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.
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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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