Elliott named Unions see mixed results in 2013 legislative session
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Machinists
District W24
Chip Elliott has been appointed pres-
ident/directing business representative
(DBR) of Machinists District W24. He
will finish out
the term of
Robert “Bob”
Wilson, who re-
tired July 1. The
term expires in
December 2014.
Elliott, 59,
has served as one
of three assistant
DBRs at W24
C HIP E LLIOTT
since Jan. 1,
2011, when Machinist District Lodge
24 merged with Woodworkers Lodge
W1. District W24 represents more than
6,000 workers covered under 120 con-
tracts in Oregon, Washington, Idaho,
and Northern California. The district
lodge is located in Gladstone, Oregon.
Prior to the merger, Elliott was assis-
tant DBR to Wilson at Woodworkers
Lodge W1.
Elliott is a 40-year member of
Woodworkers Local 130 in Centralia,
Washington. After working 26 years as
a log processor operator for Weyer-
haeuser, Elliott joined the staff of Local
130 as a union rep in 1997. In 2004 he
was appointed as a district representa-
tive and in 2010 in was named assistant
DBR.
A resident of Dryad, Washington, an
unincorporated town located southeast
of Centralia, Elliott said as DBR he will
continue to focus on organizing. District
W24 recently launched a nationwide
campaign at Jeld Wen. The union is try-
ing to secure a first contract at Bradken
Engineered Products in Chehalis, and it
still has its eye on 2,000 workers at Pre-
cision Castparts, where last month it lost
a close election.
The union also is dealing with a
strike at Daimler Trucks North Amer-
ica, where 520 machinists walked out
July 1.
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
The Oregon Legislature adjourned
its 2013 legislative session July 8,
wrapping up what — for organized la-
bor — was a moderately successful
session. With Democratic majorities in
the House (34-26) and Senate (16-14),
legislators passed a law barring public
sector union-busting, closed a loophole
in the state prevailing wage law, and
approved hundreds of millions of dol-
lars in new construction and infrastruc-
ture spending, enough to keep many
building trades union members busy in
the coming two years. Public sector
unions faced a setback, however, when
every Democrat in the House and Sen-
ate joined Democratic Gov. John
Kitzhaber to trim benefits in PERS
(Public Employee Retirement System).
NO MORE PUBLIC SECTOR
UNION-BUSTING
The law the Oregon AFL-CIO is
most proud of goes to the heart of
union rights. HB 3342, sponsored by
Representative Michael Dembrow (D-
Portland) prohibits state county and lo-
cal employers from deterring (or pro-
moting) unionization, and from
spending money or holding meetings
with employees to deter or promote
unionization. It passed both chambers
on strict party lines, with all Democ-
rats voting in favor and all Republicans
opposed.
“It prevents public sector managers
from using public dollars to weigh in
on union organizing drives based on
their personal opinions,” said Oregon
AFL-CIO political director Elana
Guiney. “It’s none of their business. It’s
a decision that should be up to the
workers.”
When faculty campaigned for a
union at University of Oregon, the
school spent over $300,000 on outside
consultants and lawyers to oppose it.
That would have been illegal under the
new law, Guiney said.
There were several other gains for
workers’ rights this session, including:
• Bereavement leave. The brain-
child of Bakers Local 114 member
Robin Zimmerman, HB 2950 allows
employees to take up to two weeks un-
paid leave to deal with the death of a
family member.
• Keeping employers’ prying eyes
off workers’ Facebook pages. HB
2654 makes it illegal for an employer
to request access to an employee’s or
applicant’s personal social media ac-
count, or to require an employee to
“friend” their employer by adding the
employer to their social media list of
contacts.
HALTING AN END-RUN
AROUND PREVAILING WAGE
A state law known as little Davis-
Bacon requires that construction work-
ers be paid the prevailing wage and
benefits on public construction proj-
ects. Governments are supposed to
award building contracts to the lowest
bidder. But the prevailing wage law en-
sures that doesn’t mean the contractor
with the lowest wages: All government
construction contractors are required to
pay the area standard wage for each
specialty, as determined by an annual
survey. But several recent projects at
University of Oregon had sidestepped
the prevailing wage by building with
donor dollars from Nike mogul Phil
Knight, and then deeding those build-
ings to the school.
“That trend was going to continue
unless we nipped it in the bud,” said
John Mohlis, executive secretary-treas-
urer of the Oregon State Building and
Construction Trades Council. Closing
the loophole was a top priority this
year for the building trades.
HB 2646 — sponsored by Dem-
brow and State Rep. Margaret Doherty
— did that, saying that regardless of
funding source, if construction or ren-
ovation is done on property that a state
university owns, will use, occupy, or
ultimately own, it is subject to the re-
quirement to pay prevailing wage. It
passed 47-10 in the House and 27-2 in
the Senate.
MONEY
FOR CONSTRUCTION
Legislators also put money towards
new construction and infrastructure,
starting with a $450 million commit-
ment to the Interstate-5 Bridge Re-
placement Project (Columbia River
Crossing), passed in the early days of
the session. The project depended on a
matching commitment from the Wash-
ington Legislature, however, and Re-
publican legislators there opposed the
project, which was part of a larger
transportation funding bill. When the
Washington Legislature ended its 2013
session without approving the funds,
the project was closed down.
But lawmakers also voted to ap-
prove bond funding for other Oregon
projects that will keep building trades
workers busy, including:
• $316 million for 12 new state uni-
versity projects;
• $109 million for 16 new commu-
nity college projects;
• $80 million to construct a new
state mental hospital in Junction City;
• $42 million for ConnectOregon, a
program of state grants and loans for
non-highway transportation projects
that promote economic development,
including rail, shipping, and airport
construction;
• $34 million for pre-construction
planning on a project to earthquake
proof the state Capitol building;
• $15 million to renovate the Mult-
nomah County Courthouse;
• $10 million for constructing a pri-
vate hotel next to the Oregon Conven-
tion Center in Portland, so long as local
governments also contribute, and ap-
prove local hotel taxes to repay the
bonds; and
• $5 million to the help plan the re-
development of the 23-acre site in
downtown Oregon City where the
now-closed Blue Heron paper mill sits.
(Turn to Page 3)
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JULY 19, 2013