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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 3, 2008)
OCT. 3, 2008 corrected copy:NWLP 9/30/08 12:04 PM Page 1 G E N E R A L E L E C T I O N E n d o r s e m e n t s o f t h e N ORTHWEST O REGON L ABOR C OUNCIL President/Vice President B ARACK O BAMA /J OE B IDEN Inside MEETING NOTICES See Page 6 U.S. Senate: J EFF M ERKLEY Oregon Secretary of State: K ATE B ROWN Oregon Attorney General: J OHN K ROGER Oregon Labor Commissioner: B RAD A VAKIAN U.S. House of Representatives First District: D AVID W U Third District: E ARL B LUMENAUER Fifth District: K URT S CHRADER Multnomah County County Commissioner, Dist. 3: J UDY S HIPRACK County Commissioner, Dist. 4: C ARLA P ILUSO Columbia County County Commissioner, Position 1: E ARL F ISHER County Commissioner, Position 3: T ONY H YDE Circuit Judge: Jenefer Grant Clackamas County County Commissioner, Position 4: C HARLOTTE L EHAN Sheriff: C RAIG R OBERTS City of Portland Commissioner, Position 1: C HARLES L EWIS Ballot Measure 26-94 (Safe and Successful Children) Support City of Gresham Commissioner, Position 3: S HIRLEY C RADDICK Commissioner, Position 5: P AUL W ARR -K ING Ballot Measure 26-98 (Gresham Police Levy) S UPPORT Oregon State Senate Dist. 14 - M ARK H ASS Dist. 21 - D IANE R OSENBAUM District 23 - J ACKIE D INGFELDER District 25 - L AURIE M ONNES -A NDERSON O REGON H OUSE OF R EPRESENTATIVES Dist. 27 - T OBIAS R EAD Dist. 28 - J EFF B ARKER Dist. 31 - B RAD W ITT Dist. 33 - M ITCH G REENLICK ; Dist. 34 - S UZANNE B ONAMICI Dist. 35 - L ARRY G ALIZIO Dist. 36 - M ARY N OLAN Dist. 40 - D AVE H UNT Dist. 41 - C AROLYN T OMEI Dist. 43 - C HIP S HIELDS Dist. 44 - T INA K OTEK Dist. 45 - M ICHAEL D EMBROW Dist. 48 - M IKE S CHAUFLER Dist. 49 - N ICK K AHL Dist. 50 - G REG M ATTHEWS Authorized and paid for by the Northwest Oregon Labor Council 1125 SE Madison St., Portland, OR 97214 Volume 109 Number 19 October 3, 2008 Portland Turbulance continues between IAM, Boeing No new negotiations between Boe- ing Company and striking Machinists were planned as this issue of the NW Labor Press went to press, although a federal mediator has been in daily con- tact with both sides. Some 27,000 Machinists at loca- tions in Washington State’s Puget Sound; Wichita, Kansas; Edwards Air Force Base, California; and Gresham, Oregon, walked off the job Sept. 6 af- ter the company refused to make con- tract improvements in the areas of job security, medical costs, pensions and wage increases for both newer and longer-term workers. Portland-based Lodge 63 repre- sents 1,244 Machinists at Boeing’s parts manufacturing plant in Gresham. To date, only one person has crossed the picket line. This week Lodge 63 members be- gan receiving weekly checks of $150 from the international union and $80 from the local. They also have been di- rected to file for unemployment insur- ance. And as the strike drags on, interna- tional labor federations representing millions of workers around the world began weighing in with expressions of support for workers involved in the dispute. Letters of solidarity have come in from 22 union federations in Europe, Australia, Denmark, Italy, Spain and elsewhere. “We will do everything we can to ensure this company and others are under no illusions that if you take on organized labour, wherever that may be, you take us on internationally,” said Steve Turner, national secretary of (Turn to Page 8) PDC staffers ratify first union contract, 122-2 Non-management staffers at the Portland Development Commission have ratified their first-ever union con- tract. The vote — by members of the newly established American Federa- tion of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3769 — was 122-2. The PDC Board of Directors rati- fied the contract in a unanimous vote Sept. 24. The deal marks the first time in the agency’s 50-year history (being cele- brated this year) that employees and management have negotiated a union contract. “This is an exciting time for the agency,” said Local 3769 President Alan Stubbs. “We have an extremely professional and hard working staff and we look forward to putting the contract into action and making PDC an even better place to work.” PDC is the quasi-independent de- velopment arm of the City of Portland. It operates on an annual budget of nearly $200 million funded by tax dol- lars. One-hundred-thirty-seven employ- ees are part of the bargaining unit. They voted to join AFSCME in May 2007. “I believe the ratification vote of 122-2 speaks for itself,” said Oregon AFSCME Council 75 Executive Direc- tor Ken Allen, who led the union’s bar- gaining team. “This is an excellent contract and it reflects on the quality of the workers we represent at the PDC. I have negotiated contracts for almost 30 years and have never worked with a smarter, harder working group of em- (Turn to Page 2) Macayla Goins holds a picket sign during Machinists rally Sept 20 at the Boeing plant in Gresham. Goins is the daughter of Lodge 63 member Mark Goins. More than 200 people at- tended the rally and barbecue.
