...2013: Year in Review
(From Page 1)
a campaign by the Machinists to union-
ize Precision Castparts went down in a
932 to 1,258 vote.
C ONTRACT DISPUTES
A unit of 1,800 Univer-
sity of Oregon faculty ratified
their first-ever union contract in
October, delivering greater
job security and raises averag-
ing 11.75 percent. That was the
product of a six-year campaign.
But at year’s end, three other large
public employee units were hav-
ing great difficulty securing ac-
ceptable contract renewals: 1,600
members of the District Council of
Trade Unions at the City of Port-
land, 2,000 members of Amalga-
mated Transit Union Local 757 at
TriMet, and 3,000 members of the
Portland Association of Teachers at
Portland Public Schools.
And large private sector employ-
ers were playing hardball with their
union employees. In February, United
Grain locked out members of Interna-
tional Longshore and Warehouse Union
(ILWU) from its export terminal at the
Port of Vancouver, and Columbia Grain
did the same in May at its terminal at
the Port of Portland. ILWU members
were still locked out of those jobs at
year’s end. Meanwhile, members of
Machinists Lodge 1005 and Sign
Painters and Paint Makers Local 1094
at Daimler’s Western Star truck plant in
Portland struck 22 days and returned
to work after agreeing to a contract
that was little changed from the
one they rejected before the
strike: Raises of $1.30 an
hour over three years, but
also increased health in-
surance premiums and
an end to post-65 retiree
health benefits.
And Boeing Inc. told
union Machinists it
would leave the Puget
Sound behind and locate
new aircraft assembly
elsewhere — if they
didn’t vote to end their
own pensions and
sell out future co-
workers with a
wage scale that
more than doubled the
time it takes to reach top pay. With three
years still remaining on their existing
contract, members turned down that of-
fer by a more than two-to-one ratio.
Intel’s Ronler Acres campus in Hills-
boro in 2013, with thousands employed
throughout the year. And in general,
work in the building trades was up. In
May, the massive remodel of the Edith
Green Wendell Wyatt Federal Building
was completed: The $139-million stim-
ulus-funded project employed union la-
bor under a project labor agreement,
and was completed on time and on
budget two years and four months af-
ter site work began.
Union business managers pushed
hard in 2013 to develop future work
opportunities: If financing comes to-
gether for a convention center head-
quarters hotel in Portland, Hyatt Corp.
and its general contractor pledged in
2013 to use union building trades
members to build it — and to remain
neutral toward union organizing efforts
by the hotel workers union UNITE
HERE once it opens. But the area’s
biggest jobs project, a new I-5 bridge
over the Columbia River, was no closer
to reality after years of planning: The
Oregon Legislature committed $450
million to the project, but the Washing-
ton Senate failed to vote the necessary
matching amount.
J OBS , JOBS , JOBS
U NIONS MERGE , AND SPLIT
Union construction workers were
kept busy at the massive expansion of
In 2013, the 10,400-member Ore-
gon Nurses Association joined Ameri-
Kedir Wako had a vision that he and fellow cabbies could form a new driver-
owned union-affiliated taxi coop. In April, Union Cab became a reality.
can Federation of Teachers (AFT); and
200-member Boilermakers Local 500,
based in Portland, merged into 350-
member Local 242, based in Spokane.
Service Employees International Union
(SEIU) locals 49 and 503 began merger
discussions, which they expected to
conclude in Spring 2014; if they unify,
the combination would be a 65,000-
member union of janitors, security
guards, health care workers, and state
employees.
Nationally, 1.3 million-member
United Food and Commercial Workers
resolved in August to rejoin the AFL-
CIO, the federation it broke away from
eight years prior. But International
Longshore and Warehouse Union
(ILWU), went the opposite direction:
The 50,000-member union of West
Coast dockworkers disaffiliated with
the AFL-CIO, citing jurisdictional dis-
putes with other AFL-CIO unions.
With the help of union labor,
Portland’s 18-story, city-block-sized
federal building got a “green”
remodel, and reopened in September.
The names of all the workers are
printed on glass at the building’s
entrance.
D ON ’ T MOURN ; ORGANIZE
The local labor movement also
noted the passing of a number of long-
time union activists in 2013, including
Tommy Malloy, former Teamsters
business agent and lobbyist; Bill Fritz,
former labor educator with the Univer-
sity of Oregon Labor Education and
Research Center; Ken Jette, former
statewide president of the American
Postal Workers Union; Kathy Morris,
retired United Food and Commercial
Workers Local 555 official and expert
on workers’ compensation; Lin Mayes,
former secretary-treasurer of UFCW
Local 555; Larry Kenney, former pres-
ident of the Washington State Labor
Council; Sandy Fahey, co-founder of
the Carpenters Food Bank; and Tom
Gates, former president of National As-
sociation of Letter Carriers Branch 916
in Eugene.
Machinists picket the Daimler
Trucks plant in Portland on July 1,
Day 1 of a strike that lasted 22 days.
Low Prices!
Mon-Fri 9-6, Sat 9:30-5:30, Sun 12-6
JANUARY 3 2014
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
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