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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 2009)
NWLP-2-16-09:NWLP 1/20/09 10:45 AM Page 7 Boeing to lay off 4,500 workers Boeing Co. said Jan. 9 that it will lay off 4,500 workers at its Commer- cial Airplanes unit. According to a memo sent to all department employees, many of the reductions will be in the form of over- head functions, as well as normal at- trition and a reduction in non-Boeing labor. Layoff notices will be issued Feb. 20. The cuts are expected to occur pri- marily in Washington State, where the Commercial Airplanes Division builds widebody planes such as the 747 in Everett and the 737 jets in Renton. Boeing officials said the workforce will be reduced to 63,500 workers — the same level of employ- ees as in early 2008. In Gresham, where Boeing em- ploys some 1,200 members of Ma- chinists Lodge 63, it was unknown how many jobs would be eliminated. “We got the memo, too,” said Bob Petroff, directing business representa- tive of Machinists District Lodge 24. Petroff said specific job classifica- tions or numbers have not been de- fined, and that the memo was sent to all employees in the division — both represented and non-represented. “We don’t anticipate a huge impact here,” he said. Machinist District Lodge 751 President Tom Wroblewski urged Boeing to “do the right thing” by re- leasing contract workers who are do- ing maintenance and facilities work. “We believe Boeing has many other options available, and we will push them to retain their valued em- ployees,” Wroblewski said. “When Boeing provides exact details on how many IAM members and what job codes are affected, we will issue a more comprehensive statement and present Boeing with additional alter- natives to preserve these jobs,” Boeing has said layoffs will de- pend on skill sets. Spokesman Tim Healy said contract workers who have skills critical to producing airplanes will not be let go. The union said no airplane orders have been canceled at this point and that Boeing is continuing to hire pro- duction workers. Wroblewski said 32 new Machin- ...Solar project wages low (From Page 3) to pay prevailing wage. With the Business Energy Tax Credit (BETC), private construction projects can get up to $10 million in public tax sub- sidy without facing the prevailing wage requirement. The Oregon AFL-CIO is on record calling for labor standards to be at- tached to the BETC. “Businesses who take advantage of BETC have a responsibility to tax- payers to create good jobs that pay a family wage,” said Oregon AFL-CIO president Tom Chamberlain in an e- Q mail to the Labor Press. “Unfortu- nately, there is no accountability built into this program, and we have not seen data showing that good, family- wage jobs have been created as a re- sult of BETC. Instead, BETC seems to have become another form of cor- porate welfare. We hope to see data that proves that BETC is working as it was intended, but if that data doesn’t exist, BETC needs to be reformed to include accountability measures that make sure that the companies who take advantage of BETC uphold their end of the contract with Oregon’s tax- payers.” Quest Investment Management, Inc. ists have been added to the payroll in January. Boeing said the 58-day Machin- ists’ strike last fall hurt its total yearly delivery of commercial airplanes, with the company reporting 375 planes delivered in 2008, down from 441 a year earlier. Healy said the intent is to keep production lines rolling, while cutting costs. “We’re going to be focused on overhead positions that aren’t directly involved in producing airplanes,” he said. “We don’t anticipate a change in our rate of production, we don’t want to impact development programs like 787 and adversely impact the delivery schedule they’re trying to meet.” ...Help is available for laid of workers at Freightliner (From Page 1) medium-duty Freightliner trucks. Daimler will eliminate 1,290 produc- tion line jobs in Cleveland, N.C., and another 275 jobs at its parts manufac- turing plant in Gastonia, N.C. About 1,400 members of the Cana- dian Auto Workers in St. Thomas, On- tario, Canada, also are losing their jobs. In Portland, union officials and the company are meeting with affected em- ployees to offer dislocated worker as- sistance, with help from Labor’s Com- munity Service Agency, the Oregon AFL-CIO, and Work Systems Inc. The IBEW and United Workers Federal Credit Union is providing help with budget counseling. Jobs cuts are based on seniority, and workers losing their jobs have been with the company anywhere from 10 to 15 years. The unions’ collective bargaining agreement — which contains language calling for good faith bargaining on a severance package in the event of a plant closure — expires in June 2010. Kear said the sides intended to begin severance negotiations earlier this year, but bargaining for a severance package in Ontario is going slowly. Kear told the Labor Press talks won’t begin in Portland until a deal is finalized in Ontario. • Serving Multi-Employer Multi-Employer Serving Trusts Twenty Years Trusts for for Over Twenty Years Greg Sherwood Greg Sherwood Monte Monte Johnson Johnson Bill Zenk Bill Zenk Pat Worley One SW SW Columbia St., Suite 1100, Portland, OR 97258 One 1100 Portland, 503-221-0158 503-221-0158 www.QuestInvestment.com www.QuestInvestment.com JANUARY 16, 2009 December 2008 Union certifications and decertifications in Oregon and Southwest Washington, as reported by the National Labor Relations Board and the Oregon Employment Relations Board Recognition elections Name of employer Date Name of union Location 66 9 Turner Engineering 12/5 Iron Workers Local 516 11 18 61 24 Umpqua Dairy Products ( DECERTIFICATION ) 12/15 Teamsters Local 962 Klamath Falls 70 61 Prestige Care Inc., Glisan Care Center 12/19 SEIU Local 503 Portland 18 16 Columbia Distributing 12/5 Teamsters Local 162 Vancouver Portland Recognition by card check Location Number of employees Name of employer Date Name of union Imbler 17 Imbler School District (classified employees) 12/31 Oregon School Employees Association Requests for recognition election Name of employer Name of union Location Number of employees Sandy 26 US Metal Works ( DECERTIFICATION ) Iron Workers Shopmen’s Local 516 Kaiser Permanente (admitting specialists at Sunnyside) Service Employees International Union Local 49 Portland 28 Albertsons (lobby employees) United Food & Commercial Workers Local 555 Roseburg 3 Sodexho (Medford School District contracted cafeteria) UNITE HERE/SEIU Medford 81 Vigor Marine Boilermakers Local 104 Portland 30 • Social Security • SSI - Disability Claims Personal Attention To Every Case Broadway Floral for the BEST flowers call 503-288-5537 1638 NE Broadway, Portland Rain Forest Boots Made in America! Working For Disability Rights Since 1983 Try a pair on, you’ll like them. NO FEE WITHOUT RECOVERY Tough boots for the Northwest. 621 SW Morrison, Portland 223-8517 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS Results: Union Union Yes No Oregon Child Development Coalition 12/3 Laborers Local 320 Woodburn Zachary Zabinsky } Cam Johnson Cam Johnson Adrian Adrian Hamilton Hamilton Doug Goebel Doug Goebel Garth Nisbet Local Motion AL’S SHOES 5811 SE 82nd, Portland 503-771-2130 Mon-Fri 10-7:30 Sat 10-5:30 Sun 12-6 PAGE 7
