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