Farra elected secretary-treasurer of Transit Union Local 757
Tri-Met streetcar operator Evette
Farra has been elected secretary-treas-
urer of Portland-based Amalgamated
Transit Union (ATU) Local 757. She
out-polled five other candidates in a
race to fill the unexpired term of Tom
Wallace.
Wallace resigned in February after
admitting to stealing money from a
special fund set up to help pay child
care and elder care expenses for Tri-
Met employees. He is now facing a
federal criminal indictment.
After Wallace’s confession, he re-
signed and the Local was placed in
trusteeship by the international union.
Ken Kinoshita, a member of the Local
757 Executive Board, was named in-
terim financial treasurer, serving until
the special election. He finished sec-
EVETTE FARRA
ond in the balloting, 214 votes behind
Farra.
Farra, 37, grew up in the Portland
area, graduated from Vancouver’s
Mountain View High School, and met
her husband at Multnomah Bible Col-
lege. In 1993, she became the first in
her family to work at Tri-Met, where
her mother, step-father, and husband
also now work. Farra’s past experi-
ence as a business owner in real estate
will help in her new position, she said.
“It’s a little more involved than bal-
ancing a checkbook,” said Farra, who
ran for the post against Wallace in
2006, “but it doesn’t take a financial
degree.”
To bone up on union financial
management, Farra will fly to the
union’s Washington, D.C., headquar-
ters in late October for a week-long
training.
Local 757 has 4,127 members in
Oregon and Southwest Washington,
and Tri-Met is its largest employer. Fi-
nancial secretary-treasurer is one of
the local’s top elected positions, along
with president and vice president.
Farra will serve out the remainder of
Wallace’s three-year term, which ex-
pires June 30, 2009.
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PAGE 4
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
SEPTEMBER 21, 2007