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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (April 7, 2006)
Wright appointed business manager of Bricklayers #1 AFL-CIO asked to rescind Solidarity Charter deadline Keith Wright is the new business manager of Portland-based Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 1. He succeeds John Mohlis, who left late in his term to take a job as executive secretary-treasurer of the Columbia-Pa- cific Building Trades Council. Wright, 54, has been a union brick- layer for 28 years, starting as an ap- prentice in the former Eugene Local 6 in 1978. A native of Flint, Michigan, Wright worked on construction jobs in numerous states before settling in Ore- gon in 1978. He has served as Local 1’s president and as a field representative since 1994. He resigned as president earlier this year to take over as business manager. Local 1’s new president is Matt Eleazer, who also was hired as a field representative. “Work is good, and it should remain good through the summer,” said Wright, who also is a delegate to the Oregon State and Columbia-Pacific Building Trades Councils, and to the Northwest The new Change to Win federation sets a May 1 deadline, otherwise it will suspend per capita. Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 1 Business Manager Keith Wright (right) presents Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski with an inscripted trowel at the union’s annual pin dinner April 1. Kulongoski assisted in presenting 25, 40 and 50-year pins. Oregon Labor Council. “We have a lot of work in Central Oregon (Madras and Bend), which should give us some in-roads for organ- Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski (right) chats with 50-Year Gold Card recipients from left: Jack Berg, Harlan Neal and Hermann Opgenorth. In the background is Local 1 Business Manager Keith Wright. Q } Quest Investment Management, Inc. Serving Multi-Employer Trusts for Twenty Years Cam Johnson Adrian Hamilton Doug Goebel Greg Sherwood Monte Johnson Bill Zenk One SW Columbia St., Suite 1100 Portland, OR 97258 503-221-0158 www.QuestInvestment.com PAGE 12 izing,” he said. Local 1 has increased its member- ship from 650 to 745 over the past year, and has 50 apprentices in training. On April 1, the union hosted its an- nual retiree pin dinner in Portland. The keynote speaker was Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski. More than 225 people attended. Kulongoski, who is seeking re-elec- tion, said it is the American labor move- ment that created this nation’s middle class. “We need more people to pick up the tools of the trade to build America. You helped build America. Without a skilled workforce, this state and this country cannot move forward.” Receiving pins were: 50-Year Gold Cards — Jack Berg, Jim Montague, Harlan Neal, Hermann Opgenorth. Robert Carter, Norman Paveletz and Charles Young. 40-Year Awards — Eugene Wyttenberg and Lonnie Pietz. 25-Year Awards — Darrell Mills, Robert Modena and Steven Johnson. The Change to Win labor federation says its unions will suspend their Soli- darity Çharter per-capita payments to all state bodies and central labor coun- cils on May 1 if the national AFL-CIO doesn’t rescind new eligibility and deadline rules for charter applications The Change to Win federation was formed last September following the departure of the Service Employees In- ternational Union, the United Food and Commercial Workers, the Teamsters and UNITE HERE from the AFL-CIO in July 2005. In January, the United Farm Work- ers left the AFL-CIO to join CTW, and the Laborers Union says it’s only a mat- ter of time before it splits from the AFL- CIO. The Laborers are already affiliated with CTW. [The Carpenters Union, which disaffiliated from the AFL-CIO more than four years ago, also belongs to the Change to Win federation.] Following the breakup, state labor federations and central labor councils in virtually every state were hit so hard by the loss of per-capita fees that they pres- sured the national AFL-CIO to devise a way for CTW locals to remain affili- ated. Otherwise, many councils would go broke. After numerous proposals and coun- terproposals, the top union officials came up with Solidarity Charters — one-year pacts that would allow Change to Win union locals to rejoin state and/or local bodies, with full voting and election rights — but without having to belong to the national AFL-CIO. To date, 860 Solidarity Charters have been issued nationwide. On Jan. 30, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney sent notice to all state and local AFL-CIO labor federations announcing May 1, 2006, as the dead- line to file for Solidarity Charters. That date was set, he said, in order to satisfy Federal Election Commission require- ments for the use of membership mail- ing lists in 2006 campaign activities. In the missive, Sweeney also said that the Solidarity Charter program au- thorized by the AFL-CIO Executive Council applied to only five unions: UFCW, Teamsters, SEIU, Carpenters and UNITE HERE. “Eligibility for Solidarity Charters is limited to locals of these unions. Locals of the Farm Workers or of other unions not affiliated with the national AFL- CIO are not eligible to affiliate,” the edict read. That didn’t sit well with the Change to Win federation. Gene Pronovost, president of Tigard-based UFCW Local 555, which has signed Solidarity Charters with the Northwest Oregon Labor Council and several other labor councils (but not with the Oregon AFL-CIO), told the Northwest Labor Press that the agree- ment reached at the national level al- lows for solidarity charters for any Change to Win union. The Change to Win federation sent notice to the AFL-CIO stating that un- less all CTW locals are eligible for Sol- idarity Charters, no CTW local will participate in the charter program. The issue was discussed at the Northwest Oregon Labor Council Ex- ecutive Board and delegates’ meetings on March 27, and a motion was passed unanimously to oppose the union limi- tation and deadline date. NOLC Executive Secretary-Trea- surer Judy O’Connor was asked to sub- mit a letter to Sweeney stating their op- position. The letter was sent March 31. 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