Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 7, 2011)
Iron Workers promote ...Machinists taking a stand for all workers Lee Worley, Jim Pauley Lee Worley has been appointed ex- ecutive director of apprenticeship train- ing for the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Re- inforcing Iron Workers. Worley, 48, served as the adminis- trator of the Portland-based Pacific Northwest Ironworkers Trusts for the past two years. Prior to that he was ap- prenticeship coordinator for Local 29’s and Local 516’s joint apprenticeship training committee for 13 years. A 25-year member of Local 29, Worley relocated to Washington, D.C., earlier this year. As executive director, Worley will oversee Iron Worker training programs nationwide, making sure they are in compliance with federal and/or state standards, as well as adhering to the Ironworkers Apprenticeship Certifica- tion Program. The IACP was designed by the international union five years ago to standardize the quality of train- ing offered apprentices at every local nationwide. Ironworkers on the West Coast have been in the forefront establishing state- of-the-art training programs, and Wor- ley says he will borrow from that suc- cess as he travels to training programs across the country. “I plan to use what we do in the Pa- cific Northwest as a model for other programs,” Worley said. “I’ve learned from some of the best.” Worley is the son of retired Iron Worker general secretary (and former Local 29 business manager) LeRoy Worley. His uncle, Tom, was business manager of Local 29 for many years, and Lee came into the trade under the tutelage of retired Local 29 apprentice- ship coordinator Frank Cusma. Succeeding Worley as administrator of the Pacific Northwest Iron- workers Trusts is Jim Pauley. Pauley, 55, had been re-elected in December to a third term as pres- ident and business L EE W ORLEY agent of Local 29. In accepting the job as administra- tor, he had to relin- quish both posi- tions. He is a 32-year member of Local 29. In his new job, Pauley is the col- J IM P AULEY lection coordinator for the trusts. “Ba- sically, I’m the first line of defense for collecting unpaid contributions from contractors,” he said. Pauley also administers the budgets of the three apprenticeship training pro- grams in the Pacific Northwest — Lo- cal 29 in Portland, Local 86 in Seattle, and Local 14 in Spokane, and he over- sees the Drugfree Workplace Program. (From Page 1) later, some 3,000 night shift workers followed suit. gleaming concrete floors, past giant doors that part to allow each plane to exit to an adjoining airstrip for test flights. Assembly workers represented by the Machinists and engineers and techs represented by the Society of Profes- sional Engineering Employees in Aero- space (SPEEA), work round the clock, seven days a week. Every plane is shipped out and paid for as soon as it is done. Orders for the new 787 are piling up, as the plane is three years behind schedule. Machinists District 751 was char- tered in 1935, the year the National La- bor Relations Act was passed. The act made it “the policy of the United States to encourage the practice and proce- dure of collective bargaining.” A year later, the workers got their first contract with Boeing. In the decades since, District 751 members improved their wages and benefits with each contract. Every new pact came at a cost, however, and three of the last four settlements were pre- ceded by strikes. During negotiations, the union built solidarity with daily demonstrations on the shop floor. The 4,000 workers on the day shift walked out and circled the building, chanting and banging makeshift drums fash- ioned from plastic water coolers. Hours J OBS MOVED OUT OF THE COUNTRY In the mid-1990s, the Machinists won language that requires Boeing to notify them when it plans to “offload” — outsource work — a trend that has accelerated in the last 10 years. The new 787 represents the ultimate out- come of those decisions: sections of the plane are produced in far-flung places, then flown to the Everett plant to be as- sembled. Portions of the forward fuselage are made in Japan, the cargo doors come from Sweden and the center fuselage is manufactured in Italy. Landing gear is shipped in from the United Kingdom while part of the wing is produced in Australia. Workers say outsourcing is one reason the new plane is three years behind schedule. They also blame the management of Boeing, which was taken over by Mc- Donnell Douglas in 1997. That’s when the tenor of the company changed — and executives started viewing workers not as partners but as “competition.” “It’s frustrating,” said Swank. The company’s plan to move 787 assembly to South Carolina could be overturned by the NLRB, but that won’t be the end of the struggle, said Jason Redrup, president of Local A of District 751. “They [Boeing executives] have no commitment to South Carolina,” he said. Even though the first plane is yet to be built in that state, the company al- ready is talking about moving work from there to Italy or Japan, he said. S TANDING UP FOR ALL WORKERS Swank and Redrup believe their struggle to maintain good jobs in Washington state will have a ripple ef- fect far beyond their own workplaces and communities. “It’s all about jobs, about good-pay- ing jobs,” Redrup said. “It’s part of the message we send to the rest of the country. We’ll stand up for you.” Whatever the outcome of the NLRB case, District 751 is not about to back away from its history of militant action, said Ed Lutgen, who coordinates the work of the district’s hundreds of union stewards. Statues erected outside the union hall after the 1995 strike portray a family on the picket line, holding signs and gathered around a fire barrel. The hall is located across the street from an assembly plant exit. “All of the customers that come to pick up air- planes see the sculpture,” Lutgen said. “All the workers, union and nonunion, see it ... It sends a message.” (Editor’s Note: Barb Kucera edits Workday Minnesota, a website of labor news and resources based in Min- neapolis.) Broadway Floral for the BEST flowers call 503-288-5537 1638 NE Broadway, Portland (International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X) Established in 1900 at Portland, Oregon as a voice of the labor movement. 4275 NE Halsey St., P.O. Box 13150, Portland, Ore. 97213 Telephone: (503) 288-3311 Editor: Michael Gutwig Staff: Don McIntosh, Cheri Rice Published on a semi-monthly basis on the first and third Fridays of each month by the Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non- profit corporation owned by 20 unions and councils including the Oregon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in Ore- gon and SW Washington. Subscriptions $13.75 per year for union members. Group rates available to trade union organizations. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT PORTLAND, OREGON. CHANGE OF ADDRESS NOTICE: Three weeks are required for a change of address. When ordering a change, please give your old and new addresses and the name and number of your local union. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS, P.O. BOX 13150, PORTLAND, OR 97213-0150 PAGE 2 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS OCTOBER 7, 2011
