Clif Davis, new IBEW Local 48 business Industrial Carpenters Union
manager, outlines his goals and priorities president and Iraq war veteran
Portland-headquartered Interna-
tional Brotherhood of Electrical Work-
ers Local 48 swore in a new business
manager July 25.
Clif Davis, 50, took the oath of of-
fice after finishing first in a field of
seven candidates when mail ballots
were counted June 25. Incumbent
business manager Barry Mitchell
came in second. Business manager is
the 3,800-member local’s top elected
position and has a term of three years.
Davis said his top priorities will be
to establish a harmonious relationship
with employers, set a tone for friend-
lier union meetings, and increase
union market share in residential con-
struction. “We have a lot in common
with our employers — we both want
to grow,” Davis said. “We need to put
aside our differences and find a way to
do that.”
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CLIF DAVIS
A Portland native and 1974 gradu-
ate of Benson High School, Davis got
his start in the labor movement as a
Fred Meyer cashier and member of
Grocery Clerks Local 1092. After six
years as a cashier, and six as a Fred
Meyer manager, he worked three years
at Frito-Lay as a member of the Team-
sters Union.
Davis became an IBEW apprentice
in 1988 and later attended Portland
Community College, earning an asso-
ciates degree in applied science in
1993 — the same day he became a
journeyman electrician. He worked as
a general foreman, but also started
teaching as soon as he graduated, at
PCC and at the NECA-IBEW Electri-
cal Training Center (NIETC).
Davis was highly regarded as an in-
structor, said NIETC Director Ken
Fry, earning praise for listening skills,
managerial ability and intelligence.
Davis had the chance to go full-time as
an instructor, but wanted to help build
the local instead.
In 1996, he came on as a union or-
ganizer for Local 48 — visiting job
sites and recruiting licensed electri-
cians who were working for the non-
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AUGUST 3, 2007
union competition. Five years later, he
switched to the job of business repre-
sentative, negotiating for some of Lo-
cal 48’s non-construction contracts, in-
cluding local radio and television
stations and schools.
As business manager, Davis said he
will retain all office support staff, plus
attorney Norm Malbin, dispatcher
Frank Crane, and business representa-
tives Lee Duncan, Steve Vidito and
Bob Carroll. Former Local 48 rep Joe
Esmonde was rehired as political liai-
son and political action committee
(PAC) chair, and will serve as the lo-
cal’s representative to the Oregon En-
ergy Trust. New hires include Tim
Foster as assistant business manager;
Nancy Cary and Dave Johnston as
business representatives; Larry Warren
as lead organizer; and Terry “Tater”
Riegle as organizer.
Local 48’s jurisdiction covers Mult-
nomah, Clackamas, Washington,
Hood River, Sherman, Wasco, Tillam-
ook, Clatsop, Columbia counties, the
northern part of Yamhill county, and
Clark, Skamania and Klickitat coun-
ties in Washington. It includes inside
wiremen, plus sound and communica-
tion specialists, marine electricians
and electricians working for govern-
ment agencies.
skeptical of U.S. presence there
LaGRANDE, Ore. (PAI) — A Car-
penters local president from rural Ore-
gon, who served 13 months as a platoon
leader of U.S. troops in Iraq, has re-
turned skeptical of why the U.S. is
there.
In a long interview with the Union
Register newspaper published by the
Carpenters Industrial Council, Local
2851 President Todd Gorham said he
came to that conclusion after seeing bit-
ter relations between groups of Iraqis,
specifically between Kurds and Shiites.
Gorham joined the Oregon National
Guard in 1985. His unit trained for six
months in Texas and Louisiana in 2004
before being sent to Iraq that October.
He called the training “maybe 20 per-
cent useful, because the insurgents kept
adapting and changing their tactics...”
His 13-month tour of duty included
only one break: A two-week leave to
come home for his son’s high school
graduation. Gorham’s son enlisted in
the guard, too, as a combat medic.
In Iraq, Gorham, by then a sergeant
first class, commanded a platoon of 44
soldiers just south of Kirkuk. They pa-
trolled an area where four main roads
met, clearing it of insurgents’ home-
made bombs, called improvised explo-
sive devices (IEDs). “We were very for-
tunate. We didn’t lose any one, but we
had two close calls,” he said.
One of the incidents that left
Gorham wondering about the mission
in Iraq involved his platoon’s two inter-
preters, both Kurds from northern Iraq.
“I recall one time I entered the chow
hall with one of our interpreters and all
the other Iraqi nationals — mostly Shi-
ites — moved to the opposite side.
“They hated Kurds and refused to
eat near us,” he told the Union Register.
“I asked the interpreter about this ex-
treme level of hatred and he really did-
n’t understand. He accepted it as part of
everyday life. That left me with little
hope that this country could come to-
gether under any democratic system
and govern themselves. I feel like we
don’t need to be there when it’s a fight
over which group controls the country,”
among the Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis,
Gorham added.
After returning to LaGrande,
Gorham, a former shop steward and a
21-year veteran of the Boise Cascade
particleboard mill, was elected Local
2851 vice president. He moved up to
the top job when his predecessor left the
mill.
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