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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (March 2, 2012)
Oregon Senate confirms Gov. Kitzhaber’s board appointees Including a handful important to labor SALEM — The Oregon Senate voted Feb. 13 to confirm several dozen executive branch appointments, includ- ing several of importance to organized labor. The office of Gov. John Kitzhaber announced the nominations Feb. 3. • On the three-member Oregon Em- ployment Relations Board (ERB) Kathryn Logan, senior assistant attor- ney general at the Oregon Department of Justice, will become the manage- ment-side member. ERB judges labor law cases that have to do with state and local public employee unionization. Lo- gan has represented the City of Salem and the state Department of Adminis- trative Services as a management-side labor attorney. She took office March 1, replacing Vickie Cowan, who retired Dec. 31. Board service is a full-time job, and terms are four years. Logan will serve the remainder of Cowan’s term, which expires June 30, 2013. Board chair Su- san Rossiter continues to serve a term that expired Sept. 30, 2011. As for the labor-side member of the Board — Paul Gamson — his term expires June 30. Kitzhaber labor liaison Duke Shep- ard said the governor used a new process for the ERB appointment, in that both management and labor repre- sentatives were asked to serve as a screening committee. The labor repre- sentatives were Oregon School Em- ployees Association Executive Director Steven Araujo and Association of Engi- neering Employees of Oregon co-exec- utive director Joelle Davis. Shepard said the intent was to make ERB less polar- ized than its private sector counterpart the National Labor Relations Board — by having board members that were ac- ceptable to both labor and management. Shepard said no decision has been made about a replacement for the chair, but that Gamson is not being considered for reappointment. Shepard said he ex- pects the same process will be used for Gamson’s replacement as was used to select Logan. • Washington County businessman Isao “Tom” Tsuruta was confirmed to the nine-member Port of Portland Board of Commissioners, replacing Oregon AFSCME Executive Director Ken Allen. Allen stepped down to be able to devote more time to the Oregon Health Insurance Exchange Board, to which he was appointed in August; that board will advise the creation of the health insurance exchange mandated by federal health reform legislation. Port of Portland commissioners represent dif- ferent geographic areas within the Port’s economic impact area, and the commission still has two other repre- sentatives of organized labor: Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain and Bruce Holte of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Lo- cal 8. The board is the governing body for the Port, which includes five marine terminals, four airports, seven industrial parks and the Portland Shipyard. • Business consultant and Gresham Chamber of Commerce president Travis Stovall, and Bruce Warner, for- mer executive director of the Portland Development Commission, were con- firmed to the seven-member TriMet Board, replacing Richard Van Beveren, who resigned, and Teamsters Joint Council 37 political representative Lynn Lehrbach. Lehrbach’s departure leaves no representative of organized labor on the board at a time when TriMet and its union are in a protracted contract fight. Lehrbach had wanted to serve a second term, but Gov. John Kitzhaber chose not to reappoint him. • The 10-member Oregon’s Work- ers Compensation Management-La- bor Advisory Committee, commonly referred to by its initials MLAC, got four new members, two each from la- bor and management, as the name sug- gests. The new labor members are Elana Guiney, Oregon AFL-CIO leg- islative and communications director, and Paul Goldberg, assistant execu- tive director at the Oregon Nurses As- sociation. MLAC makes workers’ com- pensation policy recommendations to the Oregon Legislature. One of the new management members — Carol Dun- can — is owner of General Sheet Metal, a signatory contractor with Sheet Metal Workers Local 16; she replaces another union-signatory contractor rep- resentative, Sheri Sundstrom of Hoff- man Construction. Guiney and Gold- berg replace outgoing members John Kirkpatrick of Painters and Allied Trades, and Mike O’Rourke of Plumb- ing and Fitters Local 290, both of whom retired. MLAC’s other labor members are Tracy Brill of Portland Fire Fighters Association Local 43, Lon Holston of Laborers Municipal Em- ployees Local 483, and John Mohlis of the Oregon State Building and Con- struction Trades Council. • Jed Scheuermann, assistant train- ing coordinator at Local 290, was con- firmed to the nine-member Mechani- cal Board, which helps to administer state code regarding mechanical devices and equipment. Teamsters Dental Center 1890 NE 162nd Ave. Portland, OR Kitzhaber’s previous appointments include several other representatives of organized labor: • In September Oregon Education Association Vice President Johanna “Hanna” Vaandering and American Federation of Teachers Oregon Presi- dent David Rives were confirmed to serve on the Oregon Education In- vestment Board, a newly-formed 12- member body that will oversee imple- mentation of a set of education reforms that were passed in 2011 over the ob- jections of the state’s largest teachers union. • In November, Oregon State Building and Construction Trades Executive Secretary John Mohlis was confirmed to the seven-member En- ergy Facility Siting Council, which oversees permitting and regulation dur- ing the location, construction and oper- ation of major energy facilities, and the transport of radioactive materials. The governor also appoints some ad- visory boards which don’t need to be confirmed by the Oregon Senate, and Clif Davis, business manager of Inter- national Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 48, was appointed in February to one of those: the Oregon Innovation Council, which oversees grants and other help to start-up tech- nology companies. 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