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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 17, 2006)
What’s Happening Union Food Bank asks for funds to feed less fortunate The holiday season is here and once again the Carpenters Food Bank is appealing for cash donations to help feed those in need. The all-volunteer food bank, now in its 24th year, is housed in the base- ment of the union hall at 2205 N. Lombard, Portland. The food bank feeds 450 to 500 families the third Fri- day each month, said Mike Fahey, who along with his wife Sandy, coor- dinates the program. “Regardless of what we hear in the news, things are not getting better for everyone, especially our seniors on fixed income and the unemployed,” said Mike Fahey, a former executive secretary-treasurer of the Portland Metal Trades Council and member of Pile Drivers, Divers and Shipwrights Local 2416. The November food boxes will be distributed Nov. 17. The Christmas food box distribution will take place Friday, Dec. 15. Fahey is hoping for cash donations to help purchase food items — includ- ing meat and turkeys — at bulk rate prices. The food bank started in 1983 with the intent of operating for three or four months to weather strikes in the com- munity. It continues to this day. Con- tributions can be sent to: Food Bank, P.O. Box 17358, Portland OR 97217. L ABOR AND P OLITICAL NEWS FR OM AR OUND THE sellers, publishers and political organi- zations will participate. All donations collected will be used to help establish the Glaberman Memorial Library. Consisting of over 5,000 books, pam- phlets and papers, the Glaberman Li- brary is the largest independent Labor Library in the United States. Now in storage, the Glaberman Library will soon be a resource for activists. For more information, about Joe Hill Night, call Jim Cook at 503-703- 1693. For more information about the book fair, contact Nick Neumann at 503-282-0863. of all ages to the NOLC office at 1125 SE Madison, Suite 100-D, Portland, no later than Friday, Dec. 15. Gifts will be distributed Saturday, Dec. 16, at 1 p.m. at Genesis Commu- nity Center, 5425 NE 27th off Killingsworth. PDC to decide on construction wages at Dec. 6 meeting The Portland Development Com- mission held its third and final work session Nov. 9 to consider whether or not it should set wage standards on public-private construction projects that it helps finance. The PDC Board has heard testi- mony from workers, contractors, union officials, apprenticeship coordi- nators and bureaucrats over the past three months. The board will announce its plans at its regularly-scheduled board meet- ing Wednesday, Dec. 6, at 8 a.m. The wage study will be combined with regular PDC business, plus a report on diversity and contracting performance on PDC projects. Health care forum in Portland Nov. 29 The second “Health Care Forum for Labor Leaders” is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 29, from 2-5 p.m. at the headquarters of Oregon AFSCME Council 75, 6025 E. Burnside, Port- land. Unionists will look at goals for changing the health care system and discuss health care reforms they might pursue in the 2007 Oregon Legislature. For more information, contact Laurie or Eliana at 503-236- 5573 or email laurie@jwjpdx.org. 2007 labor history conference will be held in Portland Small explosion stops Macy’s renovation Construction workers at Macy’s downtown Portland department store were evacuated from the job Nov. 7 after an electrical switch gear in the basement exploded, setting off a small fire and cutting electricity to the century-old building. Formerly the Meier & Frank flagship store, the building was sold and is undergoing a multi-million-dollar renovation. The first five floors will be Macy’s. The general contractor is S.D. Deacon. The upper 10 stories will be a $117 million luxury hotel. The contractor on that portion of the project is Hoffman Construction. Both projects are a mix of union and nonunion subcontractors.The Portland Development Commission provided $15.5 million in historic preservation tax credits and a $13.9 million low interest loan for the project, which later was determined not to fall under state prevailing wage laws. Plumbers and Fitters Local 290 picketed the Macy’s portion of the project Nov. 3 for area standard wage violations. The union was targeting plumbing contractor JRT Mechanical of Battle Ground, Washington, said Local 290 Organizer Don Kool. Kool was checking on Macy’s Nov. 7 when workers began pouring out of the building. He grabbed his camera and took the photo above. conference or to register, call Oregon OSHA’s Conference Section at 503- 378-3272 or 888-292-5247 option one, or visit the Web page at www.orosha.org/conferences. Free ‘Holiday Party for Children’ slated Portland hosts pulp 11th annual labor and paper industry law conference Dec. 2 in Salem scheduled Jan. 19 SALEM — The 66th annual “Holi- safety conference day Party for Children” will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, at the Elsi- nor Theatre, 170 High St. SE, Salem. The free event sponsored by the Marion, Polk, Yamhill Counties Labor Council will feature Santa Claus, holi- day songs with the Patrick Lamb Band, a showing of “Garfield, A Tail of Two Kitties,” and goody bags. Doors open at 9:45 a.m. Labor’s Yuletide toy drive needs gifts by Dec. 15 Labor’s Community Service Agency and the Northwest Oregon Labor Council, AFL-CIO, will hold their 10th annual Presents from Part- ners Holiday Toy Drive for underprivi- leged children. Bring unwrapped gifts for children PAGE 4 P A C I F I C N O R T H W E S T The 16th annual Western Pulp and Paper Workers Safety and Health Con- ference will be held Tuesday, Nov. 28 through Friday, Dec. 1 at the Red Lion Hotel on the River-Jantzen Beach in Portland. Leadership consultant and safety professional Steve Williams will give the keynote speech on Nov. 28. In his address, “Keeping Negative Emotion and Poor Morale from Damaging Your Safety Process,” Williams will explain how negative emotion and poor morale have a direct impact on safety. Registration for the conference is $185. The single day rate is $75 or at tend the Friday general session meet- ing for $15. An awards banquet on Wednesday, Nov. 29, will honor sig- nificant contributions to safety and health in the pulp, paper, and convert- ing industries. Tickets are $20. For more information about the Mark your calendars for the 11th annual Oregon Labor Law Conference Friday, Jan. 19, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. A location has not yet been determined. The conference is sponsored by the Oregon AFL-CIO, Electrical Workers Local 48 and the Columbia-Pacific Building Trades Council and is de- signed for business managers, business agents, organizers and union officers to get the latest information to avoid legal liability and to better serve members, said organizer Norman Malbin, general counsel for Local 48. This year’s conference will feature a panel on the recent Kentucky River de- cision by the National Labor Relations Board. On that panel will be Richard Ahearn, regional director of the NLRB in Seattle. Ahearn was one of the board members who ruled initially that nurses are employees and not supervi- sors. That ruling was appealed to the NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS U.S. Supreme Court and remanded back to the NLRB, which last month ruled that nurses can be supervisors. For more information about the conference or to register, call Donna Marshall at 503-889-3660 . The 2007 Pacific Northwest Labor History Association conference will be held in Portland May 4-5 at the Electri- cal Workers Local 48 Hall, 15937 NE Airport Way. The theme will be “A New Look at Solidarity: International Connections.” The organization is looking for pro- posals for academic research, panels, individual presentations, interactive workshops, drama, music, video, art and memorabilia related to the confer- ence theme. “We prefer interactive sessions and discourage the reading of papers,” said Ross Rieder, president. “We encourage proposals that link history with current issues, and especially welcome sub- missions that address immigrant work- ers, organizing strategies, contributions to the advancement of labor through the arts, broadcast media, and journal- ism, and more,” he said. Proposals should include a short summary and a list of all presenters and be sent to Rieder by Jan. 13, 2007, at the abovementioned e-mail address. Joe Hill Night, book Union delegation on mission in fair Nov. 19 in South America North Portland The 17th annual Joe Hill Night will be held at 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 19, at Liberty Hall, 311 N. Ivy, Portland (one block South of Fremont, two blocks West of Vancouver St.). The suggested donation is $3 to $10. Local bands “General Strike” and “The Joe Hillbillies” will perform rab- ble-rousing songs interspersed with dramatic readings of action inspiring stories of Joe Hill and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). A Portland tradition since 1990, Joe Hill Night celebrates the world-fa- mous IWW organizer and songwriter. Hill, well known for his many labor songs, was organizing miners in Utah when bosses had him framed for mur- der. He was executed by firing squad on Nov. 19, 1915. IWW also is hosting a Radical Book Fair at Liberty Hall starting at 2 p.m. Twenty new and used book- A delegation of eight union ac- tivists from Oregon and Washington is traveling in Venezuela and Colombia Nov. 9-20, meeting with workers, ac- tivists and government officials to hear about the lethal threats Colombian union organizers face, and find out how Venezuelan workers and the labor movement have fared since the 1998 election of President Hugo Chavez. The mission is sponsored by the Portland Central America Solidarity Committee. The delegation — which includes members of the Interna- tional Longshore and Warehouse Union Locals 4 and 8, AFSCME Lo- cal 88, Service Employees Local 503, Carpenters Local 1065, the Oregon Education Association and the Associ- ation of Western Pulp and Paper Workers — will report its findings at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 5 at Carpenters Local 247, 2215 N. Lombard St., Port- land. NOVEMBER 17, 2006
