Local Motion
September 2007
IBEW Local 48
instructor tells
of duty in Iraq
A U.S. flag that once flew over a
Marine base in Iraq’s Al Anbar
province now hangs framed on an au-
ditorium wall at NECA-IBEW Local
48 Electrical Training Center in Port-
land.
The flag was sent by Naval re-
servist Ron Umali, 44, who spent six
months in Iraq earlier this year as a
member of the U.S. Navy Seabees just
months after he was hired by the train-
ing center as an instructor.
“It’s a really bad place,” Umali told
the NW Labor Press. “You learn to
appreciate what you have because
there are people there who don’t have
anything.”
Umali grew up an American “ex-
pat” in places like Pakistan and Iran,
where his father worked in the oil con-
struction industry. But in Iraq, he said,
he had almost no interaction with the
locals. Security was always on the
mind, and he and the fellow members
of his battalion kept to their own.
While Umali was in Iraq, five
members of his battalion of about 500
were injured, and one, a friend and
fellow squad-member, was killed by
an IED (Improvised Explosive De-
Union activity in Oregon and Southwest Washington,
according to the National Labor Relations Board
and the Oregon Employment Relations Board
Election results
Company
Date
Union
vice) while on a convoy.
Though Umali’s unit came under
mortar attack when he was in Fallujah,
Seabees mostly don’t work directly in
harm’s way. Umali said he carried an
M-16 but never had to fire it. And
Umali said he’s never been on a ship.
The Seabees are the Navy’s best-
kept secret, Umali said. Known for-
mally as the U.S. Naval Construction
Force (and informally as the “dirt
navy”), the Seabees do construction
support for the U.S. Marine Corps.
The name Seabee comes from “CB,”
the abbreviation for Construction Bat-
talion.
Umali spent several tours of duty in
the U.S. Air Force, and a stint in the
Army, but joined the Navy in 1999
and found a home in the Seabees.
Umali said he can’t talk in detail
about where he was or what he did in
Iraq. But mostly he served as a con-
struction planning and estimating spe-
cialist, upgrading military outposts to
improve security and quality of life.
That included installing blast barriers
and replacing tents with hard struc-
tures. After seven days a week of 12-
to 16-hour days, teaching apprentice
electricians in Portland is light duty.
Umali declined to share opinions
about the politics of the war, but said
he wouldn’t hesitate to go back if
called.
When his enlistment expired last
month, however, he decided not to re-
enlist; he and his wife Melissa are ex-
pecting a daughter in February.
Her weekly care packages kept him
going in Iraq. Now, Umali concluded,
he’s needed on the home front.
Results:
Union
No
Union
Linn County Juvenile Detention Center
9/14
Linn County Juv. Det. Assn.
Albany
11
1
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the NW
9/19
OR Fed. Nurses, AFT, #5017 Portland
3
0
Location
City of Newport Fire Department
8/29
Newport PFFA, Fire Fighters
Newport
card-check
Representation petitions
Company
Union
Location
# of employees
Vanguard Car Rental (decertification)
Teamsters Local 305
Portland
67
Apria Healthcare Group
Teamsters Local 81
Portland
22
American Medical Response
Teamsters Joint Council 37
Portland
556
Albertsons (decertification)
United Food & Commercial Workers Local 555
Corvallis
36
Vancouver
Petrochem Insulation
65
Asbestos Workers Local 36 vs. Petroleum & Industrial Workers
Portland
Harry’s Fresh Foods
200
Bakers, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, Grain Millers Local 364
U.S. House panel oks bill to overturn
NLRB’s ‘workers are supervisors’ ruling
WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI) — By
a 26-20 party-line vote, the Democra-
tic-run House Education and Labor
Committee last month passed the RE-
SPECT Act — legislation to clarify the
definition of “supervisor” under the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act.
The bill — the Re-Empowerment of
Skilled and Professional Employees
and Construction and Tradesworkers
Act (H.R. 1644) — is in response to re-
cent decisions by the Bush-appointed
National Labor Relations Board that
significantly broadened the definition of
supervisor. In October 2006, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board handed
down a trio of decisions — known col-
lectively as the “Kentucky River” deci-
sions — that could enable employers to
reclassify many employees as “supervi-
sors,” thereby denying them the right
under the law to organize and bargain
collectively.
According to the Kentucky River
rulings, skilled and professional work-
ers who regularly direct a co-worker on
a single, discrete task just 10 percent of
PAGE 8
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
the workday could be considered super-
visors, even if they have no authority to
discipline, reward, promote, hire or fire
employees.
The Economic Policy Institute esti-
mates that 8 million workers could be
at risk of losing their collective bargain-
ing rights because of the Kentucky
River rulings. In the NLRB’s final deci-
sion, the dissenting Democrats on the
board said the rulings could strip 34 mil-
lion workers of their rights by 2012.
As a result of the Kentucky River de-
cisions, in a recent case from Salt Lake
City, a regional director of the NLRB
ruled that 64 out of 88 registered nurses
attempting to organize were supervi-
sors.
The RESPECT Act clarifies the def-
inition of “supervisor” to say a supervi-
sor must perform supervisory duties for
at least 50 percent of his/her work time
to be considered a supervisor.
The bill was introduced by Rep.
Robert Andrews (D-NJ). It is co-spon-
sored by Oregon Democrat David Wu,
who sits on the Labor Committee.
OCTOBER 19, 2007