L ABOR
What’s
Happening
Labor bowl for
MDA scheduled
Sunday, April 23
The 17th annual Labor Bowl
Challenge to benefit the Muscular
Dystrophy Association (MDA) will
be held Sunday, April 23, from 1 to
4 p.m. at Cascade Lanes, 2700 NE
82nd Ave., Portland.
Portland area labor unions have
raised $257,000 for the charity. The
money helps provide wheelchairs
and braces for youngsters, medical
care, research and summer camps.
Pledge packets are available at
the Northwest Oregon Labor Coun-
cil or by calling MDA at 503-223-
3177.
AND
Tickets are on sale to win a 2006
Harley-Davidson low rider FXDLI,
part of a fundraiser for the fourth an-
nual “Unions For Kids” motorcycle
poker run and chili cookoff.
Tickets went on sale last month.
Only 3,000 tickets will be sold at a
cost of $10 each. The winner will be
drawn on the day of the poker run Sat-
urday, June 10, at the IBEW Local 48
hall, 15937 NE Airport Way, Portland.
Since its inception in 2003, the
poker run has raised $16,000 for Do-
ernbecher Children’s Hospital. This
year the group hopes to raise more
than $20,000.
Motorcycle raffle tickets are on sale
at several union halls, credit unions
and area businesses. The motorcycle is
on display at the IBEW and United
Workers Federal Credit Union, 9955
SE Washington St., Portland, through
April.
For more information, call Lee
Duncan at 503-260-5905 or go to their
Web site at unionsforkids.org .
NEWS FR OM AR OUND THE
P A C I F I C N O R T H W E S T
Workers Memorial
Day set for April 28
at Portland church
Ambulance crew
leaves ATU 757 for
independent union
Mark your calendars for Friday,
April 28, Workers Memorial Day,
the day the AFL-CIO remembers
workers who have been killed or in-
jured on the job.
The first Workers Memorial Day
was observed in 1989. April 28 was
chosen because it is the anniversary
of the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration and the day
of a similar remembrance in Canada.
This year’s event is sponsored by
the Northwest Oregon Labor Coun-
cil. It will be held at 7 p.m. at Tabor
Heights United Methodist Church,
6161 SE Stark St., Portland.
The names of workers killed on
the job in Oregon will be read and a
bell will be tolled in their honor.
For more information, call the la-
bor council at 503-235-9444.
Portland-area workers at Ameri-
can Medical Response voted to dis-
affiliate from their locally-based
union and instead join a relatively
new union that has its office in
Sacramento, California.
In votes tallied March 16, 298
opted for the stand-alone National
Emergency Medical Services Asso-
ciation, while 74 wanted to remain
with Amalgamated Transit Union
(ATU) Local 757, AFL-CIO.
ATU has represented paramedics,
emergency medical technicians and
dispatchers at the unit since 1988,
and has won substantial improve-
ments, including a 30 percent wage
increase in the last contract.
ATU continues to represent a
group of AMR workers in Josephine
County, Oregon. Those workers are
in a different bargaining unit.
AMR-Northwest was the only
ambulance unit represented by ATU,
which otherwise represents transit
employees. In its appeal to the AMR
workers, NEMSA promoted itself as
a union just for emergency medical
service professionals. NEMSA has
grown mostly by “raiding” already-
unionized units.
Because the group switched
unions, the ATU-bargained contract
expired March 23.
14th annual fair
inspires women to
enter trades careers
Motorcycle event
set June 10 to
benefit hospital
The 14th annual Women in
Trades Career Fair will be held Sat-
urday, April 29, from 9 a.m. to 4
p.m. at the NECA/IBEW Electrical
Training Center, 16021 NE Airport
Way, Portland.
On Thursday and Friday, April
27-28, the fair will be open to mid-
dle school and high school students.
More than 1,200 students are ex-
pected to attend.
The career fair, sponsored by
Oregon Tradeswomen Inc., is a way
for women and young girls to ex-
plore living-wage careers in the con-
struction-related trades, including
electrical, plumbing, heavy equip-
ment operation, carpentry, welding
and other jobs.
“The industry is predicting a huge
retirement in the next five to 10
years,” said Connie Ashbrook, exec-
utive director of OTI. “Now is the
perfect time for women to enter the
trades as doors are opening for the
next generation.”
Job-seekers can meet more than
Zachary
Zabinsky
• Social Security
• SSI - Disability Claims
Personal Attention To Every Case
Working For Disability Rights
Since 1983
Portland peace rally
Three years after the beginning of the second war in Iraq, anti-war rallies in
Portland and elsewhere had scattered union involvement. At a March 19 rally
in Portland, newly-installed Oregon AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Barbara
Byrd (second from right) told dozens of unionists why the war matters to
organized labor: “It’s not a war that’s being fought by rich people. This is a
war that’s being fought by working people and union members and their sons
and daughters. That makes it a union issue.” What’s more, Byrd said, the
enormous expense of the war is costing other opportunities — like funds to
retrain workers laid off because of foreign competition. And there’s solidarity:
Iraqi workers have yet to win the legal right to unionize despite several years
of U.S. occupation. Byrd’s remarks echoed a resolution passed at the 2005
convention of the national AFL-CIO. “Let’s bring our troops home, let’s take
care of them when they get home, and let’s end this war now,” Byrd
concluded. Holding the microphone is Jeanne Carpenter, a member of
Communications Workers Local 7901.
70 employers, learn about appren-
ticeship programs and participate in
numerous hands-on workshops and
demonstrations.
The career fair is free and pro-
vides free child care, parking and a
shuttle from the Gateway Transit
Center.
Freiboth tapped
executive secretary
of King County CLC
SEATTLE — David Freiboth,
former national president of the In-
landboatmen’s Union, has been ap-
pointed executive secretary of the
King County Labor Council. He suc-
ceeds Teamster Steve Williamson.
K
“I do this with a great deal of op-
timism. In spite of the challenges of
late within the labor movement na-
tionally, we in King County are
blessed with activism and social
awareness that transcends class. We
are one of the most progressive and
relevant labor councils in the coun-
try,” said Freiboth.
Freiboth, 50, served as president
of the IBU for 12 years. In that ca-
pacity he also served on the Execu-
tive Board of the International Long-
shore and Warehouse Union. IBU is
the marine division of the ILWU.
Freiboth is a third-generation
Washington native, born in Bremer-
ton and raised in Poulsbo.
Williamson left the full-time post
to take a job with the United Food
and Commercial Workers Union.
Evergreen College
to host summer
school for women
OLYMPIA, Wash. — The Ever-
green State College Labor Center is
hosting its 16th annual Summer School
for Union Women and Community Ac-
tivists June 28-July 2. This year’s
theme is “Women Bringing It Back To-
gether: Building Alliances Between
Union and Community Activists to Re-
alize Our Goals Locally and Globally.”
The registration deadline is June 12,
and space is limited to 60 participants.
For more information, call Nina
Triffleman at 360-867-6525, or e-mail
her at trifflen@evergreen.edu.
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223-8517
PAGE 4
P OLITICAL
MEMBERS OF TEAMSTERS LOCAL 223
— Eric Brending, Owner —
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
APRIL 7, 2006