...Beetle retires as business manager of Laborers #483
(From Page 3)
volved in the struggle around the war,
and was a sponge: I soaked up a lot of
information and really got my educa-
tion that way.”
Beetle married Myra Silverman, a
native New Yorker, and the two moved
to Missouri, where he went to work at
a paper bag printing plant, and tried to
get coworkers to join the Typographi-
cal Union. The union campaign lost
narrowly, a victim of employer tactics
— a 25-cent raise, and threats of plant
closure if they were to unionize. Beetle
was fired for his union activism, and
later won a backpay settlement bro-
kered by the National Labor Relations
Board.
Then an organizer with the union
told Beetle about a new program to
train operators to run wastewater treat-
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 from 11 a.m. to 3
p.m. Sunday, April 13, at Sunset Lanes,
12770 SW Walker Road, Beaverton.
Since its inception, union members
have raised $351,025.75 for MDA.
The Labor Bowl Challenge consists
of four-person teams that compete for
prizes. Money is raised through pledges
and from a silent auction.
To sign up, call Jim Falvey at 503-
493-5903 or Debby Burbank at 971-
404-5384.
ment equipment. The Clean Water Act,
passed in 1972, was forcing cities to in-
troduce a new treatment process. That
meant not only cleaner water, but op-
portunities for skilled jobs. The gov-
ernment established a training school
in Neosho, and Beetle graduated from
it in 1974, and went to work in Plano,
Texas. His wife hated it there, and they
moved to Portland instead, where he
went to work as a wastewater treatment
technician for the City of Portland.
It was Beetle’s first time working in
a union-represented job, and he got in-
volved in Laborers Local 483 right
away. In 1981, he helped organize the
AFL-CIO’s 1,500-strong march in
downtown Portland to protest Presi-
dent Ronald Reagan’s firing of striking
air traffic controllers. And alongside
letter carriers union activist Jamie Par-
tridge, he helped found a labor com-
mittee to oppose Reagan’s covert war
against the Nicaraguan Sandinista gov-
ernment and its support for a repressive
military junta in El Salvador.
Beetle was appointed secretary-
treasurer in 1990 and served in that po-
sition until 2005, when he won election
as business manager.
The first two decades of his union
involvement, Beetle recalls, were a
time of relative labor peace. Before the
time of public sector budget austerity,
union contract language rolled over
year after year, and the only fight was
over how big the cost-of-living in-
crease would be.
“Politicians were willing to buy la-
bor peace, and there was never any talk
of strike,” Beetle said.
Recent times have been more con-
flict-ridden. Public employers in-
creased the use of low-wage no-benefit
nonunion temps and seasonal workers,
or contracted out the work altogether.
And in contract negotiations, they be-
gan demanding concessions. In 2001,
DCTU members went on strike for six
hours. In the last two negotiations, City
management has taken aim at a cher-
ished clause that limits the City’s abil-
ity outsource members’ jobs.
Beetle and Local 483 campaigned
to unionize the low-wage contingent
workers, while opposing efforts by the
City of Portland and Metro to use
temps, contract workers, and prison la-
bor to do things that they should be do-
ing with union employees at a living
wage.
“We’re going after the people who
need unions the most,” Beetle said.
“Because our attitude is: They either
become our gravediggers or our best
champions.”
So far, Local 483 has had several
successes, including unionizing sea-
sonal maintenance workers in the Port-
land Parks Bureau and fast food work-
ers at the Zoo.
“[Most workers] get hired into their
union,” Beetle said. “These people
fought for theirs. So they’re proud as
punch of it. They’re marginalized con-
tingent workers, paid at the very lowest
scale, hired and fired on a whim. If they
say a word about anything, their hours
are reduced to zero. These people are
the most vulnerable, and yet they’re the
most heroic you’ve ever seen.”
Beetle said as business manager he
worked to implement a vision of a
membership-centered union, one where
leaders stood up for coworkers in the
workplace. If he leaves a legacy, he
hopes it’s an active membership that’s
not afraid to fight — and that continues
to reach out to nonunion workers.
Beetle said in retirement, he’ll also
spend more time with his wife of 40
years. Their daughter, Kara Gunder-
son, is a case worker at Multnomah
...PSU professors take strike vote
(From Page 1)
keep up with inflation, much less nar-
row the gap with faculty at similar uni-
versities. PSU is offering two 1.5 per-
cent raises effective January 2014 and
January 2015 — or two 2 percent raises
if AAUP agrees to give up its say in
university governance. King said it
would take 2.8 percent raises just to
keep up with inflation. AAUP is pro-
posing two raises ranging from 3.25 to
5.5 percent, with the bigger raises go-
ing to the lower-paid faculty. King de-
scribed wages as the least important of
the three sticking points, and said the
issue was less the money itself than
about equity with administrator pay
and increasing stability by reducing
turnover.
“We are seeing big investments in
administration and especially upper
administration, at a time when this fac-
ulty is consistently uncompetitively
paid, and we suffer major challenges
of recruitment and retention because of
it,” King said.
At a March 14 mediation session,
JOB
ANNOUNCEMENT
UNITED FOOD & COMMERCIAL
WORKERS LOCAL 555
is seeking a
Collective Bargaining
Representative
The Collective Bargaining Department
is responsible for negotiating hundreds
of collective bargaining agreements in a
wide variety of workplaces throughout
our jurisdiction. The position requires
frequent travel throughout Oregon and
Southwestern Washington.
When you need a
lawyer who under-
stands how Workers’
Comp benefits and
Social Security
Disability benefits
can fit together,
we're ready.
Responsibilities include: Serve as chief
negotiator or assistant negotiator in contract
negotiations; write contract language and
proposals; maintain active involvement
with member bargaining committees; as-
sist field staff and union leadership in the
planning and implementing of bargaining
campaigns; conduct basic research and
preparation for bargaining, including but
not limited to surveys and other search ac-
tivities; assist Communications Depart-
ment in preparing communication with
membership concerning bargaining cam-
paigns; other duties as assigned.
For more information,
contact Sandy Humphrey at
shumphrey@ufcw555.org or
www.ufcw555.org/jobs.
Deadline to submit résumé and a
one-page cover letter is
9 a.m. Monday, April 7, 2014
MARCH 21, 2014
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
County and a member of AFSCME
Local 88. Their son, Justin, is a ap-
prentice carpenter with Carpenters Lo-
cal 156.
Beetle said he plans to continue to
be involved as a retiree. That includes
plans working to oppose a ballot meas-
ure that would turn the City water sys-
tem over to a volunteer board.
little progress was made. Both sides
are making preparations for a walkout.
With 10 days notice, PSU-AAUP may
now call a strike anytime after April 3,
when the legally-mandated 30-day
cooling off period ends.
The administration released a state-
ment saying it’s developing plans to
maintain classes in the event of a strike,
with details will be announced soon.
Meanwhile, AAUP is reaching out
to instructors at community colleges in
the area asking them not to work as
strikebreakers — teaching the classes
of striking professors. And they’re call-
ing on members of their sister union
representing PSU’s part-time faculty
— American Federation of Teachers
(AFT) — to hold classes outside or on
the picket line to show solidarity in the
event of a strike. AFT and Service Em-
ployees International Union Local 503,
which represents support staff, do not
have a contract provision that says they
may refuse to cross picket lines, so
members could legally be disciplined
for honoring the strike.
A group called the PSU Student
Union has also been organizing stu-
dents to support AAUP. Undergraduate
English major Cameron Frank, one of
the group’s founders, has sat in on bar-
gaining sessions, and helped organize a
Feb. 27 walkout by students to show
support for professors. About 500 stu-
dents took part.
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PAGE 7