At City of Portland
Unions start to weigh in on mayor’s race
‘Sam, Sam, are you nuts?
We won’t have all these cuts’
Over 100 City of Portland workers protested a new round of expected budget
cuts Jan. 30 outside the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s Stanton Yard main-
tenance facility at 2929 N. Kerby Ave.
Workers, represented by Laborers Local 483, said Portland can’t afford to cut
back on road and sewer maintenance, as it will be more costly in the long run.
Nor can their families afford the loss of jobs.
Jerry “JJ” Johnson (pictured above with bullhorn) returned to work on light
duty in January after a fall on the job which caused a spinal cord injury. Johnson
has been a city sewer worker for 22 years, and seniority rules make it unlikely
he’ll be laid off. But he said he’s bothered by the idea that the City hired dozens
of workers in 2011 only to propose laying them off in 2012.
“They act like they couldn’t have forecasted this,” Johnson told the Labor
Press. Workers facing possible layoff
include Jens Peill, whose recent hire
to a City job enables him to support
wife Jessica and four children — Se-
bastian, Brianna, Sophia and Fiona —
all of whom turned up at the rally and
are pictured to Johnson’s right.
Several political office seekers
made an appearance at the protest, in-
cluding Portland mayoral candidates
Jefferson Smith and Charlie Hales and
City Council candidate Mary Nolan.
After rallying outside Stanton Yard,
workers marched through adjacent
Legacy Emanuel Hospital, which is
also laying off staff, and then held a
public forum at nearby Matt Dishman
Community Center. Dishman Center
is named after a public employee, the
City’s first African-American police
officer.
Unions representing workers at the
City of Portland are starting to weigh in
on the May primary election for mayor.
On Jan. 24, the largest union at the
City — the 950-member American
Federation of State, County and Mu-
nicipal Employees (AFSCME) Local
189 — endorsed State Rep. Jefferson
Smith. A week before that, the Interna-
tional Brotherhood of Electrical Work-
ers (IBEW) Local 48 announced its
support of businesswoman Eileen
Brady. Local 48 represents about 100
electricians at the City.
Both locals are part of the District
Council of Trades Unions, a coalition
of seven union locals representing
some 1,800 City employees. The other
locals include Laborers Local 483, Op-
erating Engineers Local 701, Painters
District Council 5, Plumbers and Fit-
ters Local 290 and Machinists Lodge
1005. The DCTU has not yet endorsed
a candidate in the mayor’s race.
Smith and Brady are among 18 can-
didates running to succeed Mayor Sam
Adams, who is not seeking re-election.
Smith, Brady and former Portland city
commissioner Charlie Hales are the
front-runners.
In a press release, Local 189 said
with the City’s weak mayor structure, a
mayor needs to be able to build con-
sensus with four other strong personal-
ities. As a state representative, Jeffer-
son Smith has a proven track record of
consensus building, without compro-
mising on important issues such as pro-
tecting voting rights and creating trans-
parency in government. He has shown
through his work to limit middle man-
agement and focus budgets on front
line services that he is willing to chal-
lenge the status quo.
IBEW Local 48 Business Manager
Clif Davis said the union backed Brady
based on her experience as co-founder
of New Seasons Market, and for her
work on the Oregon Health Fund
Board. “The next mayor of Portland
needs to be a job creator,” he said.
“Portland needs Eileen’s deep manage-
ment and job creation experience in the
mayor’s office.”
Currently, 18 candidates have filed
to run for mayor (the deadline to file is
March 6). One of them, Max Bauske, is
a member of UFCW Local 555.
Bauske, 22, works part-time at Fred
Meyer and attends Portland Commu-
nity College full time.
The primary election is May 15. If
no candidate receives more than 50
percent of the vote, the top two vote-
getters will face off in November.
AFSCME backs Nolan, Novick for City Council
The American Federation of State,
County and Municipal Employees (AF-
SCME) Local 189 added its name to a
list of union locals endorsing Steve
Novick and Mary Nolan for Portland
City Council.
In December, IBEW Local 48, Port-
land Fire Fighters Local 43, the Port-
land Police Association, and the Inter-
national Longshore and Warehouse
Union Local 8, endorsed Novick and
Nolan.
Novick is running for Position 4.
The seat is being vacated by Randy
Leonard, a former president of Fire
Fighters Local 43. Leonard has held the
seat since 2002 and is not seeking re-
election.
Nolan left the Oregon House of Rep-
resentatives to challenge incumbent
Amanda Fritz in Position 1. Fritz is a
29-year member of the Oregon Nurses
Association (ONA). Fritz has endorse-
ments from ONA and Communications
Workers of America Local 7901.
The AFSCME Local 189 endorse-
ments were voted on at a general mem-
bership meeting held Jan. 24.
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FEBRUARY 3, 2012