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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 2013)
Unions turn out to support export terminal in Longview West Coast coal export terminals. The hearing lasted more than six hours. Millennium will build the facil- ity without any public subsidies, it will hire union construction work- ers and, once completed, it will staff the terminal with members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. It is estimated that the project will generate more than 2,000 jobs during construction and 135 full-time jobs once the ter- minal is up and running. “This is exactly the type of pri- vate investment we need in our community,” said Longview City Councilman Mike Wallin. Union officials said that local voices from workers are a vital part LONGVIEW — A strong con- tingent of union members and their families turned out for a public hear- ing Sept. 17 to voice their support for a coal export facility being pro- posed by Millennium Bulk Termi- nals. The company wants to build a $643 million terminal at the former Reynolds Aluminum smelter at the Port of Longview. Cowlitz County, state, and fed- eral regulators are holding five pub- lic hearings in Washington to deter- mine the scope of the environmental review of the project. The Sept. 17 public hearing filled the Cowlitz Expo Center with about 2,000 sup- porters and opponents. Environ- mental groups have mounted a mas- sive campaign against all proposed of the process. They are asking union members to attend the next public hear- ing Wednesday, Oct. 9, at the Clark County Fairgrounds in Vancouver. The hearing runs from noon to 8 p.m. The 95-day comment period for scoping the Millennium project ends Nov. 18. Regulators will review com- ments online, through the mail, and ver- bally. For more information, contact Jef- fery Washburn, president of the- Longview/Kelso Building and Con- struction Trades Council, at 360- 577-0535, or by email at jwashburn@ ua26.org; or Mike Bridges, secretary- treasurer, at 360-431-1472, or by email at mikebridges@ibew48.com. Convention Center hotel closer to breaking ground Officials at Metro expect to start ne- gotiations with developers of a conven- tion center hotel later this month, after final approval of the hotel’s finance plan was granted by the Portland City Coun- cil and the Multnomah County board of commissioners. The Metro Council has been laying the groundwork for several years to build a large hotel adjacent to the Ore- gon Convention Center, which it oper- ates. On the table is a 600-room Grand Hyatt Regency owned by the Chicago- based Hyatt Corp. Hyatt is teaming with Mortenson Development Inc. and Schlesinger Cos. to build the hotel. Hyatt signed a landmark neutrality agreement with UNITE HERE Local 8 last November, which means the hotel likely will be staffed with union work- ers. Under the agreement, UNITE HERE organizers could meet with workers at the hotel, and hold meetings there; managers would attend and make it clear that the company has no objec- tion to workers exercising their right to unionize. Workers would be free to join a labor organization of their choosing, and could do so through a “card check” process or through a government-ad- ministered election. If workers choose to unionize, and didn’t reach agreement with management within six months over the terms of a first union contract, the contract proposals could be submit- ted to binding arbitration, under the la- bor peace agreement. The hotel itself will be built with a union workforce. Mortenson Construc- tion is a union general contractor, and a project “statement of principles” signed by Metro, the City of Portland, and Multnomah County seeks assurances that the developer will utilize union building tradesmen and women. Jodi Guetzloe-Parker, executive sec- retary of the Columbia Pacific Building and Construction Trades Council, esti- mates hotel construction will generate nearly 2,000 jobs. The projected cost is $198 million. PAGE 4 Financing will come from various sources. The Hyatt/ Mortensen devel- opment team will invest approximately $117 million into the project. The Ore- gon Legislature approved $10 million in state lottery bond proceeds; Metro will contribute $4 million using funds it has earmarked for a convention center hotel; and the Portland Development Commission will provide a $4 million loan using funds dedicated to a head- quarters hotel. The final $60 million will come from a construction bond is- sued by Metro. The bond will be paid off using room taxes on hotel visitors. Because the City of Portland and Multnomah County each have a stake in visitor lodging taxes, city and county commissioners had to agree to use money in the Visitor Facilities Trust Ac- count to pay off the bond. In exchange for issuing the tax-free bonds, Hyatt agreed to meet a number of develop- ment conditions, including having a union workforce and leaving 500 of the hotel’s 600 rooms available to future conventions. Multnomah County commissioners voted unanimously to approve the fi- nance plan, and the Portland City Coun- cil voted 3-1 in favor, with Commis- sioner Dan Saltzman absent and Commissioner Steve Novick dissent- ing. The City Council added an amend- ment to the memorandum of under- standing at the request of Commis- sioner Nick Fish. The amendment requires Metro, Multnomah County, and Portland city officials to be allowed to periodically review how much Hyatt is charging for its rooms. Fish’s concern was that with the large public subsidies, the hotel could be in a position to un- dercut its competitors’ rates. Metro hopes to have a development agreement finalized by the end of the year. The deal would not need approval from the city or county. If approved, the developer would break ground early in 2014, with a ten- Corn Nuts NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS See’s Candies OCTOBER 4, 2013
