NOV. 7, 2008
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11/5/08
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MEETING NOTICES
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Volume 109
Number 21
November 7, 2008
Portland
Labor Celebrates Obama Victory
A Sizemore-backed
‘dues check-off’
measure a nail-biter
Across the country on election
night, organized labor celebrated the
election of Democrat Barack Obama
as the 44th president of the United
States. Obama is the first African-
American in history to hold the office.
In a landslide victory, Obama, a U.S.
senator from Illinois, outpolled Re-
publican Sen. John McCain of Arizona
53 percent to 46 percent, and captured
349 electoral votes to McCain’s 173.
Democrats looked to have picked
up five seats in the U.S. Senate, with
three races still undecided, and 19
seats in the U.S. House, with nine still
undetermined. That, and Obama in the
White House, increases the likelihood
that the union movement will be able
to pass its landmark labor law reform,
the Employee Free Choice Act.
In Oregon it was by and large a
night of labor movement victories.
State Sen. Kurt Schrader walloped Re-
publican Mike Erickson to fill an open
seat in the 5th District. Labor-backed
Democrats also carried the day in
statewide races, with Kate Brown
elected secretary of state; John Kroger
tapped for attorney general; Ben West-
lund capturing state treasurer; and
Brad Avakian elected labor commis-
sioner, a non-partisan office.
But the state’s biggest campaign
was still too close to call as of press
time Wednesday morning. The state’s
unions were heavily involved in work-
ing to elect House Speaker Jeff
Merkley and unseat two-term Republi-
can U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith.
Democrats padded their majority in
the U.S. House, going from 233 De-
mocrats and 202 Republicans to at
least 258 Democrats.
Schrader will join Democatic in-
cumbents David Wu, Earl Blume-
nauer, and Peter DeFazio of Oregon,
and Brian Baird of Southwest Wash-
ington, all of whom were easily re-
elected. Republican Greg Walden,
who had some labor endorsements,
was re-elected in Oregon’s 2nd Dis-
Kathy Blay, Courtney Fisher, Jerry Fisher and Lisa Fisher cheer as they listen
to Barack Obama’s victory speech on a big screen TV at the Oregon
Convention Center. Jerry Fisher is a field rep for Glazers Local 740.
Daimler says ‘bye, bye’ to making
Freightliner trucks in Portland
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
The long-feared news came Oct. 14.
A truck-making operation that em-
ployed generations of Portlanders will
close in June 2010, as part of a major
restructuring of Daimler Trucks North
America.
Over 900 manufacturing workers
will lose good-paying jobs at the com-
pany’s plant in Portland’s Swan Island
Industrial Park. The plant once made
all Freightliner trucks, but since 2000,
the work has migrated in stages to
plants in Mexico and North and South
Carolina. Currently, the Swan Island
plant makes just Western Star trucks
and Freightliner military vehicles.
Daimler, which owns those truck
brands and several others, will move
the military production to one of its
manufacturing facilities in the Caroli-
nas, and the Western Star production to
its plant in Santiago Tianguistenco,
Mexico.
Daimler Trucks North America
headquarters will continue on in Port-
land for now, the company says. The
sales, marketing, and customer support
work was relocated to Fort Mill, South
Carolina, last year. But about 2,200
nonunion workers are still employed in
administration, product development,
procurement, and information technol-
ogy in Portland.
For the union workers, it’s a 20-
month countdown to an uncertain fu-
ture. Workers to be terminated include
members of Machinists Lodge 1005,
Sign Painters and Paint Makers Local
1094, Teamsters Local 305, and Serv-
ice Employees Local 49.
Machinists Lodge 1005 is the
largest group, with 680 members at the
plant. Several contracts ago, Local
1005 fought to get a “no-plant-closure”
commitment in the contract, and that’s
why the closure is so far out — June
2010 is when the current union con-
tract expires.
That contract also requires the com-
pany to bargain a severance package:
The two sides will begin negotiating
early next year. Some workers may
want to get a head start and find other
work before the plant closes. But if the
(Turn to Page 2)
trict.
In Washington State, incumbent
Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire de-
feated Dino Rossi with strong labor
support. The count at press time was
54 percent to 46 percent.
All of the ballot measures backed
by labor foes Bill Sizemore and Kevin
Mannix went down to defeat — except
one, Ballot Measure 64, a confusingly
worded measure intended to halt pub-
lic employee unions involvement in
politics, which was too close to call at
press time. That had union leaders
worried. The measure would ban em-
ployer collection of union dues if the
union spends any money on politics,
however defined.
“It could shut my local down,” said
Richard Beetle, business manager of
Laborers Local 483, which represents
parks, road maintenance and water bu-
reau workers at the City of Portland.
Beetle thinks Measure 64 is intended
to lay the foundation for a “right-to-
(Turn to Page 12)
Machinists solidarity leads
to new contract at Boeing
Machinists at The Boeing Co.
ratified a new four-year contract
Nov. 1, ending a strike that began
Sept. 6.
The pact, which covers 27,000
employees in Washington, Oregon,
Kansas, and California, passed by a
74 percent margin.
The agreement was hammered
out over a five-day period begin-
ning Oct. 23, with assistance from fed-
eral mediators and participation at the
bargaining table by IAM International
President Tom Buffenbarger and
IAM General Vice President Rich
Michalski.
“I’m extremely proud of our
membership,” said Bob Petroff, direct-
ing business representative of Port-
land-based District Lodge 24, and a
member of the bargaining team. “This
excellent contract didn’t just happen
by accident. It is the result of tremen-
dous solidarity by the membership,
and support from other unions and
from the community.”
Local Lodge 63 repre-
sents 1,244 workers at the
Boeing parts plant in Gre-
sham.
Job security and the
use of vendors were
key issues in the
strike. The union
was able to se-
cure over 5,000
jobs and pro-
vide security
for the entire
workforce
by stopping
Boeing
from chipping
away at jobs. If the
company had expanded its plan, ulti-
mately all jobs would have been at
risk.
Among the other issues resolved
were wage rates, health care benefits
(Turn to Page 8)