can do is get their rears back to the office in solidarity.

Angela Todd is the voice of reason at PDX Real, providing refreshing, frank commentary with a touch of a fearless rebel heart.