Labor-environmental group calls
Merkley a ‘green jobs’ champion
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Oregon
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley received a
Green Jobs Champion award Feb. 11
from the labor-environmental group
BlueGreen Alliance. The award is
given to elected leaders who have con-
tributed greatly to creating good jobs
that help the economy and the environ-
ment.
The award was presented to
Merkley and to U.S. Rep. George
Miller (D-Calif.) in Washington D.C.,
where hundreds of labor, environmen-
tal, business, non-profit and civic lead-
ers were gathered for a three-day
“Good Jobs, Green Jobs” conference.
“Sen. Merkley’s unwavering cham-
pionship of American manufacturing
and dedication to fighting climate
change and protecting our environment
is an inspiration to the blue-green
movement,” said David Foster, presi-
dent of the BlueGreen Alliance.
The Alliance was co-founded by the
United Steelworkers Union and the
Sierra Club.
Participants at the conference
launched “Repair America,” a cam-
paign to fix the country’s more than 2.5
million miles of deficient pipelines and
crumbling infrastructure in a sustain-
able way to create family-wage, green
jobs. Their goal is to convince citizens
and Congress to back funding to make
it happen.
The centerpiece of the plan is cre-
IAM reform slate clears second hurdle
A slate of reform candidates vying
for the national leadership of 577,000-
member International Association of
Machinists (IAM) has cleared a second
electoral hurdle. Because the slate
headed by Connecticut railroad me-
chanic Jay Cronk received the required
endorsement of at least 25 local lodges
at special endorsement meetings held
Feb. 8, it will face off against a slate of
incumbents led by international presi-
dent R. Thomas Buffenbarger on na-
tionwide ballots.
Both sets of candidates will appear
on the ballots that members will re-
ceive at the first regularly scheduled
meeting in April of each local lodge in
the United States.
Cronk’s slate includes two Boeing
workers: Gresham plant worker Pat
Maloney of Lodge 63, and union busi-
ness representative Jason Redrup of
District 751 in the Puget Sound.
The contest is a do-over, conducted
under the terms of a voluntary compli-
ance agreement with the U.S. Depart-
ment of Labor. DOL investigated com-
plaints filed after national IAM officer
elections in January 2013, and con-
cluded that the election rules outlined
in the IAM constitution violate a fed-
eral law governing union elections.
ation of a National Infrastructure Bank
to use public dollars to leverage private
investment in such repair and replace-
ment projects.
“We have a D+ infrastructure,” said
Steelworkers President Leo Gerard, re-
ferring to a recent report card put out
by the American Society of Civil Engi-
neers. ASCE estimates it will take an
investment of $3.6 trillion by 2020 to
get the country’s infrastructure to a
“state of good repair,” or a ‘B’ grade.
Gerard said if Congress invested
enough money to attain a ‘B’ grade,
“we’d have 11 million more jobs and
put those Americans back to work.”
A bill written by Merkley — the
Job Creation through Energy Efficient
Manufacturing Act — would provide
grants to states to establish or expand
programs to finance energy efficiency
retrofit, onsite clean and renewable en-
ergy, smart grid, and alternative vehi-
cle fleet projects for industrial busi-
nesses.
Oregon AFL-CIO Secretary-Treas-
urer Barbara Byrd and Washington
State Labor Council Secretary-Treas-
urer Lynne Dodson headed a work-
shop on climate policy and labor in the
Western region. And Alan Hickenbot-
tom of Christenson Electric partici-
pated in a roundtable discussion, where
he talked about how green jobs have
benefited NECA/IBEW Local 48
members and the Oregon economy.
Oregon U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, a keynote speaker at the Good Jobs, Green
Jobs national conference of the BlueGreen Alliance, received a Green Jobs
Champion award from the labor-environmental group Feb. 11 in
Washington, D.C. (Photo courtesy of Keith Mellnick.)
Unionists to bowl for Muscular
Dystrophy Association on April 13
The 25th annual Labor Bowl Chal-
lenge for the Muscular Dystrophy As-
sociation will be held Sunday, April 13,
at Sunset Lanes in Beaverton.
The Labor Bowl Challenge consists
of four-person teams that compete for
prizes. Money is raised through
pledges and from a silent auction, and
goes to buy wheelchairs and braces for
children, as well as for research and
summer camps.
Muscular dystrophy is a hereditary
condition marked by a progressive
weakening and wasting of the muscles
over time.
Since its inception in 1989, union
members have donated $351,025.75 to
MDA.
The event is coordinated by the Na-
tional Association of Letter Carriers
(NALC) Branch 82 and the Northwest
Oregon Labor Council.
For more information, or to sign up
and receive fundraising packets and in-
structions, call Jim Falvey, president of
Letter Carriers Branch 82 at 503-493-
5903. To donate silent auction items,
call NALC’s MDA Coordinator Debby
Burbank at 971-404-5384.
(International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X)
Established in 1900 at Portland, Oregon
as a voice of the labor movement.
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Editor: Michael Gutwig
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Published on a semi-monthly basis on the first and third Fridays of
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NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
FEBRUARY 21, 2014