Inside
MEETING NO TICES
See
Page 6
V olume 108
Number 2
J anuary 19, 2007
P ortland, Oregon
PGE finishes big
storm’s repairs
An unidentified PGE employee —
a member of Electrical Workers
Local 125 — works to restore
power to Cedar Hills customers
following a wind storm last month
that resulted in the loss of power
to nearly 250,000 PGE customers
in the Portland metropolitan area.
As the storm hit (carrying wind
gusts of 60 to 80 miles per hour),
many PGE repair personnel
worked 36 hours straight; then
16-hour shifts became the norm
for the next five-and-a-half days.
During the duration of the storm,
line crews responded to more
than 1,700 reports of downed
lines. The storm was the biggest to
hit the area in more than 11 years.
“The restoration process was a
huge team effort, involving
employees from all parts of the
company who pulled together for
a common cause,” said PGE
senior vice president Steve
Hawke. “This once again
exemplified the very best of who
we are and what we stand for.”
(Photo by Richard Myhre, PGE)
Sen. Wyden touts universal health
coverage plan at business summit
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
At a Jan. 4 summit of Oregon busi-
ness leaders, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden
(D-Ore.) presented his proposal for
universal health coverage, which
would relieve businesses of the burden
of finding and providing coverage to
workers — and eliminate union health
trusts.
“You can no longer keep plopping
one Band-Aid after another on this
system,” Wyden said. “Health costs
are hitting our country like a wrecking
ball.”
Under the Wyden plan, which he
plans to introduce in Congress this
month, most individuals would be re-
quired to buy insurance, though em-
ployers would also contribute part of
the cost — and would be required to
turn whatever they are now paying for
insurance into a raise to employees.
Premiums for full-family coverage av-
erage $956 a month, so many workers
would get a sizable raise if the Wyden
proposal passes. But most of that
would then go to pay for their insur-
ance premiums.
Households earning as much as
four times the poverty level would get
some assistance in paying premiums,
in the form of a tax deduction or out-
right grant.
Health plans would have to be
equivalent in benefits to those now of-
fered to federal employees, and would
cover an annual physical examination.
Some individuals would be exempt
from the requirement to buy health in-
surance, including those who are cov-
ered by Medicare, the Department of
Defense, Veterans Affairs, or the In-
dian Health Service. Individuals who
oppose medicine for religious reasons
also would be exempt.
The Wyden bill would most likely
do away with joint labor-management
health trusts. Single and multi-em-
ployer health plans to which employ-
ers are now contributing under current
union contracts would remain in exis-
tence until the contracts expire (or up
(Turn to Page 4)
PDC adopts wage
policy for private
construction projects
The Portland Development Commission (PDC) Board on Jan. 10 passed a
policy that sets parameters for when prevailing wage laws will apply on private
construction projects that it helps finance. PDC is the quasi-independent urban
renewal development arm of the City of Portland.
“Ending the uncertainty around prevailing wage and establishing a floor on
wages and benefits are in the long term best interests of the community,” said
PDC Board Chair Mark Rosenbaum.
To help end that uncertainty, all private construction projects receiving $1 mil-
lion or more in PDC resources will be subject to the new wage policy, which will
require wages, fringe benefits, overtime pay and apprentice pay to mirror that of
state prevailing wage rates for commercial construction, or federal Davis-Bacon
Housing of Urban Development rates for residential construction. PDC defines
“resources” as donated land, grants and below-market-rate loans. New Markets
Tax Credits and other federal and state tax credits will not be counted as a PDC
resource.
Additionally, low-income residential housing projects will be exempt, or at
least be consistent with the recent agreement between the Oregon State Building
and Construction Trades Council and the affordable housing community.
Prevailing wage laws are designed to level the playing field for construction
companies on public projects by setting wage standards for workers on a craft-
by-craft basis. Annual wage surveys are conducted by the Oregon Employment
Division, and the law is enforced by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries.
“We made some significant compromises,” said Bob Shiprack, executive sec-
retary-treasurer of the Oregon State Building and Construction Trades Council.
“But something had to be done. Doing nothing was not an option.”
Shiprack said the new wage policy will make a big difference on larger proj-
ects downtown. “It will apply to roughly 80 to 85 percent of the construction dol-
lars spent by PDC,” he said.
From July 1, 2004 to July 1, 2006, PDC has invested nearly $200 million in
private and public construction development projects.
The new wage policy will not apply retroactively to projects already under
construction unless developers sign a memorandum of understanding. All proj-
ects now in the pipeline or under consideration will have to abide by the new
construction wage policy. Projects subject to the wage policy also will have to ne-
gotiate specific hiring goals for minorities and women. Those goals will be deter-
mined on a project-by-project basis.
At the Jan. 10 meeting, Commissioner Charles Wilhoite questioned why the
construction wage policy didn’t contain language for some type of economic
sanction against developers that don’t meet the established hiring goals. Wilhoite
will ask the Board to amend the policy to include such language at the next PDC
meeting scheduled for Jan. 24.
Also at that Jan. 24 meeting PDC staff will present a Minority Contracting
Initiative to the Board for consideration. This initiative will address issues includ-
ing prompt payment, insurance and bonding barriers, expanded use of the city’s
Sheltered Market Program, and other ways to increase the use of minority and
women-owned businesses on PDC projects.
John Jackley, manager of the PDC’s operations division, told the NW Labor
Press that when the Board amends the wage policy regarding economic sanc-
tions, it also will clarify other terms in the policy. For instance, one condition of
the construction wage policy states that “the Oregon Building and Construction
Trades Council will submit an annual affirmative action report from each mem-
ber union. On projects where the wage policy applies, the report will include us-
age rates and goals for apprentice and journey workers. Participating unions shall
allow direct entry into the apprenticeship pool from qualified pre-apprenticeship
(Turn to Page 12)