Columbia River Crossing
Oregon Building Trades backs bill to build new bridge
The Oregon State Building and
Construction Trades Council is sup-
porting a bill in the Oregon Legislature
to pay the state’s share of the $3.5 bil-
lion Interstate 5 bridge replacement and
freeway safety project, also known as
the Columbia River Crossing (CRC).
House Bill 2800 would allow the
state to borrow up to $450 million —
its portion of the cost of the project.
The bill has a “Buy America” provision
for steel, iron, coatings for steel and
iron, and other manufactured products;
it contains apprenticeship training lan-
guage that is better than existing re-
quirements by the Oregon Department
of Transportation; and it references
goals “to maximize economic develop-
ment opportunities for small busi-
nesses.”
But HB 2800 does place several
conditions on the money. It would al-
low Oregon to pay only if:
• Washington state lawmakers come
up with their $450 million share of the
project’s finance plan;
• The federal government comes
through with at least $800 million for
light rail;
• Toll revenue pencils out through
the investment grade analysis now un-
der way;
• The U.S. Coast Guard approves
plans for a 116-foot-high bridge. The
CRC filed its bridge permit application
on Jan. 30.
John Mohlis, executive secretary of
the Oregon State Building and Con-
struction Trades Council, said con-
struction unions support the bill, and he
is confident lawmakers will, too.
FEBRUARY 15, 2013
“It won’t be easy, but I believe it will
get done, by mid-March,” he said.
Oregon Senate President Peter
Courtney (D-Salem) and House
Speaker Tina Kotek (D-Portland) ap-
pointed a special joint committee to
work on the bill. The committee is
comprised of the membership of the
Senate Business and Transportation
and House Transportation and Eco-
nomic Development committees. It is
co-chaired by Sen. Bruce Starr (R-
Hillsboro), Sen. Lee Beyer (D-Spring-
field), Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-Ontario),
and Rep. Tobias Read (D-Beaverton).
Both Courtney and Kotek support
replacing the bridge.
The first meeting and public hearing
of the Joint Committee was held Feb.
11. Union business managers, agents,
organizers, and members of construc-
tion unions were there in force, re-
minding lawmakers that the bridge re-
placement is a regional economic
stimulus project; that it will create
1,900 construction jobs for seven to
nine years; and that it will secure over
$1 billion of federal money for the local
economy.
Gov. John Kitzhaber also testified in
favor of the bridge replacement.
The Columbian newspaper reported
that on Feb. 1, Washington state Sen.
Tracey Eide (D-Federal Way), sent a
letter to Gov. Jay Inslee expressing her
support for the CRC. Eide, co-chair of
the Senate’s Transportation Committee,
argued that the project has come too far
and is too important to turn away from
current plans.
“Starting over will leave the states of
Washington and Oregon with a vulner-
able bridge that is nearly 100 years old
that does not adequately meet basic
economic and safety needs in its most
important commercial corridor,” Eide
wrote.
Eide’s letter follows an earlier letter
from the Transportation Committee’s
other co-chair, Sen. Curtis King (R-
Yakima). King, who has been critical
of the CRC, called for a “new direc-
tion” on the project and laid out a five-
point plan to rethink the CRC. That in-
cludes dropping light rail, currently
planned as part of the project.
In other CRC news, Oregon’s
Clackamas County Board of Com-
missioners failed to pass a resolution
Feb. 7 opposing the bridge replacement
project. The resolution, submitted at the
last minute by newly-elected chair John
Ludlow, would have declared that the
county “strongly objects to the efforts
to commit any funding to the Colum-
bia River Crossing as currently
planned.”
The Oregonian newspaper reported
that Ludlow proposed the resolution
without any notice to the board, which
caused two commissioners to admon-
ish him.
Ludlow and newly-elected Com-
missioner Tootie Smith voted for the
resolution. Commissioner Martha
Schrader, also newly-elected, voted
against it. Commissioner Paul Savas
abstained, and Commissioner Jim
Bernard was not present.
The commission is non-partisan, but
Ludlow and Smith are Tea Party Re-
publicans. Savas is a Republican and
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Schrader and Bernard are Democrats.
And as this issue of the Labor Press
was going to press, the Board of Clark
County Commissioners in Washing-
ton was going to consider an anti-CRC
resolution almost identical to the one
that failed in Clackamas County. Like
Clackamas County, the resolution was
submitted through the back door.
The Columbian newspaper reported
that newly-elected Commissioner
David Madore, a Republican, asked for
the agenda item via an e-mail to County
Administrator Bill Barron a day after
the Board of Commissioners had met
in a public session. Fellow Commis-
sioner Tom Mielke, a Republican,
agreed to add the item to the agenda af-
ter being contacted by Barron.
In a Feb. 7 e-mail, Commissioner
Steve Stuart, a Democrat, confirmed it.
“I was informed by the county admin-
istrator that the county commissioners
will consider a resolution opposing the
Columbia River Crossing Project next
Tuesday (Feb. 12) morning.”
Stuart said the resolution, “was not
discussed in open public session yes-
terday, but instead delivered in an e-
mail from Commissioner Madore this
morning followed up by a second vote
given by Commissioner Mielke over
the phone with our administrator, who
agreed to add it (to the agenda).
“Regardless of your feelings about
the CRC project, please know that I be-
lieve the public should be duly notified
of, and invited to participate in, public
business such as this,” Stuart wrote.
“Trying to sneak things by doesn’t help
establish public trust.”
In January, the Board of Commis-
sioners, led by Madore, voted 2-to-1 to
withdraw more than $100,000 in fund-
ing to the Columbia River Economic
Development Council because of its
support for the Columbia River Cross-
ing project.
Neither of the county resolutions has
any effect on the CRC project, as it
doesn’t fall under their governing au-
thority. “The county commission has
no legal authority over this interstate
project. Period,” Stuart told the
Columbian newspaper.
...Postal contracts
(From Page 2)
November 2014, and 1 percent in No-
vember 2015. It also provides for the
payment of seven COLAs between
now and 2016, though the two COLAs
calculated in 2013 will be deferred and
paid in 2014. These wage and COLA
provisions follow the wage pattern es-
tablished by the negotiated APWU
contract and the arbitrated Rural Letter
Carriers’ contract.
The arbitration board increased em-
ployee health insurance premiums,
banned contracting out, and maintained
no layoff protections.
For Letter Carriers, transitional em-
ployee positions were eliminated and
new city carrier assistants (CCAs) po-
sitions were created. CCAs will receive
lower hourly pay to start, but will have
a path to career employment and the
top step wage rate after 12.4 years
($27.74 per hour). CCAs also will be
eligible for health care insurance and a
401(k) retirement plan after one year on
the job.
The arbitration decision also calls
for the conversion of all part-time flex-
ible carriers to full-time regular status.
PAGE 3