Endicott retires as business manager of UA Local 290
John Endicott, business manager of charge of the local in the event the
Plumbers and Fitters Local 290 for the business manager can’t fulfill the du-
ties of the job. Endicott stepped into
past decade, retired Jan. 20.
the position and subse-
Endicott, 58, was ap-
quently was re-elected for
pointed interim business
three more terms.
manager in March 2002, fol-
A native of Vancouver,
lowing the death of Business
Washington, Endicott grew
Manager Matt Walters. Wal-
up in a pipe trades family.
ters died of a heart attack at
His father was a fitter and
age 54.
his grandfather and two un-
Endicott was one month
cles were plumbers.
into a new job as Walters’ as-
J OHN
He enrolled in the steam-
sistant, after working 10
E NDICOTT
fitters apprenticeship pro-
years as an organizer and
business agent. Three more senior gram after graduating from Hudson’s
business agents had all recently re- Bay High School in 1972. At that
tired when Walters named Endicott time it was Steamfitters Local 235.
[Local 235 merged with Plumbers
assistant to the business manager.
“I didn’t aspire to be business Local 51 in the mid-’80s to form
manager. It kind of fell into my lap,” United Association Local 290.]
Endicott turned out as a journey-
Endicott said.
The union’s bylaws place the as- man in 1977.
Always an advocate of training
sistant to the business manager in
Shropshire elected business
manager of UA Local 290
Al Shropshire has been elected
business manager/financial secretary-
treasurer of United Association of
Plumbers and Fitters Local 290. He de-
feated Lou Christensen, assistant to the
business manager, 897 to 655. The two
were running to succeed John Endi-
cott, who retired.
In other races, Robert Porter was
elected president, defeating Paul Elder
and Steven Cowell; Gil Freeland de-
feated incumbent Terry Neely for vice
president; Amy Sprengelmeyer out-
polled Barry Bledsoe for recording
secretary; and Craig Weismann bested
Preston Hunt for inside guard.
Eight members ran for two seats on
the local’s Executive Board represent-
ing Region 1. The winners were Mark
Sundstrom and Teresa Neely. In Re-
gion 2, Dennis Mask defeated one
other candidate; and in Region 3, Rick
Two Bears outpolled four other candi-
dates.
Dave Hauth, Rick Hindman and
Chris McNicholas were re-elected to
the Finance Committee.
Elected to the Examining Board
were Pete Bakker and Barry Sather
representing Oil Burners; Jim Eastman
and Craig Harguth representing Metal
Trades; and Frank Boyle and Drew
(Turn to Page 8)
Retiring Local 290 Business Manager John Endicott (second from left in
back) opened the training center to students from the Tigard-Tualatin School
District.
and skills upgrading, Endicott taught
classes at the training center and went
on to complete a five-year instru-
ments training certificate program out
of Purdue University. He has served
on the joint apprenticeship training
committee since 1986.
“It’s all about training — appren-
tice and journeyman,” he said, noting
that last year alone Local 290 com-
pleted 50,000 hours of journey-level
training.
Endicott was doing service work
at Control Contractors in Portland
when, in 1988, he accepted an offer
from the company to go into man-
agement. That lasted until 1992,
when Walters hired him as an agent.
During his tenure at Local 290,
Endicott has served as either a trustee
or co-chair on a half-dozen of the
union’s pension, health and welfare,
scholarship and apprenticeship train-
ing trusts.
He recently resigned as president
of the Oregon State Building and
Construction Trades Council; from
the Executive Board of the Oregon
AFL-CIO; from the board of the Fair
Contracting Foundation; and as a
trustee and board member of the Pipe
Fabricators Institute of America.
Endicott will finish out his term as
secretary-treasurer of the Western
Mechanical Association, which ex-
pires this July, and he’ll complete his
second term to the governor-ap-
pointed SAIF board of directors.
SAIF is the state-owned workers’ com-
pensation insurance carrier. He was first
appointed to the board in November
2004 by Gov. Ted Kulongoski.
Endicott also served a governor
appointment to the Boiler Board, one
term as chair.
Endicott is turning over the reins
of Local 290 — which represents
4,200 workers in Oregon, Southwest
Washington, and four counties in
Northern California — having re-
cently completed major collective
bargaining agreements that will take
most of the membership through
2014. He said most of the out-of-
work books are clear for fitters, with
only scattered unemployment for
plumbers. Intel currently has 1,600
fitters on site.
“There’s still not a lot of commer-
cial work out there,” he said.
“It’s been a great run. We have a
great group of contractors. I wish all
the new folks at the local the very
best,” he said.
In retirement, Endicott says he
will “retire, retire.” He wants to spend
more time with his 4-year-old grand-
daughter, improve his golf game —
“and ... you know ... I haven’t bought
a fishing license in 10 years.”
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