...Governor brokers deal ending dispute at Port of Longview
(From Page 1)
doesn’t hold a jurisdictional claim to the
work.
“We weren’t notified of any secret
negotiations,” said Nelda Wilson, assis-
tant to the business manager of Local
701. In fact, in October the union sent a
letter to Gregoire and other politicians
asking that they not get involved.
“This is a pretty slippery slope hav-
ing a governor intervene in a labor dis-
pute,” said Wilson, explaining that
workers have protections under the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act and union
jurisdictional issues have remedies un-
Architects recognize #290’s David
Roberts with craftsmanship award
Gene Johnson, a prin-
David Roberts, a member
cipal at SOLARC, said
of Plumbers and Fitters Lo-
Roberts displayed “a
cal 290, received the 2011
personal commitment to
Craftsmanship Award for
excellence in his work,
steam and boiler pipefitters
which was an essential
from the Southwestern Ore-
ingredient in the timely
gon Chapter of the American
completion of the proj-
Institute of Architects.
ects in these two facili-
A second generation
ties, involving tightly
steamfitter from McMin-
defined construction pe-
nville, Roberts works for
riods and critical pool re-
Gormley Plumbing & Me-
opening dates.”
chanical. He was nominated
D AVID R OBERTS
Gormley project man-
for the award by SOLARC
ager Douglas Mero
Architecture & Engineering
of Eugene for his work on a difficult called it “a great honor for both David
boiler retrofit improvement project at and our company.”
Roberts is a 39-year member of the
the City of Eugene’s Echo Hollow and
union, starting out as an apprentice in
Sheldon swimming pools.
Roberts was the foreman on the 1973. He has worked for Gormley for
approximately 18 years.
project.
“It’s nice to get the recognition from
“Dave’s work sequence and fine
quality craftsmanship has been a pleas- the architects and engineers,” Roberts
ure to observe in the field,” noted Steve told the Labor Press. “For me person-
Loges, project manager for the City of ally, and for our company, it’s just the
Eugene’s Central Services-Facility way we do business. It doesn’t take any
more time or effort to do it right.”
Management Division.
der the constitution of the national
AFL-CIO.
“Think about it, what if Washington
had a Scott Walker (governor of Wis-
consin, who recently stripped public
employees of collective bargaining
rights) in the driver’s seat? I think this is
a very dangerous precedent to have
set.”
Wilson said employees of General
Construction were laid off Jan. 23, the
day of the governor’s announcement.
In a written statement to the
Longview Daily News, Local 701
Business Manager Mark Holliday said:
“Local 701 members will continue to
work for General Construction as we
have done for almost 90 years, whether
at the EGT facility or somewhere else.
Our labor contract is with General
Construction. We have never had and
still don’t have a relationship or con-
tract with EGT.”
The Port’s amended lease with EGT
states that the multinational company
is no longer bound by the Port’s “work-
ing agreement” with ILWU. In ex-
change, EGT agreed that ILWU will
provide the labor for EGT’s facility,
and agreed to a union card-check pro-
cedure. If a majority of workers choose
to be represented by Local 21, EGT
and the union will start bargaining on a
labor agreement for all land-side and
ship-side operations.
According to the Longview Daily
News and confirmed by ILWU, the set-
tlement agreement with the Port con-
tains language that ILWU must request
that all outside groups — including
other labor unions and the Occupy
movement — refrain from picketing at
EGT. The Cowlitz Wahkiakum Central
Labor Council had called for mass pick-
ets of the first incoming ship to load
grain at the EGT terminal, which is ex-
pected any day.
Trade justice roadshow will talk
about proposed Pacific Rim FTA
A massive new Trans-Pacific Free
Trade Agreement currently being
pushed by the Obama Administration
will be the focus of a “trade justice
roadshow” in February sponsored by
the Oregon Fair Trade Coalition.
According to the coalition, the
Trans-Pacific FTA is being negotiated
behind closed doors between a dozen
countries throughout the Pacific Rim at
the behest of transnational corporations.
Its targeted completion date is the end
of this year.
Journalists, most members of Con-
gress, and the people most likely to be
impacted by the negotiations are barred
from reviewing the U.S. proposals, but
approximately 600 corporate lobbyists
certified as official “citizen advisers”
have regular access to both the negoti-
ating documents and the negotiators,
the Oregon Fair Trade Coalition said.
“Oregon cannot afford another trade
deal that ships good-paying jobs over-
seas, reduces the tax base and puts a
downward pressure on the wages and
benefits in jobs we have left — all while
handing new power to Wall Street to
challenge financial, environmental and
other public interest regulations,” said
coalition director Arthur Stamoulis.
The Trade Justice Roadshow is de-
signed to inform citizens about the im-
pact of past trade deals on communities
and what actions they can take to help
prevent the proposed FTA from becom-
ing a “NAFTA of the Pacific.”
The roadshow opens Sunday, Febru-
ary 12 in Redmond and concludes
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Thursday, Feb. 23 in Salem. It will be
in Portland Wednesday, Feb. 22.
For more info, or to get involved,
contact Elizabeth Swager at eliza-
beth@oregonfairtrade.org or call 503-
736-9777.
Following are dates, times and loca-
tions of meetings.
Sunday, Feb. 12
3 – 4:30 p.m.
UA 290 Training Center
2161 SW First
Redmond
Monday, Feb. 13
6:30 – 8 p.m.
Harris Hall
125 E. 8th St.
Eugene
Wednesday, Feb. 15
6:30 – 8 p.m.
Southern Oregon University
Stevenson Union’s
Rogue River Room
1250 Siskyou Blvd
Ashland
Wednesday, Feb. 22
6:30 – 8 p.m.
AFSCME Building
6025 E Burnside St
Portland
Thursday, Feb. 23
6:30 – 8 p.m.
SEIU 503 Board Room
1730 Commercial St SE
Salem
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FEBRUARY 3, 2012
The union is allowed to resume its
picket if collective bargaining talks
break down. At press time, a union vote
had not been held and bargaining had
not yet begun.
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