Let me say this about that
—By Gene Klare
Fame for George Brown
THE NORTHWEST OREGON Labor Retirees Council has selected
George Brown of Sheet Metal Workers Local 16 for the Labor Hall of Fame.
The Retirees Council, which is affiliated with the Portland-based Northwest Ore-
gon Labor Council, AFL-CIO, sponsors the Labor Hall of Fame to honor union
retirees for their contributions to the labor movement.
GEORGE BROWN, 64, retired two years ago after working 26 years in the
maintenance department of the Portland School
District. He later worked briefly at an auto auction
business and as a pastry truck driver. He also did
volunteer work making repairs on homes of sen-
iors in Northeast Portland. He is still active in Port-
land-headquartered Local 16 and continues as a
longtime volunteer for the Northwest Oregon La-
bor Council’s Labor Day Picnic at Oaks Park.
He was born as George LeRoy Brown Jr. on
Nov. 17, 1942 in Portland’s Good Samaritan Hos-
pital. He attended Joseph Lane Grade School and
graduated from Franklin High School in South-
east Portland in 1961. At Franklin, he played the
trombone in the school’s band. After high school
he followed his father into Sheet Metal Workers
GEORGE BROWN
Local 16. George Brown Sr. was employed for
many years at Northwest Copper Works.
GEORGE BROWN JR. went through his four-year apprenticeship in Local
16 at American Sheet Metal Co. and worked there 12 years as a journeyman. He
began his career as a maintenance sheet metal worker for the Portland School
District in 1977.
Brown served on Local 16’s Executive Board for 12 years and also was on its
Negotiating Committee. He’s been a delegate to Northwest Oregon Labor Coun-
cil meetings and to Oregon AFL-ClO conventions.
FOR TWO DECADES, Brown has worked as a volunteer at the NOLC La-
bor Day Picnic to keep the well-attended event running smoothly. The picnic,
which started in the early 1980s at Blue Lake Park in East Multnomah County
and moved in the mid-1990s to Oaks Park in Southeast Portland, draws crowds
of more than 15,000. Brown waits on union members and their families at the
NOLC booth, selling scrip for refreshments, answering questions and perform-
ing other chores that are needed. Judy O’Connor, NOLC’s executive secretary-
treasurer, praised Brown’s commitment to making the Labor Day event a happy
experience for thousands of union members and their families.
Golf is Brown’s favorite sport. He plays regularly with an organization called
“Oregon Seniors.” They play at different golf courses. His handicap is 13.
GEORGE AND HIS WIFE, Shirley, who’ve been married for 28 years, en-
joy traveling by car to various places in the U,S, Their family includes a daugh-
ter, Laura; two sons, Jeff and Kevin; and four grandchildren. George and Shirley
live in a condo in Vancouver, Wash., to which they moved three years ago.
The Browns are members of Zion Lutheran Church in Southwest Portland.
George has served as a director on the church’s board. George is also a member
of the Gateway Elks Lodge in Northeast Portland, which he joined 42 years ago.
★★★
LEONARD (BLACKIE) PALMER, a longtime member and official of the
International Woodworkers of America (IWA), died on May 11, 2007 in a Port-
land hospital of a heart attack. He was 80 years old.
His nickname was given to him in childhood because of his black hair.
HE WAS BORN in Alberta, Canada, on Nov. 27, 1926. His parents, Lonnie
and Annie Palmer, moved to Clarkston, Washington, when he was a boy, and he
attended schools there. When he was a junior in high school he was drafted into
Class-action lawsuits filed for PERS
retirees forced to pay back benefits
Public Employee Retirement Sys-
tem (PERS) retirees who took a lump-
sum distribution upon retirement are
facing a difficult choice, as many have
received invoices from PERS de-
manding partial repayment of “ex-
cess” benefits. This demand for repay-
ment comes about as the agency
attempts to reconcile accounts as a re-
sult of the outcome of the City of Eu-
gene/Strunk lawsuit.
While retirees who kept their
money in PERS face the same repay-
ment demands, they have the option of
seeing their monthly benefit reduced
slightly until PERS deems they are
caught up. Retirees who took lump-
sum payments, however, have more
limited options.
Greg Hartman, an attorney for the
PERS Coalition, a group of unions
that have filed class-action lawsuits on
behalf of public employees, notes that
two pending lawsuits — the Arken
case and the Robinson case — have
the potential to address this issue and
possibly lessen or even eliminate the
repayment burden. Hartman hopes to
see both cases certified as class-action
suits, meaning anyone who fits the pa-
b h
m k
rameters of the cases has the potential
to be covered. Arken deals with the
so-called “window” retirees — those
who retired between April 1, 2000,
and April 1, 2004. Robinson covers a
somewhat broader range of retirement
dates. Both cases were briefed and ar-
gued before Multnomah County Cir-
cuit Court Judge Henry Kantor several
months ago, and Hartman believes
Kantor’s decisions are imminent.
However, whichever side loses
likely will appeal to the Oregon Court
of Appeals — and then to the Oregon
Supreme Court. That could take years.
Retirees who fit the parameters of
either the Arken or Robinson cases
will automatically be included in the
class-action should the cases be certi-
fied.
In the meantime, what can lump-
sum retirees do with their pending in-
voices? Hartman outlines four op-
tions:
• Write a check and pay the bill.
Should the unions prevail in Arken
and/or Robinson and you’re covered
by one or the other (or both), you’ll ul-
timately get your money back from
PERS.
Bennett Hartman
Morris & Kaplan, llp
Attorneys at Law
Oregon’s Full Service Union Law Firm
Representing Workers Since 1960
Serious Injury and Death Cases
• Construction Injuries
• Automobile Accidents
• Medical, Dental, and Legal Malpractice
• Bicycle and Motorcycle Accidents
• Pedestrian Accidents
• Premises Liability (injuries on premises)
• Workers’ Compensation Injuries
• Social Security Claims
• Roll over the amount due back
to PERS from a qualified account.
The fine print of the letter you re-
ceived outlines this process, and it ap-
pears the IRS will allow this rollover
to occur tax-free (although that has
not been 100 percent determined yet).
You may need to contact a qualified
financial planner to help you through
this process.
• File an administrative challenge
with PERS. If you feel you have some
circumstance that makes your situa-
tion extraordinary, you can contact
PERS and challenge the agency’s in-
voice.
Hartman warns that while this op-
tion exists on paper, he isn’t sure of
any circumstances that PERS may ac-
cept as proof. “But every single re-
tiree’s situation is unique, so I would
never rule out that someone may in-
deed have an unusual circumstance
that qualifies,” said Hartman. Never-
theless, this option is likely a stalling
tactic at best for most lump-sum recip-
ients.
• Do nothing. This is a viable op-
tion, though not one Hartman recom-
mends. This was a better option for
those who kept their money in PERS.
But you can choose to sit back and see
what happens while hoping that Arken
and/or Robinson intervenes in your fa-
vor.
Hartman does warn that if you
force PERS to instigate a collection
process against you, there will likely
be penalties and fees added to the
amount due.
(Editor’s Note: This article origi-
nally appeared on the AFSCME Ore-
gon Council 75 Web site.)
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NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
JUNE 15, 2007