Northwest labor press., September 02, 2011, Page 3, Image 3

...Building trades
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natural gas facility, and his participation
on safety and health committees.
Avakian cited a bill that he wrote and
got passed in the Legislature this year
that will return shop classes to middle
schools and high schools; his enforce-
ment as labor commissioner of wage
and hour laws, and his support of strong
prevailing wage laws.
On other issues, both candidates sup-
port the “pay or play” model for state
health care financing, and both agreed
that the new federal health care plan
passed by Congress should contain a
government-run public option. Avakian
took it a step further, saying the country
needs a single-payer health care system.
Both candidates oppose cuts to So-
cial Security, Medicare and Medicaid to
balance the federal budget; they support
ending the Bush tax cuts for the super
rich; and they want a quick removal of
troops from Afghanistan and Iraq.
In closing statements, Witt, a union
rep for United Food and Commercial
Workers Local 555 and a former secre-
tary-treasurer of the Oregon AFL-CIO,
pointed out that he is the only candidate
in the race who carries a union card. “I
am running on a platform that will make
a positive difference in people’s every-
day lives,” he said.
Avakian, a former civil rights attor-
ney and state senator, said he has a
record of reaching across party lines to
get things done. He mentioned the 2007
Oregon Renewable Energy Act that he
wrote, and another bill he sponsored that
allows home health care workers to
form a union. “There’s nothing more
important than sending someone to
Washington, D.C., right now who will
hit the ground running and get the job
done,” he said.
In general business, delegates elected
four new Executive Board members to
vacant seats. They are Russ Garnett, the
newly-elected business manager of
Roofers Local 49; Matt Eleazer, presi-
dent of Bricklayers Local 1; Paul Riggs,
executive secretary-treasurer of the Co-
lumbia Pacific Building Trades Council;
and Jeff Gritz, executive secretary-treas-
urer of the Central Oregon BCTC.
Delegates also passed five resolu-
tions. They supported the merger of
AT&T Wireless and T-Mobile. They
called on all regional building trades
councils, if they haven’t already, to es-
tablish a policy — be it a project labor
agreement, best value contracting, etc,
— that can be presented to local elected
officials who inquire about building
with union labor. They called on all lo-
cals and building trades councils to es-
tablish an electronic member alert sys-
tem that will allow members rapid
communications with their lawmakers
on issues of importance to the trades.
They called for an immediate start to the
10-lane (local preferred alternative) Co-
lumbia River Crossing, noting that the
replacement bridge project “has been
studied, visioned, and processed for over
10 years at a great cost.” Lastly, dele-
gates instructed the council to send a let-
ter to Operating Engineers Local 701
demanding that it “cease and desist from
allowing members to displace Interna-
tional Longshore and Warehouse Union
members at the EGT facility in
Longview, Wash.”
The council gave a $500 scholarship
to Lindsay Guzman, the daughter of
Ben Guzman of Laborers Local 320.
Karin Collins, the daughter of Plumbers
and Fitters Local 290 member Don
Collins, received a $750 scholarship
funded by Ferguson and Wellman Cap-
ital Management. Winners were se-
lected by the governor’s office based on
an application and short essay.
Happy Labor Day!
From the
Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO
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SEPTEMBER 2, 2011
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
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