DEC. 5, 2008 8pger:NWLP
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10:21 AM
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Cash needed to complete Workers Memorial in Salem
nalized by the state. The problem now
is cash.
The memorial will consist of a large
boulder with an inscribed bronze
plaque attached to it. The plaque will
read:
“In memory of Oregon’s working
men and women who suffered injury
or loss of life on the job.
MOURN FOR THE DEAD,
FIGHT FOR THE LIVING
Workers Memorial Day, April 28.
Donated to the State of Oregon by the
working men and women of the
Oregon AFL-CIO”
SALEM —The long-anticipated
construction of the Fallen Workers Me-
morial on the State Capitol Mall is just
about ready to proceed — when
enough money is collected to get the
green light.
The Oregon AFL-CIO’s Safety and
Health Committee has been trying for
more than three years to erect a perma-
nent memorial in Salem to honor work-
ers who have been killed or injured on
the job. The idea for a permanent me-
morial came in the form of a resolution
passed at an Oregon AFL-CIO conven-
tion in 2005.
The process to locate a site and get
approval for the design have been fi-
Organizing drive at Oregon Steel Mills falls short
Union supporters at Evraz Oregon
Steel Mills plant in North Portland
failed to get majority support for join-
ing United Steelworkers (USW) by a
Nov. 26 deadline.
Union organizer Pete Passarelli said
about 200 workers signed cards, but
that was about 85 short of a majority.
The Russian multinational Evraz
bought several steel mills and related
facilities in the United States and
Canada in recent years, including Port-
land-headquartered Oregon Steel Mills
and IPSCO of Canada.
Evraz left management in place af-
ter it acquired Oregon Steel Mills in
2006.
Under its union contract with two
Pueblo, Colorado locals, Oregon Steel
Mills agreed to recognize the Steel-
workers as the representative of work-
ers at the Portland plant if the majority
signed union cards over a three-month
period. During that time, the company
allowed union organizers to talk with
workers in break rooms.
It made it harder that wages at the
Portland mill — $14 to $15 an hour —
are equivalent to those at unionized
mills owned by Evraz, Passarelli said.
And the bad economy made workers
want to hang on to what they got. Ore-
gon Steel Mills laid off about 130 of the
plant’s 570 workers in early November,
and some workers felt unionizing at
such a time was too risky.
Plus, union organizers had to con-
tend with an active steel mill rumor
mill. Among the rumors: If they union-
ized, all workers would lose their sen-
iority and have to start from scratch;
workers would lose their profit-sharing
bonuses, and bargaining could go ei-
ther way, meaning that workers might
even lose what they currently have.
Where did all the rumors come
from? Passarelli suspects anti-union
consultants hired by the company
played a role. When United Steelwork-
ers showed up in August, Oregon Steel
Mills hired The Burke Group, based in
Malibu, California, which advertises it-
self as a “preventative labor relations
consulting firm” that helps employers
stay “union free.”
Burke Group representatives talked
up the disadvantages of unionizing at a
mandatory-attendance union informa-
tion meeting held by Oregon Steel
Mills. No union representatives were
invited to give a counter-argument.
“If the company really intended to
be neutral,” Passarelli said, “they
wouldn’t have hired the Burke Group.”
Oregon Steel Mill’s agreement with
the locals in Pueblo, Colorado comes
up for renegotiation next fall. Bargain-
ing could be tough if the worldwide
economic downturn dampens steel de-
mand, and profits.
The current Pueblo contract is a
five-year deal signed in 2004 as part of
a legal settlement that ended a six-year
labor dispute that began as a strike and
continued as a lockout. Ultimately, the
National Labor Relations Board ruled
Oregon Steel Mills had violated labor
law, and the company agreed to a
record-setting back pay settlement that
is still being paid out.
The boulder will rest within a land-
scaped sitting area near the main en-
trance of the Labor and Industries
Building at 350 Winter St. NE, Salem.
The national AFL-CIO declared
April 28 as Workers’ Memorial Day
more than two decades ago to remem-
ber those who have been killed or in-
jured on the job. Every year unions
throughout the country hold services to
remember those workers.
“We now have an accurate estimate
of the cost using all union labor to pre-
pare the site and construct the memo-
rial,” said Al Dorgan, chair of the Ore-
gon AFL-CIO’s Safety and Health
Committee and the lead man on the
project. Dorgan is president of Albany
Steelworkers Local 7150.
LCG Pence Construction of Salem
will be the contractor, with work being
done by members of Laborers Local
320 and Carpenters Local 1065. “The
contractor is ready to begin construc-
tion as soon as we have the funding,”
Dorgan told the Oregon AFL-CIO Ex-
ecutive Board at its quarterly meeting
Nov. 21.
To date, $20,514 has been collected,
following a $5,000 contribution from
the state labor federation. Total cost for
the project is $49,765.
Donations can be sent to:
Oregon AFL-CIO
Worker Memorial Fund
2110 State St. Salem, OR 97301.
(International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X)
Established in 1900 at Portland, Oregon
as a voice of the labor movement.
4275 NE Halsey St., P.O. Box 13150,
Portland, Ore. 97213
Telephone: (503) 288-3311
Editor: Michael Gutwig
Staff: Don McIntosh, Cheri Rice
Published on a semi-monthly basis on the first and third Fridays of
each month by the Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non-
profit corporation owned by 20 unions and councils including the
Oregon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in Ore-
gon and SW Washington. Subscriptions $13.75 per year for union
members.
Group rates available to trade union organizations.
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DECEMBER 5, 2008
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
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