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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 3, 2006)
Let me say this about that ...Labor Honor Roll (From Page 2) Union leaders who sat with Stack on the Labor Press board in the early 1900s included Otis D. Forte of the Brewery Trades; Frank R. Raeubig of the Metal Trades; W.F. Otto of the Printing Trades; and Ben T. Osborne of the Building Trades. Osborne was the leader of Iron Workers Local 29 and also served as an international union vice president. He led the Oregon State Fed- eration of Labor as its executive secretary-treasurer from 1926 until his death in 1938. OTTO A. HARTWIG, of Portland Painters Local 10, was president of the Oregon State Federation of Labor from 1916-1924 and was president of the Portland Cooperative Labor Temple Association when the Portland La- bor Temple at SW Fourth Avenue and Jefferson Street was built. The cor- nerstone-laying ceremonies took place on Labor Day 1920. That structure was replaced in June 1966 by a new Labor Center at 201 SW Arthur St. The old Labor Temple was torn down in 1967 as part of an Urban Renewal proj- ect. The labor movement lost the Labor Center in 1978 when a bank fore- closed on the mortgage. Prior to his death in 1972, Hartwig worked as an in- dustrial safety consultant. He was a member of Painters Local 10 for 65 years. TWO MEN with long and productive years in the labor movement were Gust Anderson and Phil Brady. Anderson was one of the founders in 1917 of Portland Streetcarmen’s Local 757 — which later evolved into Amalgamated Transit Union Division 757. In 1923 Anderson was elected secretary-treas- urer of the Portland Labor Council, which later became the Multnomah County Labor Council and now is a part of the multi-county Northwest Ore- gon Labor Council, based in Portland. Anderson held the labor council post until January 1958. Brady was secretary of Teamsters Local 499 for many years and was president of Teamsters Joint Council No. 37. In addition, Brady was president of the Multnomah County Labor Council. Anderson, a Republican, and Brady, a Democrat, both had distinguished careers in the Oregon Legislature at Salem. Anderson died in 1969 at age 81. Brady died at age 87 in 1974. CARPENTER B. W. SLEEMAN, of Portland, was in 1925 elected pres- ident of the Oregon State Federation of Labor. He defeated C.M. Rynerson, editor of the Labor Press and a member of Multnomah Typographical Union No. 58. Bert Sleeman, a member of Carpenters Local 226, held the federation office for one year but he served for a number of years as president of the State Council of Carpenters and as a business agent of the old Portland Dis- trict Council of Carpenters. He died in 1966. Carpenters Local 226 and other locals of the United Brotherhood later merged to form Carpenters Local 247, which is based in its own building on North Lombard Street and Brandon Av- enue. TWO LEADERS of the Oregon State Federation of Labor many decades ago were D.E. Nickerson and Paul E. Gurske. Nickerson, a member of Port- land Carpenters Local 226, was elected executive secretary-treasurer of the federation at its 1939 convention in Eugene. That was the organization’s top job. He had served as president from 1935-1938. Gurske, also of Portland, a member of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757, was elected president at the 1939 convention. They served together until 1944. Nickerson died that year. Later, Gurske was appointed by Governor Earl Snell to the Oregon State Industrial Accident Commission. Gurske moved to Arizona after he re- tired from the state board. Local 226 later became part of Carpenters Local 247. HAROLD PRITCHETT was elected the first president of the Interna- tional Woodworkers of America when the union was formed and joined the Congress of Industrial Organizations at meetings in 1937 at Portland and in Washington at Tacoma. Worth Lowery succeeded him, followed by Claude Ballard, J.E. Fadling and, in 1951, Al F. Hartung. EARL HARTLEY was an early leader of the Lumber & Sawmill Work- ers Union. The union now has the name Western Council of Industrial Work- ers, which is based in Portland. The WCIW is affiliated with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. KELLEY LOE served on the staff of the Oregon State Federation of La- bor from the 1930s into the 1950s as a lobbyist at the Oregon Legislature and as a publicist and labor historian. He had moved to the Northwest from the Midwest and was a printer and an editor. He became a member of Mult- nomah Typographical Union No. 58 and before working for the labor feder- ation had been employed by the Labor Press. He was succeeded at the state labor federation by Tom Scanlon, who earlier was on the staff of The Union Register, a newspaper then published by the Lumber & Sawmill Workers and now published by the Western Council of Industrial Workers. All of the unionists mentioned in this article merit being listed on a Labor Honor Roll as do others who will be mentioned in a later column. FEBRUARY 3, 2006 Kulongoski won’t cross NYU picket line Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski was prepared to cancel a scheduled appear- ance to speak at a New York University (NYU) School of Law forum Jan. 23 unless it was moved off-campus. The reason: he didn’t want to cross a union picket line. About 1,100 graduate teaching as- sistants at NYU, a private institution, walked out Nov. 9 to protest the univer- sity’s refusal to recognize the union and bargain a new contract. The union — Graduate Student Or- ganizing Committee Local 2110, an af- filiate of the United Auto Workers — made history in April 2001 as the first union for graduate teaching assistants at a private university. Their first contract was ratified in January 2002. However, in 2004, new Bush Ad- ministration appointees to the National Labor Relations Board — on a 3-2 vote — reversed a 2000 NLRB decision that graduate assistants at private universi- ties were “employees” and thus entitled help with grading. Kulongoski learned of the situation about four days prior to the engage- ment in New York. His staff and repre- sentatives of the UAW spent a frantic weekend Jan. 21-22 looking for an off- campus venue. They found one at a nearby church. “All my life, I have stood up for working people — from the time I was a bricklayer as a young man, through my years as a labor lawyer and now as governor,” Kulongoski told the AFL- CIO’s Weekly Update. “We have to stand in solidarity together to make cer- tain that all working people have a voice in decisions that affect their lives.” “I’m proud that Oregon’s governor refused to cross the picket line. The right to organize is a fundamental hu- man right. When that right is violated, we must not look away and let that wrong go unnoticed,” said Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain. to union representation. The 2004 ruling didn’t bar collective bargaining outright, but it gave private universities the option not to recognize a union. Last August, NYU did just that. In a letter to students and faculty, ad- ministrators said that collective bar- gaining interfered with academic deci- sion-making and was not needed to protect the interests of graduate stu- dents. “We believe that it is of the ut- most importance to respect the princi- ple that students are students and not employees.” In a show of support for their TAs, more than 500 professors have moved their classes off campus, so as not to cross picket lines. During the holiday break, adminis- trators said graduate students who re- mained on strike when classes resumed in January would lose their stipends. Graduate assistants are primary instruc- tors in 165 of NYU’s 2,700 classes, and many more hold recitation sections and Blumenauer, Baird name new labor liaisons Oregon Congressman Earl Blume- nauer and Washington U.S. Rep. Brian Baird have named new labor liaisons for 2006. Willie Smith is taking over for Tom Markgraf in Blumenauer’s office and Erin Hyppa is succeeding Harry Glaus on Baird’s staff. Glaus, a retired Teamsters official, has worked at the part-time post for the past seven years. “I appreciate and commend Harry’s distinguished work for this office and Bill Bradbury. Hyppa assumed labor liaison duties in Baird’s Third Congressional District on Feb. 1. She has served on Baird’s district staff since January 2005. Prior to that she was the Clark County labor liaison and 17th Legislative District field organizer for U.S. Senator Patty Murray’s 2004 re-election campaign. “I am confident Erin will prove ex- cellent at maintaining our strong rela- tionship with the labor community,” Baird said. for the people of Southwest Washing- ton,” said Baird. Markgraf has been Blumenauer's la- bor liaison for seven years, as well. He will work on the congressman's cam- paign staff, but also has taken a position with Columbia River Crossings to build a new Interstate Bridge linking Oregon and Washington. Smith joined Blumenauer’s staff in January 2005. Prior to that he directed campaigns for Oregon Congresswoman Darlene Hooley and Secretary of State Protecting Your Rights Jeff Mutnick and the other trial lawyers at Landye Bennett Blumstein LLP have been successfully representing working people in the Northwest and Alaska in all types of litigation for more than 30 years. Asbestos litigation g OREGON 1300 Southwest Fifth Avenue, Suite 3500 Portland, Oregon 97201 Tel: 503.224-4100 Fax: 503.224-4133 jmutnick@landye-bennett.com Construction-related accidents g Nursing home abuse and neglect g ALASKA 701 West Eighth Avenue, Suite 1200 Anchorage, Alaska 99501 Tel: 907.276-5152 1981 Palmer-Wasilla Highway, Suite 220 Wasilla, Alaska 99654 Tel: 907.376-5955 Maritime and railroad injuries g Aircraft accidents g Automobile and truck collisions Landye Bennett Blumstein LLP www.lbblitigation.com NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS Committed to Your Best Interests PAGE 7
