Let me say this about that
—By Gene Klare
Names from the past
AS WAS NOTED in the previous issue of the Northwest Labor Press,
this space is giving some attention to leaders of labor organizations of by-
gone years who are not eligible for the Labor Hall of Fame, which honors
living retirees for their contributions to their local unions and to the rest of the
labor movement. The Labor Hall of Fame is sponsored by the Northwest
Oregon Labor Retirees Council, which is affiliated with the Portland-based
Northwest Oregon Labor Council, AFL-CIO. Early-day women union lead-
ers who merit being listed on a Labor Honor Roll were mentioned in the last
issue of the Labor Press. In this issue are mentioned men unionists whose
names belong on a Labor Honor Roll.
In the year 1900, this newspaper began publication with the name Port-
land Labor Press. The Labor Press was established with a Labor Day issue
with H.B. Metcalf as the editor.
Union leaders making up the paper’s board of directors were J. A. Bush-
man of the Millworkers, E. Edwards of the Cigar Makers, J. A. Goldrainer
of the Barbers, B. Hesselberg of the Typographers, George M. Orton of the
Pressmen, Frank Allert of the Machinists, C. H. Weber of the Clerks, W. H.
Robertson of the Letter Carriers, John Beigi of the Brewers and August
Eachie of the Beer Drivers.
MILLWORKER BUSHMAN was president of the Portland Federated
Trades Assembly, which sponsored the start-up of the Labor Press. The
early-day central labor council came into being in 1883 when national labor
leader Samuel Gompers traveled by train from the East Coast to Portland to
meet with Rose City union leaders to establish the Federated Trades As-
sembly. Gompers, a Cigar Maker by trade, was president and founder of the
American Federation of Labor. Gompers returned to Portland two years later
to revive the assembly after it had collapsed due to a political split over
whether to support Republican or Democrat candidates. A later leader of
the pioneer labor council was Captain John O’Brien, a printer.
Printer Hesselberg was a member of Multnomah Typographical Union
No. 58, which was chartered in 1882 and took its name from the county in
which much of Portland is situated. Local 58 was a descendant of the Ore-
gon & Washington Typographical Society, which was formed in Portland in
1853.
G.Y. HARRY, of Portland Sheet Metal Workers Local 16, led a cam-
paign that succeeded in creating the Oregon State Federation of Labor in
1902 as an affiliate of the American Federation of Labor. Harry, a man with
a large handlebar mustache, was elected as the first president of the state
federation. Others elected with him were: Secretary, William H. Barry, a
Portland printer; treasurer, Charles Mickley, a Portland tailor; and these vice
presidents: J.F. Welch, Astoria fisherman; George Hornby, Portland long-
shoreman; G. F. Johnson of Baker (now Baker City), employed in the county
assessor’s office; William E. Miller of Salem, a member of an AFL directly-
chartered union; and Fred Langever, Pendleton painter.
Harry declined to seek a second year as president of the Oregon State
Federation of Labor at its second convention in 1903 at La Grande in East-
ern Oregon. Harry, active in the Democratic Party, was succeeded as presi-
dent by Charles H. Gram, a member of the Teamsters who was a Republi-
can. Gram, of Portland, served five years as labor federation president and
later was elected as state labor commissioner, an office he held from 1919 to
1943.
E.J. STACK, a leader of Portland Cigar Makers Local 202, was secre-
tary-treasurer of the city’s labor council in the early 1900s and later was ex-
ecutive secretary-treasurer of the Oregon State Federation of Labor. Stack
helped guide the Labor Press as a member of the nonprofit newspaper’s
board of directors from 1915 until his death in 1950.
...ATU points to record of successes
(From Page 1)
having belonged to the Machinists
Union two years prior.
“We don’t go out and solicit,” Col-
cord said. “We just answer the phone.”
That’s what happened in the Port-
land-based ATU unit, Colcord said.
The Portland unit had formed its own
independent association before, in
1996. But after 18 months in which the
new association was unable to get an ac-
ceptable contract, a majority of mem-
bers voted to rejoin ATU.
As NEMSA got under way in Cali-
fornia, ATU critics within the Portland
unit found out about it online, and be-
gan a drive to switch unions. On Jan. 19,
they filed a request for a union election
to see which union the members prefer.
AMR paramedic Carl Lemmon, a
NEMSA supporter, says ATU saved his
job once when he was facing termina-
tion. And while wages, benefits and
working conditions have improved
steadily in ATU, Lemmon thinks they
could improve more. He compares Port-
land-area compensation to that of North-
ern California.
Lemmon is not alone. The last con-
tract ATU negotiated contained a 30 per-
cent wage increase over three years —
and still passed by only five votes.
Will NEMSA, with a fledgling staff
and fewer resources, be able to do bet-
ter? Ron Heintzman, an international
rep for ATU who has been assigned to
bargain the unit’s next contract, doesn’t
think so. Heintzman agrees that EMTs
and paramedics are underpaid. Para-
medics make $55,000 a year after 13
years, but EMTs still start at less than
$30,000 a year under the current con-
tract, which expires in May.
Winning labor concessions from gi-
ant corporations is no picnic. As long-
time president of Local 757, Heintzman
developed a reputation as a skillful
strategist and aggressive bargainer. ATU
often resorted to the courtroom or ballot
box when companies balked at the bar-
gaining table, and amassed an enviable
record. AMR wasn’t paying for training;
ATU won a reversal, and back pay.
AMR wasn’t giving adequate rest time;
ATU applied political pressure and
AMR changed its policy. It was a felony
to assault fire or police officers, but not
paramedics; ATU got a law passed in
Salem to add EMS workers.
Still, Heintzman says, there was al-
ways a group within the unit that felt
emergency medical services workers
should have their own union.
That’s NEMSA’s chief selling point,
repeated over and over in the new
union’s appeals. And it’s true that most
Local 757 members are bus operators.
It’s a strategic debate — not over
whether EMS workers need a union, but
over what kind of union.
In conversations and on the unit Web
site, www.atuems.com, pro-ATU work-
ers and staff say NEMSA compares un-
favorably to ATU. ATU Local 757 owns
its own office, has the backing of its
180,000-member parent union, and as
an AFL-CIO affiliate, is part of a labor
community that can offer political and
economic support. NEMSA is an
untested stand-alone union. It’s a go-it-
alone union whose national headquar-
ters consists of a borrowed suite in a
Sacramento law office. And, by raiding
already unionized units rather than start-
ing with workers that don’t yet have a
union, NEMSA has made enemies of
other unions.
NEMSA president Colcord says
EMS workers need a union that under-
stands their specialty. He says he under-
stands EMS issues because he has
worked as a paramedic.
Local 757 attorney Susan Stoner
counters that the AMR unit already
elects officers from among the ranks —
and those EMS workers participate in
bargaining their contracts, helped by
Heintzman and others with full time
union expertise.
“When you actually sit and look at
the issues, it’s always the same,” Stoner
said. “When you fight with manage-
ment, you fight the same battle over and
over. It doesn’t matter what arena you’re
in — it’s all about control, and it’s all
about money.”
“It’s the EMS professionals them-
selves who decide what they want in
their contract,” Stoner said. “What they
need is an 800-pound gorilla on their
side, and it doesn’t really matter what
the gorilla’s name is.”
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(Turn to Page 7)
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NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
FEBRUARY 3, 2006