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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (April 20, 2012)
Doris Buck, a woman of many ‘firsts’ in the Oregon labor movement, dies A celebration of life for D ORIS B UCK , a retired union leader in the egg and poultry industry (now United Food and Commercial Workers) will be held Sunday, May 6, at 3 p.m. at the Co- lumbia River Yacht Club, 37 NE Tom- ahawk Drive at Jantzen Beach. Buck passed away at home in her sleep Jan. 8. She was 98. At the time of her passing, a surviv- ing member of her family was experi- encing health problems, which delayed the announcement of her death and the memorial service. Buck recorded a number of “firsts” in her 16-year union career. She was the first woman leader of Egg Candlers and Poultry Workers Local 231, a union in which women workers were in the majority. As leader of that local, she negotiated the highest wage rates in the poultry industry in the United States, and bargained the first pension plan for poultry workers nationally. Buck was the first woman to serve as a trustee of the Oregon Federation of Butchers Health and Welfare Fund, and the first woman trustee of the fed- eration’s pension plan. She was the first union leader from Oregon to serve on the International Advisory Board of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and JOB OPENING Office Assistant/Receptionist/ Database Coordinator The Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals Local 5017, AFT, AFL-CIO, an activist healthcare union committed to transforming the health- care industry through innovative repre- sentation and internal organizing, is seeking an office assistant with duties as a receptionist and database coordi- nator. QUALIFICATIONS: • Expert in Microsoft Office Suite, including Word, Excel, Outlook and Explorer; • Required to quickly learn OFNHP’s internal database software; • Excellent grammar and interpersonal skills; • Work well in a faced-paced environment; • Strong personal organization and time management skills; • Accurate data entry skills; • Ability to stay focused and support multiple projects, tasks, and staff members; • Must be able to plan, schedule, and process work, meeting tight deadlines. Send your cover letter, résumé and three job references from individuals who have directly supervised your work (with contact information) via mail or email to OFNHP’s office: OFNHP 2045 SE ANKENY ST. PORTLAND OR 97214 E MAIL : MBARTLETT @ OFNHP . ORG OFNHP believes in affirmative action; People of color, women, and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply. APRIL 20, 2012 Butcher Workmen Union. In taking over the leadership of Lo- cal 231, Buck moved into a job once held by her husband, Amos. He died in 1966. Buck played an active role in the planning of a series of mergers that led to the formation of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union. When she retired in 1983, she was secretary-treasurer of UFCW Lo- cal Ten-Eleven. That local was the product of a merger of Local 213, Butchers Local 656, and Meat Cutters Local 324. In 1985, Local Ten-Eleven and other UFCW locals in Oregon and Southwest Washington merged to es- tablish Local 555. D ORIS (R UHL ) B UCK was born Aug. 29, 1913 in Portland, Oregon. When she was young her family moved to the Los Angeles area, where she grew up and graduated from high school. Her family returned to Portland, and Buck found work first in a doctor’s of- fice and later in a poultry plant. She met Amos while employed in the bak- ery at a Portland Fred Meyer store where he was a meat cutter. She was a member of Food and Drug Clerks Lo- cal 1092 and he belonged to Meat Cut- ters Local 143. She also was a checker at Fred Meyer supermarkets and at a Tops All store. During World War II, the Bucks worked at the shipyards in Portland and Vancouver as members of As- bestos Workers Local 36. In December 2001, Buck was named to the Northwest Oregon Labor Retirees Council’s Labor Hall of Fame. For many years in retirement she managed a mobile home park in south- east Portland that is owned by her fam- ily. She lived in the Northeast Portland retirement community Summer Place where, according to her daughter-in- law, she led a very active life and still drove a car to do errands. Buck is survived by her only child, Robert; four grandchildren, 10 great- grandchildren, and three great-great grandchildren. The Project HELP Program, which facilitates early and successful resolu- tion of workers’ compensation claims in Washington State, has launched a new website at www.ProjectHelp WA.com explaining the resources available to injured workers, unions, employers, and other interested parties. Project Help is a cooperative effort between the Washington State Labor Council, the state’s business commu- nity, and the Washington State Depart- ment of Labor and Industries. The goals of Project Help are to: • Expedite claims resolution; • Ensure that all rights are preserved and protected; • Reduce unnecessary litigation; • Provide information and assis- tance, free of charge; • Offer educational workshops on the fundamentals of workers’ compen- sation If you need assistance with a work- ers’ compensation claim, contact Proj- ect HELP at 1-800-255-9752. D ON W ILLNER , a Port- land attorney who represented labor unions and who com- piled an exemplary pro-worker voting record as a member of the Oregon Legislature, died at his home in Trout Lake, Wash- ington, March 27. He was 85. Willner represented Mult- nomah Typographical Union No. 58, Mailers Local 13 and Portland News- paper Guild Local 165 during the Ore- gonian strike of Nov. 10, 1959 to April 4, 1965. He was the attorney for the strike-born Portland Reporter, which started in February 1960. Willner also was an attorney for the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers during its formation in 1964. The Portland-based AWPPW was founded as a 21,000-member inde- pendent union of West Coast papermill workers who decertified from their AFL-CIO-affiliated unions. The AW- PPW is now part of the United Broth- erhood of Carpenters. Willner worked with Cesar Chavez, the late president of United Farm Workers, and served as lawyer for Colegio Cesar Chavez in Mt. Angel, Oregon, one of the first Latino col- leges. Willner continued practicing law into his 80s. D ON S HELLEY W ILLNER was born May 22, 1926, in New York City and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1951 after serving in the Mar- itime Service and U.S. Army. Willner briefly practiced law in Washington, D.C. He moved to Portland in 1952 to open a law firm that focused on labor, civil rights, and environmental issues. He was elected to the Oregon Leg- islature in 1956 and served as state sen- ator for 10 years, beginning in 1963. In the 1970s he sought the Democratic nomination for U.S senator and Ore- gon attorney general. Willner was named to the North- west Oregon Labor Council Retirees Association’s “Labor Hall of Fame” in December 2007 and was awarded the Pacific Northwest Labor History Asso- ciation’s “Person of the Year” in 2010. He is survived by his wife, Marjorie Burns; four daughters; three stepsons; a stepdaughter; nine grandchildren; and his first wife, Patience Willner. A memorial service will be held at Congregation Neveh Shalom, Stamp- fer Chapel, 1 p.m., April 22. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Institute for Judaic Studies, Jew- ish Voice for Peace, or the Trout Lake Community Foundation. Who’s On Our Side? By Tom Chamberlain I Website launched to assist injured workers in Washington state IN MEMORIAM n 2010 we learned that elections make a difference. That year, too many voters be- lieved their votes didn’t matter and decided to sit out the election. The af- termath was a game changer. Ultra conservative candidates swept the U.S. Congress and state legislatures, first attacking the right to join unions and collectively bargain, then cutting budgets with a chain saw — unravel- ing our social safety net, taking from the middle class, the poor and the sick, all while giving their corporate cronies tax breaks and enriching them through back room deals. Over the last six months the con- servative attacks have increasingly targeted women’s rights. To keep themselves in power, conservatives in state after state have passed legisla- tion that will deny millions the ability to exercise America’s fundamental right: the right to voice your opinion through a vote. The right to vote is part of Amer- ica’s DNA. Having a say in political elections is what this nation was founded upon. We live in politically divisive times, and another 2010 — where working Americans don’t vote or volunteer — will hand the reins to candidates who believe that govern- ment shouldn’t benefit the people – NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS through programs like Social Secu- rity, Medicare, or assistance for the very poor or sick. Public education will continue to be underfunded, pushing those who can afford it into private schools with more resources and leaving those who can’t further behind. America will continue down a path that attacks women, immi- grants, and folks of color, the poor, and workers. Our country will break into islands defined by wealth, color and power — quite possibly losing middle-class America altogether. Personally, I support candidates of any party who fight for fairness, equality, and the opportunity for any- one who works hard and plays by the rules to join the middle class. Thank- fully, this is a view I share with the Oregon AFL-CIO, which has en- dorsed candidates who will bring a worker’s perspective to our govern- ment. A few months ago I wrote about Sen. Jeff Merkley and Jennifer Williamson, candidate for House Dis- trict 36, as examples of candidates whose roots run deep in Oregon. Williamson’s father farmed and her mother worked as a union nurse. With six kids to raise, times were of- ten hard. Jennifer worked her way through college and law school. She has worked in education and advo- cated for workers and the environ- ment in the Legislature. She has never forgotten where she came from. Can- didates like these will fight for the middle class. But they won’t have the opportunity if we think we don’t mat- ter. Our votes matter. In a few weeks, primary ballots will arrive in your mail box. Hun- dreds of Oregon union members will knock on doors and make calls to ed- ucate voters on issues and to encour- age them to put that ballot in the mail. To get America and Oregon back to work, back to focusing on an agenda that connects us and not di- vides us, we all must be engaged. At a minimum, vote. But to suc- ceed we need more of your help; get educated on the issues; talk to your family, friends and co-workers; and volunteer at your union phone banks and canvass. Call our office at 503- 232-1185x114 to find out more. Our state needs you to stand on the side of worker-friendly candi- dates. Tom Chamberlain is president of the Oregon AFL-CIO. PAGE 11
