Let me say this about that
—By Gene Klare
Thompson in spotlight
JOE THOMPSON, 77, founder of the Labor Roundtable of Southwest Wash-
ington, stands in the spotlight as a new member of the Labor Hall of Fame, which
is sponsored by the Northwest Oregon Labor Retirees Council. The Retirees Coun-
cil is affiliated with the Northwest Oregon Labor Council, AFL-CIO, and meets
monthly in the NOLC boardroom at 1125 SE Madison St., Portland
THOMPSON RETIRED 21 years ago at age 56 from the Aluminum, Brick
and Glass Workers International Union. He took
early retirement as a vice president of the Alu-
minum Workers after a merger necessitated a
staff reduction. The ABGWIU later merged with
the United Steelworkers of America.
Joseph Eugene Thompson was born on May
16, 1930 in East St. Louis, Illinois, across the
Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri. After
attending grade school and high school in his
hometown, he enlisted in the United States Air
Force. After two years of active duty he entered
the Air Force Reserve and went to work in the
Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) plant
in East St. Louis. Thompson said “no sooner than
I’d settled down to civilian life, the Air Force
JOE THOMPSON
called me back to active duty in the Korean War.”
He served in Korea as an airplane mechanic. Af-
ter his second tour of duty, he returned to his job at Alcoa.
HE BECAME ACTIVE in Aluminum Workers Local 100 as a shop steward at
the Alcoa plant. In 1956, Thompson moved to Gramercy, Louisiana, to work in a
Kaiser Aluminum plant. His next move took him to Duffy, Ohio, near the West
Virginia state line, where he worked at an Olin Mathieson Aluminum plant and
helped organize it. In March l959 he went to Terre Haute, Indiana, to organize an
Anaconda Aluminum Co. plant. There, he served for five and a half years as pres-
ident of Local 103.
Thompson was elected an international vice president of the Aluminum Work-
ers at a 1969 convention held in Vancouver, Wash. In that capacity, he provided
service to local unions in the Midwest while based in Terre Haute. In 1976 he was
transferred to Denver, Colorado, where he organized the Robinson Brick plant and
the Schaffer Seating factory. Later, he was transferred to Vancouver, Wash., from
where he worked in the Northwest organizing, negotiating contracts and handling
other duties for local unions.
AFTER HIS RETIREMENT in 1986, Thompson was instrumental in form-
ing the Labor Roundtable of Southwest Washington, and was its chairman for
nearly a decade. He is still active in that organization, which meets for breakfast at
a Vancouver restaurant every other Friday, and he also still attends meetings of the
Vancouver-based Clark, Skamania and West Klickitat Counties Central Labor
Council, AFL-CIO.
Political campaigning for labor-endorsed candidates occupied a goodly amount
of Thompson’s time when he worked for the Aluminum Workers Union, and in
retirement he is still active in politics. When he was in Indiana, he helped Birch
Bayh get elected to the U.S. Senate. In Vancouver he’s worked on campaigns of
Patty Murray for U.S. senator, Jolene Unsoeld for U.S. representative, Maria
Cantwell for U.S. senator, and Brian Baird for U.S. representative, and he’s also
helped Washington State Senator Al Bauer and State Representative Val Ogden.
THOMPSON SERVED as co-chairman, with Jim DeLong of Kaiser Perma-
nente, on a committee that he said “was able to erect a monument in Vancouver to
Henry J. Kaiser and to the union workers who built World War II Liberty Ships at
the Kaiser Shipyard.” Many union volunteers participated in the monument project.
The monument was erected and dedicated in the mid-1990s at the site of the old
shipyard along the Columbia River.
Thompson and his wife, the former Carolett Frey, were married in Terre Haute
in 1960. They have a daughter, Elana, and a grand-daughter, Aspen, age 5.
JUNE 1, 2007
Governor could do more
to aid injured workers
To The Editor:
Being a Machinists Union member
for over 38 years, now retired and hav-
ing a daughter killed on the job, I was
appalled to read the article “Remem-
bering workers killed on the job” in the
April 20 edition of the NW Labor Press.
I couldn’t believe that Gov. Ted Ku-
longoski was even asked to speak at
such a solemn occasion. This is the
same man who, when he was the insur-
ance commissioner under Gov. Neil
Goldschmidt, helped Goldschmidt and
Kevin Mannix and others change our
workers’ compensation system so it
would benefit employers, insurance
companies and the state’s own SAIF
Corporation.
Kulongoski loves to tell everyone
that we have one of the lowest workers’
compensation rates in the country. The
only problem with that is you only get
low rates by not paying the injured
workers what they deserve, are entitled
to, and need to keep on living.
Then he shows up and turns this spe-
cial moment into a political ploy to
complain about George Bush and his
administration and blaming them for all
of our safety issues. This was supposed
to be a solemn moment when we re-
member our fellow workers who were
killed on the job; not a moment for our
governor to try and make political hay.
Open
Forum
Meanwhile, here in Oregon I haven’t
seen him doing anything to help get any
of the numerous bills passed that would
have made workers’ compensation
more worker-friendly, doubled OSHA
penalties, changed the makeup of the
Management-Labor Advisory Commit-
tee or anything else that would have ac-
tually helped Oregon workers.
Most of the things he was blaming
the feds about could be handled right
here in our own Legislature and/or by
executive order.
Barrett Behurst Sr.
IAM Lodge 63
Portland
Support beleaguered Iraqi oil industry workers
To The Editor:
As of May 14, oil workers in Iraq are
on strike to protest proposed legislation
that would privatize the country’s oil.
The new oil law would give 30-year
leases to companies like Chevron,
Exxon and Mobil with a guaranteed 75
percent of oil revenue until infrastruc-
ture investments are recouped.
Thereafter, these companies would
keep 20 percent of the profits. What is
not widely reported is the origin of this
legislation. It was drafted by the Vir-
ginia firm Bearing Point, sent to the oil
companies for review, then to the U.S.
Government and the International Mon-
etary Fund; and finally, it was presented
to the Iraqi Parliament to rubber stamp.
Currently, Iraqi oil is a national re-
source that should be used to rebuild the
country after decades of devastating
sanctions, war and occupation. It is
criminal that multinational corporations
are expecting to make lucrative profits
off of rebuilding an infrastructure that
existed prior to the U.S. led coalition’s
Labor appreciation dinner June 2
The Northwest Oregon Labor Council will host the 10th annual Labor Appre-
ciation and Recognition Night Saturday, June 2, at Westmoreland Union Manor
starting at 6 p.m. This year’s theme is “Hat Madness,” so don your favorite lid for
the dinner and awards ceremony, which serves as a fundraiser for Labor’s Com-
munity Service Agency’s Emergency Fund. The fund helps union members who
have been laid off, are on strike, or experiencing some type of financial difficulty.
Dinner tickets are $10 per person. Raffle tickets also will be on sale. For more
information, call 503-235-9444.
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NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
invasion of Iraq. It is imperative that
U.S. workers and labor unions stand in
solidarity with the valiant workers of
the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions as
they strike for better living conditions
for all Iraqis.
Solidarity e-mails and faxes can be
sent to: Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki
Minister of Oil, Dr. Hussein al Sharas-
tani C/O Embassy of the Republic of
Iraq, 169 Knightsbridge, London SW7
1DW; Fax: (020) 7589 3356.
Please send a copy of correspon-
dence to the General Union of Oil Em-
ployees at info@basraoilunion.org
Glenn Kirkindall
UFCW Local 555
Portland
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