Northwest labor press., June 21, 2013, Page 5, Image 5

Painters, Floor
Coverers hand
out bonuses to
STAR members
Nearly 100 union painters and floor
coverers received $500 bonus checks
and $100 gift cards May 30 at a Safety
Training Awards Recognition (STAR)
banquet in Portland. The craftsmen
and women are members of Painters
Local 10 in Portland, Local 1277 in
Eugene, Local 724 in Salem, and Port-
land-based Floor Coverers Local 1236.
Seventy Painters and 28 Floor Cov-
erers qualified for the bonuses after
completing seven classes (painters
only) and 24 hours of skill-advance-
ment training and safety courses over a
12-month period. Classes are held in
the evenings and on weekends at the
Painters Training Center in Northeast
Portland and at the Clark County Skills
Center in Vancouver, Washington.
Four painter apprentices also were
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Letter Carriers’ food
drive sees sharp increase
Four apprentices were recognized for their perfect attendance in the painters
apprenticeship and training program. They are from left to right: Peter
Halterman, Doug Bartholomew, Erin Scott, and McKenzie Fidler. Halterman
has had perfect attendance for the last three years.
recognized for perfect attendance in
the apprenticeship training program.
They are Peter Halterman, Doug
Bartholomew, Erin Scott and McKen-
zie Fidler. Halterman has had perfect
attendance for three years in a row.
The STAR program was initiated
eight years ago when Painters and Al-
lied Trades District Council No. 5 and
the Signatory Painting Contractors Or-
ganization made a commitment to each
other to field the best-trained, highest
educated workforce in the industry.
This led to the creation of the Painters
Union/Management Partnership, or
PUMP. The program is funded by a
cents-per-hour contribution negotiated
in their collective bargaining agree-
ment.
Local 1236 started funding its own
program three years ago in partnership
with the Signatory Floor Covering
Contractors.
Presenting the bonuses were Allied
Trades District Council 5 Area Direc-
tor Bud Bartunek, and Business Rep-
resentative David Winkler.
Bill Regan is the apprenticeship co-
ordinator for the Painters, and John
Lawson is apprenticeship coordinator
for the Floor Coverers.
Signatory contractors attending the
recognition banquet were Sterling
Floors, Don Frank Floors, and Floor
Factors, Inc. for the Floor Coverers and
Long Painting, Schiller & Vroman,
Reichle, Inc., and Fine Painting for the
Painters.
The annual food drive of the Na-
tional Association of Letter Carriers
(NALC) collected more than 74 mil-
lion pounds of food to help restock
food banks, pantries and shelters
around the country. The May 11 effort
garnered 74.4 million pounds of food,
an increase of 5 percent over last year.
The total food collected was the sec-
ond most in the drive’s 21 years, and
the increase was the highest in a
decade.
Oregon contributed 1,052,264
pounds of food to the cause, while in
Washington, letter carriers brought in
1,835,238 pounds of food.
“This demonstrates in clear fashion
the value of the unique postal network,
which goes to 151 million addresses
six days a week,” said NALC President
Fredric Rolando. “It also shows the re-
markable connection between letter
carriers and the communities they
serve — a bond that serves the nation
well.”
The Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive
is the largest single-day food drive in
the nation. It is held annually on the
second Saturday in May in 10,000
cities and towns in all 50 states, the
District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the
Virgin Islands and Guam. From major
metropolitan areas to small rural
towns, residents put out non-perishable
food donations on that day, which let-
ter carriers collect as they deliver mail
along their postal routes.
“Letter carriers see first-hand the
needs in the communities where we
work, and we’re honored to be able to
help people in need by leading an ef-
fort that brings out the best in so many
Americans,” Rolando said.
Rolando said the effort by 1,400
NALC branches around the country
would not have been possible without
the contributions of its national part-
ners: Feeding America, Campbell
Soup Co., AARP, Valpak Direct Mar-
keting Systems, Valassis/Red Plum,
U.S. Postal Service, United Way
Worldwide, AFL- CIO, Uncle Bob’s
Self Storage, GLS Companies, Source
Direct Plastics, and the Publix grocery
store chain. Rural letter carriers and
other postal employees, plus members
of other unions and civic volunteers,
also helped, as did Family Circus car-
toonist Jeff Keane.
“We could not have accomplished
this without the hardworking team of
partners we have, all committed to
ending hunger in our country,” said
Pam Donato, NALC community serv-
ices coordinator.
She said the Stamp Out Hunger
Food Drive never has been more im-
portant, with hunger affecting about 50
million people around the country, in-
cluding 17 million children and nine
million senior citizens.
“Pantry shelves filled up through
winter-holiday generosity often are
bare by late spring,” she said, “And,
with most school meal programs sus-
pended during summer months, mil-
lions of children must find alternate
sources of nutrition.”
The natural disasters the country
has recently endured — including the
tornadoes in Oklahoma and Super
Storm Sandy along the East Coast —
magnified the needs.
Oklahoma residents who contributed
to record collections soon became re-
cipients of the public generosity.
“Thanks to Oklahoma City area let-
ter carriers, nearly 320,000 pounds of
food was collected during the Letter
Carriers Food Drive,” said Rodney
Bivens, executive director of the Re-
gional Food Bank of Oklahoma, a
member of the Feeding America net-
work. “These much-needed donations
were immediately available to families
and individuals impacted by the May
tornadoes.”
And some Northeastern areas af-
fected by Hurricane Sandy, including
in Vermont and New Jersey, set food-
collection records despite the hardships
residents had been through.
“These events show the good will
of people, good will that in such times
is both more necessary and more im-
pressive,” Rolando said.
Evergreen College union ratifies first pact
OLYMPIA, Wash. — After 17
months of negotiations and a one-day
strike, members of the Student Support
Services Staff Union at The Evergreen
State College ratified their first-ever
collective bargaining agreement June
12. The vote was 52-2.
The contract takes effect July 1 and
runs through June 30, 2015.
The contract includes a fair com-
pensation package and “just cause”
due process rights for discipline, the
Washington Federation of State Em-
ployees, an affiliate of AFSCME
Council 28, said in a press release.
On compensation, the Evergreen
workers (who have never gotten step
increases) will start to catch up with
across-the-board increases totaling 4
JUNE 21, 2013
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
percent: 3 percent on July 1, 2013, and
1 percent on July 1, 2014. They’ll also
start getting step increases of 1 percent
on the first day of the month in which
the employee’s date of permanent/pro-
ject hire occurs, once the employee has
been employed for 12 months or more.
Also, effective July 1, 2013, each em-
ployee will receive a one-time bonus
payment equal to 1 percent of the em-
ployee’s annual salary.
The union represents 57 counselors,
advisers, resident directors, and others
at the college. The group walked out
May 28 after six days of mediation
failed to resolve differences over just-
cause due process rights and a fair com-
pensation package. The strike virtually
shut down the college for the day.
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