Northwest labor press., May 04, 2012, Page 11, Image 11

Apprenticeship
Opening
Glaziers
The Oregon & SW Washington
Glaziers, Architectural Metal & Glass
Workers Joint Apprenticeship &
Journeyman Training Program will be
open to accept applications to create a
pool of eligible applicants.
Applicants must be at least 18 years
old. Must apply in person and at the
time of application must furnish a
copy of a high school diploma and
grade transcript or GED certificate
and test scores, plus high school
grade transcripts to document
courses taken prior to GED testing.
Additional educational documents,
résumés, and letters of reference are
also helpful for scoring purposes.
Applications will be taken
May 14 thru May 25, 2012
Monday thru Friday,
9 to 11 a.m. and 1 to 3 p.m.
Glaziers Training Center
Mt. Hood Community College
Room GE 108
26000 SE Stark St., Gresham, OR
Women and minorities encouraged to
apply; Veterans GI Benefits may apply
Letter Carriers
Food Drive May 12
Letter carriers in the Portland met-
ropolitan area and in Clark County,
Washington will help “Stamp Out
Hunger” on Saturday, May 12, part of
the annual National Association of Let-
ter Carriers and U.S. Postal Service
Food Drive.
Prior to May 12, plastic bags will be
delivered to every household, along
with a postcard reminder. All you have
to do is fill the bag with nonperishable
food items such as canned meat, fish
and soup, cereals, pasta and rice, and
leave it at your mailbox on the morn-
ing of Saturday, May 12. (Please do not
include glass items, homemade items
or previously opened containers.)
Letter Carriers will collect the bags
and deliver them to drop points, where
volunteers will sort the donations and
forward them to the Oregon Food
Bank. Food collected in Clark County
will benefit Clark County hunger-relief
agencies.
The Food Drive, in its 20th year, is
the largest one-day food collection of
the year in Oregon — and across the
nation. Last year nearly 1.4 million
pounds of food was collected in Ore-
gon and Southwest Washington.
According to the Oregon Food
Bank, an estimated 240,000 people get
meals from emergency food boxes in
an average month.
...’War on Women’ rally
(From Page 1)
speak at the rally.
Chamberlain said women, minori-
ties, workers, and unions are under a
two-pronged attack by the 1 percenters.
One is to “pick our pockets” to further
enrich themselves, and the other is to re-
move all political forces that are in their
way.
“Make no mistake about it, there is a
war on women,” Chamberlain said.
“Don’t believe what comes out of the
lips of the speaker of the House in
Washington, D.C. There is a war, and
we’re seeing pitched battles in state af-
ter state after state. This election is a
pivotal battle in that war — a war that
will decide the future of this country
and, I dare say, your fate and my fate.”
The Oregon AFL-CIO endorsed the
rally and several unions arranged for
bus transportation to Salem from all
corners of the state. Members of the
American Federation of Government
Employees-District 11 and Locals 2157
and 1127 helped organize the event, and
members of those locals fanned out
among the crowd to register new voters.
Other speakers at the rally included
Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici;
Secretary of State Kate Brown; retired
Oregon state senator Margaret Carter;
Margaret Butler, executive director of
Portland Jobs with Justice; and Gerald
Swanke, national vice president of
AFGE District 11.
Busted!
A women holds one of the dozens of
signs waved a the War on Women
Rally in Salem. Others read: “Keep
Government Out of Our Panties,”
Male Contraception: They’re Fertile
365 Days a Year,” “Viva La Diva!”,
and “The 51%”.
A sampler of recent charges of employer labor law violations at
the local office of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
At Dosha, abuses just go on and on
Communications Workers of America Local 7901 — the union
that Dosha Salon Spa workers voted March 2011 to join — has
filed two more unfair labor practice charges against the company,
bringing the total to 14. The latest allegations are that Dosha
changed scheduling policy without bargaining over it, and is steer-
ing clients away from union activists. Workers are supposed to en-
courage clients to return, and get credit when that happens. But
when a longtime customer of pro-union stylist Becca Schmidt
asked — after receiving a haircut — to schedule her next visit, a
manager suggested that she book the appointment with someone
else. Same thing happened with a customer of esthetician and union
activist Rachel Voorhies, says Local 7901 President Madelyn Elder.
Dosha may also be violating an out-of-court settlement it agreed to
in March 2012: It paid back-pay to fired massage therapist Mary
Christ, but as of press time, it still had not removed the surveillance
camera from the employee break room at its Hawthorne salon.
Meanwhile, like clockwork, employees who oppose the union filed
a petition to decertify the union — which they’re allowed to do one
year after voting to unionize if no contract has been agreed to.
Workers are without a contract still, though the company has agreed
to take part in federal mediation. But the NLRB is putting the de-
certification effort on hold while it investigates alleged labor law vi-
olations.
Whose sidewalks? Our sidewalks!
Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters has been dog-
ging R&H Construction, a general contractor, for refusing to pay
area standard wages and benefits (and thus undermining union-sig-
natory contractors). In early April, union handbillers showed up at
Kassab Jewelers on 529 SW Broadway, where R&H was doing a
remodel and expansion. Kassab and R&H employees came out,
blocked off the sidewalk with a chainlink fence, and posted a “side-
walk closed” sign. When the handbillers left, the sidewalk was re-
opened; when they returned, it was closed again, in under five min-
utes. This went on for several days. The union is arguing in a pair of
charges against the two companies that it’s clear the closures
weren’t for pedestrian safety, but to interfere with the union’s legal
right to flier the public. Using fences to keep union folks out isn’t
uncommon at privately owned construction sites, says Carpenters
spokesperson Ben Basom, but this was egregious — it’s a public
sidewalk.
MAY 4, 2012
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
PAGE 11