On Friday the 6th, Senator Chris Gorsek (SE Portland), Chair of the Joint Transportation Committee, and Representative Tom Andersen (Salem) joined SEIU leaders for a site tour of Salem’s ODOT Maintenance Yard. Due to the $1.7 billion shortfall in ODOT’s budget, this very compound was on the chopping block and being considered for closure with all of its workers laid off. The fact of the matter is that this would cause chaos for Oregon highway road users and everyone who relies on transportation on the I-5 corridor. This would impact ALL Oregonians. The ODOT crews led Sen. Gorsek and Rep. Andersen on a tour highlighting all their crucial work and broke down exactly what would unfold if the site closed. The tour consisted of the Western Oregon Fleet Repair Facility, the Sign Shop, the Electrical Crew and ended at the Wireless Communications Section.

Maintaining a fleet of road maintenance vehicles is not cheap, especially with price gouging by corporations and inflation. None of these heavy commercial vehicles cost less than a quarter of a million dollars, and our mechanics service the fleet frequently to use the heavy vehicles for as long as possible. Currently 38% of the fleet is past its recommended service life and this is projected to increase to 49% by July 2027. The Salem Fleet Repair Facility is what makes this possible. Our ODOT workers have the skills to laser cut their own parts with advanced technology and repair vehicles in days, rather than waiting weeks, months, and sometimes almost a year to order parts from the manufacturer. Rep. Andersen was impressed to hear ODOT-SEIU treasurer Marc Boswell talk about a sweeper that broke down on Thursday which would be repaired and back to work by Monday.

The next stop was the Sign Shop, where 7 to 9 thousand signs are produced every year, as well as 140 vehicles striped and signed. The crew offers 24/7 support in case of emergencies like when graffiti makes vital road signs illegible. The State having this in-house sign shop is a way to cut costs and provide fast service, with a turnaround time of 48 hours or less for urgent equipment. The tour continued as workers highlighted the work done by electricians and the wireless communications departments. Both of these services are crucial to keeping Oregon online, whether that be in repairing downed traffic signals in urban areas or providing communications services to emergency services like Oregon State Police. The State of Oregon is able to save money and reduce our carbon footprint by maintaining our own telecommunications network without the need of a contracted 3rd-party vendor. Both legislators were clearly moved by what they learned and we hope it will make a difference when they vote on the budget in this coming session.

Hear more from workers at the Salem Maintenance Shop in this recently uploaded video on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.