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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (July 3, 2009)
JULY 3, 2009:NWLP 6/30/09 10:25 AM Page 5 Sheet Metal #16 re-elects Phillips business manager Incumbents running Members of Sheet unopposed for other of- Metal Workers Local 16 fices included Rick Olan- elected officers, in ballots der, president; Joe Welter, counted June 25. The vice president; Ron Her- 2,300-strong union has of- genrader, conductor; and fices in Portland and Eu- William Carr, warden. gene and members in both For recording secre- production and construc- tary, Art Himm defeated tion. incumbent Dennis Boyd. Len Phillips was unop- For Executive Board, posed for a third term as Charles Johnson, David business manager and fi- McBride, Seth Kerner nancial secretary-treas- L EN P HILLIPS were elected to represent urer. Also unopposed were the building trades side, incumbent business agents out of six candidates; Joel Hutchinson Delbert Brown, John Candioto, and Willy Myers; Dennis Dover outpolled outpolled one other member to repre- two other candidates to win election to sent Southwest Oregon; and Darrell Alcorn, Terry Hills, and Steve Nuna- the business agent position held by Doug McClaughry, who retired. maker ran unopposed for election to represent the production side. Union Business manager and business trustees, re-elected unopposed, were agents are full-time paid positions. Of the business agents, Brown is respon- Carrie Barber, Dan Carroll, and James Philley. sible for the production members, All offices have three-year terms. while Candioto, Myers, and Dover will be responsible for the building Phillips, 59, said one priority in the next term will be keeping the union’s trades members. Phillips directs all two pension funds in sound shape. paid staff. Both funds, like most around the country, lost money in the stock and housing downturn, though the Local L EGAL P ROBLEMS ?? 16 pension losses were less than aver- For $16 a month age. Phillips said some members are out coverage includes: of work in the current recession, ❖ Unlimited toll-free phone consultation with attorneys. though not as many as were out in the ❖ A comprehensive will with recession of the early 2000s. Some yearly updates is included. employers are scheduling workers for ❖ Representation for traffic tickets, short weeks to spread the work around accidents, criminal, and civil suits. and keep as many as possible em- ❖ Coverage on IRS tax audits. ployed. ❖ Divorce, child custody, bank- Phillips said he hopes during this ruptcy and many more benefits.* next term to merge the union’s four THESE LEGAL SERVICES construction contracts, covering about ARE PROVIDED BY THE 1,400 members total, into one VERY BEST LAW FIRMS IN OREGON & WASHINGTON. statewide contract. In preparation for * Some services not 100% covered that, last time around the four con- tracts were negotiated to expire on the For more same date — June 30, 2010. information, And bargaining is currently under call 503-760-2456 way with three of the larger produc- or toll-free at tion-side employers: Thompson Metal (888) 252-7930 Fab in Vancouver and R&J Metal Fab- www.prepaidlegal.com/info/randallnix ricators and The Lynch Company in Portland. Optimistic AFL-CIO looks ahead By DON McINTOSH Associate Editor Judging by the mood at the June 19 meeting of the Oregon AFL-CIO Exec- utive Board, organized labor may be near a resurgence. Congress is likely to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain told Board members — though the “card check” part of the bill may be replaced by some other meas- ure to make it easier to unionize. When it passes, Chamberlain wants affiliates of the state labor federation to be ready to hit the ground running. In that light, leaders of affiliated unions will spend two days in early September at a strategy retreat led by organizational consultant Kevin Boyle, a member of the Communications Workers of America. Boyle will prepare for the retreat by interviewing labor fig- ures about what could be done better. The meeting is expected to generate res- olutions that would then go to the Ore- gon AFL-CIO’s biennial convention October 25-27 in Bend. The Board also voted to fund a pro- motional campaign. It could be some- thing like a state-level version of the na- tionwide “Union Yes” campaign of the 1980s, which had lasting impact in rais- ing labor’s profile. To research and de- sign the campaign, the Oregon AFL- CIO will be contracting with media consultant Mark Wiener and pollster Lisa Grove. The campaign would get its public launch this autumn. As the meeting progressed, Oregon AFL-CIO Communications Director Elana Guiney watched on her laptop computer a debate under way in the Oregon House. Led by Rep. Michael Dembrow, a leader in American Feder- ation of Teachers (AFT)-Oregon, the House passed a bill giving Oregon workers the right to refuse to attend workplace anti-union meetings. Board members cheered when the passage was reported, and Oregon AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Byrd an- nounced plans to hold a workshop for union organizers on how to use that new right in union campaigns. For all the optimism, it was also ap- parent that splits within labor could threaten future progress, as tensions with former AFL-CIO affiliates came out at the meeting. Most unions remain under the AFL-CIO umbrella, where federation rules bar “raiding” each oth- ers’ members. The idea is that unions are supposed to organize nonunion workers in their own industries, not spend resources persuading existing union members to switch unions. Ac- cordingly, the Oregon AFL-CIO Board passed a resolution, modeled on one ap- proved by the Nevada AFL-CIO, that condemns Service Employees Interna- tional Union President Andy Stern and international officials for their role in a raid against UNITE HERE Local 226, which represents hotel and casino workers in Nevada. UNITE HERE, the textile and hotel workers union, is go- ing through severe internal conflict — its former co-president, Bruce Raynor, left and formed a new union, Workers United, as an affiliate of SEIU. The new union is making a bid for UNITE HERE locals to break away and join it. SEIU’s involvement in the UNITE HERE dispute could result in UNITE HERE leaving the Change to Win labor federation and rejoining the AFL-CIO. The Oregon AFL-CIO E-Board passed two other resolutions. One, sponsored by the American Postal Workers Union, declares support for HR 658, a bill in Congress that would prevent the U.S. Postal Service from closing postal facilities until consider- ing the effect on the workers. U.S. Reps. David Wu and Peter DeFazio have signed on as supporters of the bill. The other resolution, sponsored by AFT-Oregon, calls on the Federal De- posit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to audit all banks seeking bailout funds and make the audits available to the public. Zachary Zabinsky • Social Security • SSI - Disability Claims Personal Attention To Every Case Working For Disability Rights Since 1983 NO FEE WITHOUT RECOVERY 621 SW Morrison, Portland 503-223-8517 JULY 3, 2009 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS PAGE 5
