March 19, 2010 :NWLP
3/16/10
10:28 AM
Page 2
Lane County Labor Council’s first woman S-T retires
EUGENE — Pat Riggs-Henson, a
31-year member of the American Fed-
eration of State, County and Municipal
Employees (AFSCME) Local 2831, re-
tired as executive secretary-treasurer of
the Lane County Labor Council. In do-
ing so, she also resigned her seat on the
Oregon AFL-CIO Executive Board.
Riggs-Henson, 59, retired from her
day job as a career adviser for the Lane
Workforce Partnership in Lane County
in July 2008. There, she helped work-
ers over 55 who have been downsized,
dislocated or need job retraining.
She continued serving in the elected
post for the labor council (she was the
first woman to be secretary-treasurer)
until her term expired this month. [See
Lane County Labor Council election
story below.]
Now, she is a candidate for an open
seat on the Lane
County Board of
Commissioners.
She ran unsuc-
cessfully for the
County Com-
mission in 1989.
Over nearly
three decades,
Riggs-Henson
has been a union
R IGGS -H ENSON
and community
activist. She served AFSCME Local
2831 in various positions, including
president and chief steward. She was
on the Oregon AFSCME Executive
Board for many years and, for the past
several years served as a Council 75
trustee. Her stint on the Oregon AFL-
CIO Executive Board lasted 10 years.
She represented Oregon on the national
AFL-CIO Central Labor Council Ad-
visory Committee and, after retiring
from her day job, worked for the Ore-
gon AFL-CIO as director of the coordi-
nated campaign in Lane County.
Her résumé also includes 14 years
as an elected member on the Lane
Community College Board of Direc-
tors, 10 years on the Public Employees
Retirement System (PERS) Board of
Directors, plus terms on the boards of
the Northwest Youth Corps, Lane
Council of Governments, Democratic
Party of Lane County, and the United
Way.
Riggs-Henson grew up in Min-
nesota, where she was introduced to or-
ganized labor by her father, who
worked in the open-pit mines there.
She moved to Springfield in 1975.
She met Rick Henson, now a staff
Mann, Henson elected to top posts at Lane CLC
EUGENE — Cj Mann has been
elected executive secretary-treasurer of
the Lane County Central Labor Coun-
cil. She succeeds Pat Riggs-Henson,
who retired.
Mann, president of the American
Federation of State, County and Mu-
nicipal Employees (AFSCME) Local
3267 at the Housing and Community
Services Agency of Lane County, was
president of the labor council, which
represents 42 local unions and 11,000
union members.
Succeeding her as president is Rick
Henson, a business rep for Oregon AF-
SCME Council 75. Rick is married to
Pat Riggs-Henson.
Also elected at the Feb. 24 dele-
gates’ meeting were: First Vice Presi-
dent LeRoy Marney of Laborer’s Lo-
cal 121; Second Vice President Patrick
Smith of Painters and Allied Trades;
Recording Secretary Diane Alldredge
of AFSCME Local 2831 Lane County
Employees; at-large Board member
Merlene Martin, president of the Ore-
gon School Employees Association-
American Federation of Teachers; and
Trustee Gary Lyle of United Food and
Commercial Workers Local 555.
Not up for election and still serving
on the labor council Board are at-large
members Kevin Gray of Fire Fighters
Local 1395; Steve Devereaux of the
National Association of Letter Carriers
Branch 916; Keith Appleby, Graduate
Teaching Fellows Federation Local
3544 at the University of Oregon; and
Tom Shackelford of Amalgamated
Transit Union Local 757.
Continuing to serve as trustees are
Bob Baldwin, president of Lane Com-
munity College Employees Federation
Local 2417, and Marcia Bell of Local
2417. Locals 3544 and 2417 are affili-
ated with the American Federation of
Teachers.
The newly elected officers will be
sworn in at the March 24 delegates’
meeting. They take office April 1.
representative for Oregon AFSCME
Council 75, in 1985. They married, and
between them have four grown chil-
dren, three grandchildren, and one
great-grandchild.
Riggs-Henson is now busy cam-
paigning for the Lane County Board of
Commissioners, Position 2. Bill
Dwyer, who has held the seat since
1999, is not seeking re-election. She is
one of seven candidates — and the only
woman — filed to run. [In fact, among
17 candidates filed to run for three
spots on the five-member Lane County
Board, Riggs-Henson is the only
woman.] If any candidate captures over
50 percent of the vote in May, they win.
Otherwise, the top two vote-getters for
each seat advance to a runoff in the No-
vember general election.
Riggs-Henson is phone banking
every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thurs-
day, and canvassing every weekend.
For more information about her
campaign, or to volunteer, go to:
Patriggs-henson.com.
Local 21
Motion
February 2010
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
Results:
Location
Union Union
Yes No
Umpqua Dairy Products (decertification)
47
2/5
Teamsters Local 962
multiple locations
84
Laurelhurst Village (decertification)
SEIU Local 503
2/16
Portland
76
23
Providence Home Health and Hospice
Oregon Nurses Assoc.
2/18
Portland
11
1
Budget Rent A Car
2/19
Teamsters Local 305
Portland
18
7
Requests for recognition election
Name of employer
Name of union
Willamette Graystone (decertification)
Teamsters Local 962
PAGE 2
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Location
Number of employees
Roseburg
3
MARCH 19, 2010