G ENERAL E LECTION
Endorsements of the
N ORTHWEST O REGON L ABOR C OUNCIL
U.S. SENATE
J EFF M ERKLEY
Inside
MEETING NOTICES
See Page 8
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
First District: S UZANNE B ONAMICI
Third District: E ARL B LUMENAUER
Fifth District: K URT S CHRADER
GOVERNOR
J OHN K ITZHABER
Volume 115
Number 19
October 3, 2014
Portland
STATEWIDE BALLOT MEASURES
Measures 88 (Driver Cards)
SUPPORT
Measures 89 (Equal Rights Amendment)
SUPPORT
Measure 90 (Top Two Primary)
OPPOSE
CLACKAMAS COUNTY
Clerk: D AVID R OBINSON
COLUMBIA COUNTY
Commissioner, District 2: H ENRY H EIMULLER
Circuit Judge, Position 1: C ATHLEEN C ALLAHAN
CITY OF HILLSBORO
City Council: K YLE A LLEN
CITY OF PORTLAND
MEASURE 26-159 (Fix Our Parks)
SUPPORT
Oregon State Senate
Dist. 16- B ETSY J OHNSON ; Dist. 17- E LIZABETH S TEINER H AYWARD ;
Dist. 20- J AMIE D AMON ; District 23- M ICHAEL D EMBROW ;
District 24- R OD M ONROE ; District 26- R OBERT B RUCE
O REGON H OUSE OF R EPRESENTATIVES
Dist. 18 - S COTT M ILLS ; Dist. 27 - T OBIAS R EAD ;
Dist. 28 - J EFF B ARKER ; Dist. 29 - S USAN M C L AIN ;
Dist. 30 - J OE G ALLEGOS ; Dist. 31 - B RAD W ITT ;
Dist. 33 - M ITCH G REENLICK ; Dist. 34 - K EN H ELM ;
Dist. 35 - M ARGARET D OHERTY ; Dist. 36 - J ENNIFER W ILLIAMSON ;
Dist. 38 - A NN L ININGER ; Dist. 40 - B RENT B ARTON ;
Dist. 41 - K ATHLEEN T AYLOR ; Dist. 42 - R OB N OSSE ;
Dist. 43 - L EW F REDERICK ; Dist. 44 - T INA K OTEK ;
Dist. 45 - B ARBARA S MITH W ARNER ;
Dist. 47 - J ESSICA V EGA -P EDERSON ; Dist. 48 - J EFF R EARDON ;
Dist. 49 - C HRIS G ORSEK ; Dist. 50 - C ARLA P ILUSO ;
Dist. 51 - S HEMIA F AGAN ; Dist. 52 - S TEPHANIE N YSTROM
Authorized and paid for by the Northwest Oregon Labor Council,
9955 SE Washington, St., Suite 305, Portland, OR 97216
A LABOR VOICE FOR ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE. On stage in Portland’s Waterfront Park,
Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain brought a labor union perspective to the Sept. 21 Portland People’s
Climate march. “We are brothers and sisters, joined together by common values, believers in scientific data and a faith
that we can create a better world,” Chamberlain declared. “That commitment and determination must begin today
at an earth-shaking pace.” (See story on Page 16)
Union uncovers wage theft
at Pearl District apartment
General contractor Lorentz
Bruun pays $85,000 to
settle DOL case against
woman-owned paint
subcontractor
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
The U.S. Labor Department is in-
vestigating prevailing wage violations
at four Portland-area construction proj-
ects that received loan guarantees from
the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD). That gov-
ernment help came with conditions:
The apartments must be affordable for
moderate-income families or the eld-
erly or handicapped, and construction
workers must be paid local prevailing
wage rates as determined by govern-
ment surveys.
But an investigation by Painters Dis-
trict Council 5 found that a painting
subcontractor at the Parker Apartments
construction project paid workers as lit-
tle as half the amount they were enti-
tled to. Workers who complained about
the violation were let go.
The story begins in March, when
Painters union organizer Roman
Ramos asked out-of-work union mem-
ber Marcos Jimenez to go undercover
as a painter at the Parker Apartments —
a six-story 177-unit apartment building
under construction in the Pearl District
— and report back any illegal practices
he found.
The Parker is named after the tod-
dler son of Bob Ball, a prominent de-
veloper who ran for Portland mayor in
2008. To build it, Ball teamed up with
Eugene developers Don Woolley and
Tom Connor, and with a HUD loan
guarantee, they obtained a $35.7 mil-
lion loan from CBRE, the world’s
largest commercial real estate services
firm.
Painters District Council 5 has been
investigating HUD-sponsored con-
struction projects in the Pacific North-
west, starting in Seattle, says organiz-
ing director Jeff Kelley. The goal is to
clean up the industry, making it harder
for companies to win contracts by
cheating workers out of wages.
“Every project we’ve looked at in
Washington and Oregon has had is-
sues,” Kelley said. And the biggest is-
sue has been violations of the prevail-
ing wage law, known as Davis-Bacon.
Davis-Bacon is meant to level the
playing field on taxpayer-funded con-
struction projects, explains Rebecca
(Turn to Page 10)