ConMetco’s Rivergate plant
closes; once employed 400
Machinists Union members clocked
out for the last time Oct. 9 at Consoli-
dated Metco in Portland’s Rivergate In-
dustrial District.
The plant, the company’s first manu-
facturing facility, now sits closed. At the
end, only 26 union members remained,
down from about 150 two years ago,
and 400 union employees 10 years ago,
said District Lodge 24 Business Repre-
sentative Scott Lucy.
Workers there earned $13 to $21 an
hour as molders, tenders and heat
treaters, molding aluminum and then
machining it into finished components.
The plant made hubs, cross-members
and other truck parts for Freightliner
and Paccar. Both companies are expe-
riencing a slump in sales, but both are
also shifting production abroad.
“As far as we’re concerned, many
politicians have sold out manufacturing
in this country,” Lucy said. “There’s a
downturn in the truck market, but it
can’t be discounted that moving things
to Mexico is a product of bad trade
agreements that have adversely im-
pacted manufacturing in the United
States.”
The United States should withdraw
from its current trade agreements, Lucy
said, and not sign the latest batch of
agreements, despite “feel-good lan-
guage” about labor and environmental
standards that Lucy said will be unen-
forceable.
Because their layoffs are trade-re-
lated, the ConMet workers are eligible
for a package of benefits including ex-
tended unemployment insurance bene-
fits and retraining and relocation assis-
tance.
Several of the laid-off workers were
officers of Machinists Local 1432. Sec-
retary-Treasurer Larry Hendrickson and
trustee Vern Needles will be allowed to
serve out the remainder of their terms.
ConMet will continue to have its
corporate headquarters at Rivergate, in-
cluding engineering and management
employees. It also will continue opera-
tions at Clackamas and several other lo-
cations in the United States.
SEIU’s Dale won’t
run for AG post
Service Employees Local 49 Presi-
dent Alice Dale decided not to enter
the race for Oregon attorney general,
announcing her decision in an Oct. 16
statement.
The announcement followed sev-
eral weeks during which she met with
labor leaders seeking possible support
for a campaign. In her statement, she
said a statewide campaign was incom-
patible with the demands of being a
mother to her 12-year-old son.
Don’t Forget to Vote By Nov. 6
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