NWLP-2-20-09:NWLP
2/17/09
10:08 AM
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Al Panek retires
Wyden names Smith Warner new labor liaison
Barbara Smith Warner has been
hired as a field staff representative and
labor liaison for Oregon U.S. Sen. Ron
Wyden. She succeeds Al Panek, who is
retiring at the end of February after
serving 12 years in that position.
Smith Warner is well known in la-
bor circles. She worked for the national
AFL-CIO as a state legislative issues
coordinator and as a campaign direct-
ing against several anti-union ballot
measures sponsored by Bill Sizemore.
Smith Warner was the campaign di-
rector for former Labor Commissioner
and IBEW Local 48 member Dan
Gardner. From 1993 to 1996 she was
the Western Regional field coordinator
for the National Association of Letter
B ARBARA S MITH W ARNER
Carriers. She also has worked as cam-
paign director for Forward Oregon and
Future PAC.
More recently, Smith Warner has
worked as a consultant for E.G. Enter-
prises, where she has assisted in the re-
election campaigns of Wyden, Gov.
Ted Kulongoski, and U.S. Rep. Earl
Blumenauer.
Her first day as a Wyden staffer will
be March 1.
Panek, 63, is a 34-year member of
the Teamsters Union. He served as
president of Teamsters Joint Council 37
and as secretary-treasurer of Local 162.
He retired in 1997.
Smith Warner can be reached at 503
326-7525.
Teamsters at Oak Harbor Freight offer to return to work
The Teamsters Union is calling off
its strike at Oak Harbor Freight Lines,
and announced Feb. 12 an offer to re-
turn to work. About 600 Teamsters
from the Portland and Seattle area have
been on strike since Sept. 22.
The offer comes after the National
Labor Relations Board agreed to an out-
of-court settlement of unfair labor prac-
tice charges against Oak Harbor, which
were the grounds for the strike. Under
the settlement, Oak Harbor will post a
notice promising not to break labor law.
The union is appealing that settlement.
U.S. labor law lets employers per-
manently replace workers who strike
over economic disagreements, but not
workers who strike to protest “unfair la-
bor practices,” as labor law violations
are known. Because the unfair labor
practice charges were resolved, the
strike could be deemed economic if
workers stayed out — and they could be
permanently replaced. On the other
hand, the union’s offer to return to work
obligates Oak Harbor to take them back.
That will likely mean job losses for
scabs.
The union said the offer to return
was contingent on the company allow-
ing every worker to return to their posi-
tions, free from reprisal, and for Oak
Harbor to return to the bargaining table.
IN MEMORIAM
K ELLY A NN P ENDELL ,
vice president of National
Association of Portland Let-
ter Carriers Branch 82, died
Feb. 6 of cancer. She was 51.
Born Kelly Epling, she
grew up in the Sellwood area
of Portland, attended St.
Agatha Catholic School and
LaSalle High School, gradu-
ating in 1975. She married
Mark Pendell in 1978, had two chil-
dren, and joined the U.S. Postal Service
in 1985 as a letter carrier assigned to
Southeast Portland’s Creston station.
Pendell soon became a union stew-
ard, and in 2000 was elected vice pres-
ident of Branch 82 — a full-time union
staff position. In that job, she handled
member grievances, organized pickets
to oppose Postal Service privatization,
and worked long hours phone-banking
for union political campaigns as a
member of the NALC Carrier Corps.
She was re-elected four times.
Pendell helped her union build
closer relationships with members in
smaller towns. Having spent much of
her childhood on her family’s farm in
Mist, Oregon, she was an avid lover of
horses, dogs, and cats — including
strays who would turn up at the union
hall and be adopted as unofficial
Branch 82 members.
Pendell was active in
the union’s benevolent
activities. Under her
leadership, donations in-
creased substantially in
the NALC Stamp Out
Hunger food drive and
the Muscular Dystrophy
Association Labor Bowl
Challenge.
Personable and compassionate, she
was well-loved. After she was diag-
nosed with melanoma, she went around
to postal stations raising awareness of
the need to use suncreen. Skin cancer
is a hazard for letter carriers, who must
be outdoors during times of day when
it’s best to stay out of the sun. It was
thought her cancer had been removed,
but its spread to other parts of her body
was discovered after she had a seizure
at a post office in September.
Her daughter Dawn is a letter carrier
at Portland's West Slope station, and a
steward alternate with Branch 82.
A memorial was held Feb. 13 at St.
Agatha Catholic Church in Sellwood,
where Pendell was a lifelong parish-
ioner.
Local 82 is planning a celebration of
life, though a date had not been set as of
press time.
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FEBRUARY 20, 2009
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