Let me say this about that
—By Gene Klare
Vokos enters Hall
THE NORTHWEST Oregon Retirees Council has honored Christ Vokos of
Portland with membership in its Labor Hall of Fame. Vokos, 84, is a retired secre-
tary-treasurer of Bakery and Confectionery Workers Local 364. The Retirees Coun-
cil is an affiliate of the Northwest Oregon Labor Council, AFL-CIO.
Vokos retired in November 1985 from Local 364, which he had joined in Oc-
tober 1950 upon going to work as a baker at the National Biscuit Company
(Nabisco) plant on NE Columbia Boulevard.
CHRIST GEORGE VOKOS was
born in Portland on Aug. 5, 1923. His fa-
ther George C. Vokos, had moved to Port-
land from Greece in 1907. The elder
Vokos worked as a union man all of his
life in the United States. His union mem-
berships included the Lumber and
Sawmill Workers (now the Carpenters In-
dustrial Council), Columbia River Fish-
ermen’s Protective Association, Alaska
Fishermen’s Union and Portland Painters
Local 10. Christ’s mother also came from
Greece. Christ graduated from Roosevelt
High School in January 1941. While in
high school, he was among a half-dozen
CHRIST VOKOS
boys who took home economics classes.
He has used the cooking and baking skills
he learned in school throughout his life. Upon graduation, before the U.S entered
World War II, Christ applied for officer training at the U.S. Merchant Marine Acad-
emy in Connecticut, but was turned down because of a problem with his left eye.
At the urging of his father, who was working at a shipyard, Christ went to work
at the Oregon Shipyard in St. Johns, helping to build Liberty ships as a member of
Boilermakers Local 72. Eleven months later he transferred to the Swan Island Ship-
yard.
In March 1943, Christ joined the Merchant Marine and shipped out on a Liberty
ship he helped build. He joined the Sailors Union of the Pacific and was assigned
to be a cook and a baker on the ship, which was hauling cargo to the U.S troops
fighting Japanese invaders in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. Vokos traveled around the
world on wartime Liberty ships, carrying troops and war supplies and dodging en-
emy submarines. His ship transported U.S. Lend-Lease cargo destined for Russian
allies and carried U.S. troops to South Pacific battle zones. Vokos served on a tanker
hauling high-octane aviation gasoline to Okinawa in the South Pacific from where
U.S. bombers took off to drop atomic bombs on Japan, an event which brought
about Japan’s war-ending surrender.
AFTER THE WAR, Christ Vokos returned to Portland and worked out of the
Carpenters Union on the construction of a passenger liner at the shipyard on Swan
Island. He next did some commercial fishing with his father, sailing out of Astoria
as a member of the Columbia River Fishermen’s Union. In 1947 he went back to
sea on a Merchant Marine Liberty ship carrying cargo to ports in the Mediter-
ranean Sea. A stop in Greece gave him an opportunity to meet with relatives he’d
never seen before. He made two trips to that part of the world.
Vokos was surprised in December 1948 to be drafted into the U.S. Army despite
his wartime service in the U.S. Merchant Marine. After basic training at Fort Ord,
Calif., he was sent to New Orleans, but within seven months, the Army sent him
home with honorable discharge, deciding that his family needed him as a bread-
winner. He went to Bristol Bay in Alaska to fish as a union member.
DURING HIS YEARS at sea, Vokos was the ship’s delegate — shop stew-
ard — on every ship on which he was employed. He was an active member of the
Sailors Union of the Pacific. He hewed to that same principle when he became a
Working America canvasses Seaside
About a dozen members of the Oregon chapter of Working America teamed up with delegates attending the Oregon
AFL-CIO convention in Seaside to canvass neighborhoods and ask residents to vote “Yes” on Ballot Measure 50.
Working America is a community affiliate of the AFL-CIO, with 1.8 million members nationally who don’t have a
union at work but share the same economic principles that unions stand for. Working America chapters have been
established in eight states. Oregon is one of the largest, with 56,000 members. Among the delegates volunteering
above is Amanda Fritz (right) a member of the Oregon Nurses Association and a candidate for Portland City Council.
b h
m k
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
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SEEKING WORK
Union organizer based in
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(Turn to Page 11)
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NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
OCTOBER 19, 2007