...Change to Win unions
(From Page 1)
Following a daylong organizing workshop in Portland, more than 100 members from seven Change to
Win labor federation unions rallied in front of a Wal-Mart store on busy 82nd Ave. in Southeast Portland.
(Photo courtesy of Dan Clay)
power until one day SEIU came and knocked
on my front door.”
Little-Reese said she hopes her message
will resonate with the delegates at the Change
to Win organizing workshop and beyond. “I’ll
talk to one hundred of you, you’ll talk to a
million others — and (together) we can make
the world a better place. It is a life-changing
event.”
UNITE HERE Local 9 leader Jim Grogan
said his union will embark on a “Hotel Work-
ers Rising” campaign this summer as con-
tracts expire at major hotels in downtown
Portland. Hotel Workers Rising is a national
strategy that allies with community activists
and elected officials to help improve working
conditions and wages of hotel employees. In
Seattle, UNITE HERE Local 8 recently rati-
fied a five-year “standard-setting” contract at
the Westin Hotel that includes employer-paid
health insurance, no subcontracting of work,
a 50 percent increase in pension contribu-
tions, and wage increases that will bring
housekeeper pay to $14 an hour.
In San Francisco, housekeepers will make
$19 an hour as the result of a new pact ratified
there.
The Carpenters Union is bracing for con-
tract talks with general contractors and dry-
wall hanging contractors. The union is plan-
ning a “Taking Care of Business” rally at the
Oregon Convention Center in Portland on
April 15. Everyone is invited to participate.
Laborers Union locals said they have cam-
paigns under way targeting asbestos abate-
ment contractors and soft demolition workers.
Municipal Laborers Local 483 is going after
about 800 non-represented workers at the
City of Portland. Business Manager Richard
Beetle said non-profit corporations also are
on their radar.
Change to Win’s ultimate goal is to “cross-
fertilize” union organizing campaigns where-
by each of the seven unions can share re-
sources, ideas and staff to attract workers
from several jurisdictions.
“Victory creates victories,” said Steve
Witte of the United Farm Workers Union. He
said it took five years to organize and get a
first contract for farmworkers at Threemile
Canyon Farms in Eastern Oregon. “The next
group took five months.”
“We have more in common than we do
differences,” UFCW’s Lutty said. “Our mem-
bers grow, transport and sell the food America
eats. They clean the hotels and take care of
the elderly.”
The goal, Change to Win said, is to help
make this sector of the the workforce Amer-
ica’s middle class.
National Guard teams up with Labor Arts Festival planned for Portland
apprenticeship to train soldiers Planning for a Labor Arts Festival in have already occurred,” said Cook, tional the arts can be,” Cook said. “This
SALEM —In an effort to help
Oregon soldiers returning from the
war in the Middle East find gainful
employment, the Oregon State Ap-
prenticeship and Training Council and
the Oregon National Guard signed a
memorandum of understanding
March 7 that will ease entry into ap-
prenticeship training programs.
Flanked by a half-dozen appren-
ticeship coordinators and union offi-
cials, Major General Raymond Rees,
adjutant general of the Oregon Na-
tional Guard, and Dan Gardner, com-
missioner of the Oregon Bureau of
Labor and Industries, signed the
memorandum in the governor's cere-
monial office.
The memorandum gives appren-
ticeship committees the ability to
amend their selection methods so that
soldiers who meet certain qualifica-
tions have preference for admittance.
It also lets training programs recog-
nize “credit for previous experience”
so that soldiers can more rapidly ad-
vance to journey-level status.
For its part, the Oregon National
Guard will organize Soldier Enhance-
ment Days and other outreach events
to give apprenticeship training pro-
grams access to soldiers interested in
construction and other skilled trades.
“This will help open doors for Ore-
gonians returning from Iraq and
Afghanistan,” said Glenn Shuck, ex-
ecutive director of Labor’s Commu-
nity Service Agency. Shuck helped
coordinate the process that resulted in
the signed memorandum. LCSA is a
contract partner with the Veterans
Workforce Investment Program,
which assists veterans with training,
job placement and other services
when they return from active duty.
Zachary
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Portland is under way by the Labor His-
tory Committee of the Northwest Ore-
gon Labor Council.
Scheduled for Veterans Day week-
end, the music and arts festival would
open for two days of performances and
workshops at Bonneville Hot Springs in
North Bonneville, Wash., and culminate
in Portland Nov. 11 with a Pacific
Northwest Labor Arts Festival from 1
to 9 p.m.
According to festival coordinator
Jim Cook, a member of the Letter Car-
riers Branch 82, if enough money is
raised the festival will be held at the
Oregon Convention Center. If not, other
venues, including Portland area union
halls, will be considered.
By proclamation of the governor,
November is Labor History Month in
Oregon.
“We’re building on programs that
I've helped you design
and build factories all over
the west. Now I'd like to
help you design and build
your residential and
investment real estate
portfolio.
Lyman Warnock, Broker
503-860-7724
lymanwarnock@msn.com
621 SW Morrison, Portland
223-8517
MARCH 16, 2007
pointing to an art show last year at Port-
land City Hall, and several labor art fes-
tivals that take place annually in other
parts of the country.
NOLC’s labor history fund has pro-
vided $500 in seed money to get festival
planning started. Cook is now contact-
ing union locals, vendors, attorneys and
labor supporters for donations to the
festival.
“We would like to raise enough
money so that the art festival is free to
the public at the Oregon Convention
Center,” Cook said.
His goal is to raise $10,000 to
$15,000.
In addition to the cost of renting the
venue, Cook would like to bring in a
couple of well-known performers, such
as Billy Bragg, Utah Philips or Anne
Feeney.
“I know how powerful and inspira-
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
is something I’ve been thinking about
for years.”
Donations can be made payable to
the Northwest Oregon Labor Council,
Labor Arts Festival.
Cook also is looking for volunteers
to serve on the planning committee.
For more information, call Cook at
503-703-1693.
UFCW organizes
Fred Meyer crew
At a Hillsboro Fred Meyer store, 84
workers in non-food departments
joined United Food and Commercial
Workers Local 555 March 4 — with-
out a union election.
Thanks to a provision in UFCW’s
contract with Fred Meyer, non-food
workers at new stores can unionize
when a majority sign union authoriza-
tion cards, a process known as “card-
check.”
Grocery workers were already
union at the 6495 SE Tualatin Valley
Highway Fred Meyer, which opened
in the mid 1990s But non-grocery
workers had balked at joining. The
neutrality agreement also allowed
union staff to talk to workers on break.
In other retail news, UFCW Local
555 added a new category of employ-
ees to represent, when three Playland
workers at a Fred Meyer store in
Longview, Wash., voted March 1 to
unionize. If Local 555 is able to bar-
gain workplace improvements, the
union could be in a position to add
Playland workers at other locations.
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