UFCW’s Gillispie
tapped to chair
school board
Longtime labor leader Sam
Gillispie, grievance director of United
Food and Commercial
Workers Local 555,
has been elected chair
of the North Clacka-
mas School District
board of directors.
Gillispie has served on
the board for 18 years.
Gillispie worked as
a business representative for Oregon
AFSCME Council 75 prior to joining
the staff at Local 555.
His first meeting as chair was July 3.
Machinists’ Guide
Dog Dash Aug. 24
The 7th annual Guide Dog Dash
motorcycle poker run will be held
Saturday, Aug 24. Starting this year,
the event will be re-named the
Richard Martin Memorial Guide Dog
Dash in remembrance of the longtime
union Machinist who died last year.
The Guide Dog Dash is sponsored
by Machinists Lodge 63 and IAM
District W24.
Registration is at 9 a.m. at the
IBEW Local 48 Union Hall, 15937
NE Airport Way, Portland. The last
ride out is at 10:30 a.m. The ride will
finish at Lewisville Regional Park,
26411 NE Lewisville Hwy, Vancou-
ver (Ponderosa area).
Registration is $25 per rider and
$10 per passenger and includes a T-
shirt, food after the ride, and raffle
prizes. All proceeds benefit Guide
Dogs of America.
For more information, contact
John Hall at 503-449-0969 or go on-
line to www.iamw24.org.
PAGE 10
IBEW latest union to oppose Obamacare
WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI) —
The International Brotherhood of Elec-
trical Workers (IBEW), one of the na-
tion’s largest construction unions, is
calling for changes to the Affordable
Care Act so that workers covered by
multi-employer plans don’t get hurt or
lose coverage.
In ads running July 26 in Washing-
ton, D.C.-based publications, the union
says the health insurance revision law,
dubbed Obamacare, would leave
multi-employer plans jointly run by
unions and management in construc-
tion and other industries with disad-
vantages, and would let most construc-
tion firms opt out of covering workers
altogether.
IBEW said 95 percent of construc-
tion contractors would be exempt from
the law because they employ fewer
than 50 people. Many of those contrac-
tors join multi-employer plans, which
cover workers who move from firm to
firm, where the jobs are.
IBEW International President Ed
Hill said the way Obamacare is being
interpreted, many contractors would
have an incentive to drop out of cover-
ing workers, and low-road contractors
would get an advantage over those who
provide their workers benefits.
Besides the ads, the union published
a detailed four-page white paper on the
problems facing workers covered by
multi-employer plans, asking readers to
contact lawmakers about the problems.
IBEW’s objections are important be-
cause Hill — like four other union pres-
idents who have raised concerns —
Delay of employer mandate in
Obamacare chafes AFL-CIO
WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI) —
The AFL-CIO is not happy with the
Obama Administration’s recent an-
nouncement to postpone for one year
the employer mandate provision in the
Affordable Care Act (ACA).
In a statement, national AFL-CIO
President Richard Trumka called the
postponement “troubling” and implied
the Obama Administration bowed to
business pressure. The health care re-
form, dubbed Obamacare, passed in
2010.
Obama announced the postpone-
ment earlier this month, citing the com-
plexity of instituting the mandate in
2014. The mandate orders all employ-
ers with more than 50 workers to pro-
vide health care coverage or pay a tax
per worker to cover costs of care for the
uninsured. The uninsured would get
care through state- or federally-run
health care exchanges. Many GOP-run
states are resisting the exchanges.
“In the health reform debate, we
fought to ensure employers have a re-
sponsibility to provide affordable, com-
prehensive health benefits to their work-
ers and their families,” Trumka said,
noting that private-sector health care
coverage has been declining for years
as employers shift its costs onto work-
ers or dump it entirely.
“The employer responsibility provi-
sion in the ACA, while not as strong as
we asked for, was designed to give large
employers an incentive to offer or con-
tinue offering affordable, comprehen-
sive health care coverage to some of
their employees. Dropping the mandate
ends that incentive,” Trumka added.
The nation’s largest private-sector
employer, anti-union Walmart, is an ex-
ample of what Trumka was talking
about and what the mandate is sup-
posed to fix.
Walmart health care is expensive —
especially given its low wages — and
available only to full-time workers.
And Walmart carefully curbs workers’
hours to keep them part-time. More
than 40 percent of Walmart workers and
their families depend on Medicaid or
public programs for health care.
“The Administration’s announce-
ment that it is delaying employer re-
sponsibility assessments until 2015 is
troubling because it removes that in-
centive for next year,” Trumka said. “In
light of this decision, we believe it is
even more urgent for Congress and the
Administration to reaffirm their com-
mitment to employer responsibility.”
The ACA still needs some improve-
ments, Trumka said. Notably, its re-
quirements must be rewritten to make
multi-employer plans — jointly run
with unions in industries such as con-
struction and food manufacturing — vi-
able.
“We hope the Administration will
address these concerns just as they have
the concerns voiced by employers,” he
concluded.
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
point to President Barack Obama’s
promise that anyone with insurance
who wants to keep it can do so.
United Food and Commercial Work-
ers President Joe Hansen, Teamsters
President James Hoffa, and UNITE
HERE President D. Taylor took their
concerns public in letters to congres-
sional leaders in mid-July, adding that
the White House “stonewalled” them.
Kinsey Robinson, president of the
Roofers Union, was the first to cite
problems facing multi-employer plans
under Obamacare. He called for the
Administration to fix the problems,
otherwise, repeal the law.
Until now, Hill privately lobbied
lawmakers to make changes to the law.
EE
R
F
“I said three years ago the Afford-
able Care Act was a major step in
health care coverage, but not the last
step,” Hill said in a video on IBEW’s
website. “That’s why IBEW is urging
the president and Congress to take
steps to ensure the future of multi-em-
ployer plans,” which cover 26 million
workers and retirees.
IBEW, like the other unions, wants
the federal government to change Oba-
macare rules so firms participating in
multi-employer plans, and workers the
plans cover, would be eligible for fed-
eral insurance subsidies and tax cred-
its. IBEW also wants to reduce the no-
coverage exemption for businesses,
now 50 people, but did not say how far.
BARGAIN COUNTER
Free classified ads to subscribers
DEADLINE: Friday prior to publication
Published 1st and 3rd Fridays
Now accepting e-mails
Send to: Michael492@comcast.net
Mail to: NWLP, PO Box 13150, Portland OR 97213
(Please include union affiliation)
• 15-20 words • No commercial or business ads • 1 ad per issue
• All lower case (NO CAPITAL LETTERS, PLEASE) •
Ads MUST include area code or they will not be published
A UTOMOTIVE
’84 DATSUN 300 ZX, 50th anniversary
turbo, straight body, runs great, $2,500.
503-539-7499
‘50 FORD HOOD, damaged, bad, $100.
503-630-4177
‘92 DODGE DIESEL, 1 ton, 84k mi, one
owner’ ‘96 10’9” Western Wilderness
camper, stored exc cond, $15,000. 541-
337-3945
lection, paying fairly, any amount welcome.
503-939-8835
COLLECTOR, cash paid, old fishing
tackle, wood plugs, reels, creels, salmon
fishing photos, etc. 503-775-4166
COLLECTOR PAYS cash for older toys,
oil paintings, American art pottery, and cos-
tume jewelry. 503 703-5952
HAM RADIO & short wave radio equip,
(no CBs), including older 1950s/60s/70s
equipment w/tubes. 503-823-4577
H OUSING
M ISCELLANEOUS
ROCKAWAY BEACH rental, 3 bed, 2 bath,
sleeps 10, Jacuzzi, 5 min to beach/shops.
Vacationhomerentals.com/43026
LINCOLN CITY vacation rental, 3 bdrm, 2
bath. sleeps 8, wi-fi, 2 blks from beach, 3
blks from casino. 503-653-2069
ROCKAWAY ocean front, 503-777-5076,
5 bdrms/2 ba, HUGE home on the beach!
http://rockawaybeachfrontrental.com
LONG BEACH, WA, 2 bed, 2 bath, house,
lrg shop, greenhouse, fenced gardens, 1
acre, reduced to $154,900. 503-440-5751
200 ACRES, Spray Oregon, $750 per
acre. 541-468-2961
TEMP CONSTRUCTION FENCE, with
clamps and feet, used 2 times. 19-10ft; 3-
12ft. $500. 503-729-6483
RYOBI TABLESAW w/ stand & built in
router, 10-inch blade, router bits, $125;
bench belt sander $50. 503-622- 0899
6 MARINE SOLID brass 9.5” ceiling or wall
mount fixtures, brass cross guards over
7.5” frosted glass, $40 each OBO. 503-
598-8994
LAWN MOWER motors, 12.5 and 13 HP,
Briggs, elect. Start, vert, shaft, $100 each.
503-780-0374 (Colton)
W ANTED
OLD WOODWORKING tools, planes, lev-
els, chisels, handsaws, slicks, adzes,
wrenches, folding rulers, leather tools, tool
chests. 503-659-0009
MOTORCYCLES, quads, boats, tractors,
RVs, trailers, bicycles, autos, lawnmowers,
cash paid will pick up 503-880-8183
U.S., GERMAN, Japanese military items,
uniforms, aviation, hats, helmets, swords,
daggers, bayonets, rifles, pistols. 503-852-
6791
BUYING US & world coins to add to col-
S PORTING G OODS
’08 Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail,
2,500 mi, 2-tone metallic red, extra leather,
saddle bags, helmets, $15,500. 503-806-
0575
’08 FLEETWOOD Highlander Avalon tent
trailer, tandem axle, dual batteries &
propane, exc cond, $11,500 obo. 503-349-
7189
‘94 COMPANION 5th-wheel, 27.5, well
maintained with hitch, $5,800; ’02 Chev ¾
HD extra cab,Duramax 12k. 503-667-
1093
AUGUST 2, 2013