Willy Myers
re-elected to
lead Columbia
Pacific BCTC
Willy Myers was re-elected execu-
tive secretary-treasurer of the Colum-
bia Pacific Building
and Construction
Trades Council. The
CPBCTC repre-
sents approximately
20,000 construction
workers employed
by more than 2,000
signatory employ- WILLY MYERS
ers, representing 25
crafts.
Myers was first elected to head the
council in December 2013 to finish out
the term of Jodi Guetzloe Parker, who
stepped down. A former business agent
for Sheet Metal Workers Local 16,
Myers, 45, served as president of the
Building Trades Council from 2010
until his election as executive secretary.
In other election results, Robert Ca-
marillo, a business rep for Iron Work-
ers Local 29, was re-elected president;
Matt Eleazer of Bricklayers Local 1
was tapped for vice president; and
Steven Purdy of Sprinkler Fitters Lo-
cal 669 was newly elected sergeant-at-
arms.
Brett Hinsley, business manager of
Cement Masons Local 555, Russ Gar-
nett, business manager of Roofers Lo-
cal 49, and Gary Moore, business
agent for Laborers Local 296, were
elected trustees. Garnett and Moore are
serving for the first time.
All candidates ran unopposed.
Terms are for three years.
...Labor-backed alliance to
push bold agenda in Salem
(From Page 1)
Quote of the Month
“That someone who labors all year to gross $80,000 bears the
same federal income tax burden as someone making $5 million per
week illustrates how much the tax cuts signed into law by Presidents
Bill Clinton, a Democrat, and George W. Bush, a Republican, bene-
fited investors rather than workers.”
DAVID CAY JOHNSTON , PULITZER PRIZE - WINNING TAX JOURNALIST
ON AN IRS ANALYSIS OF AMERICA ’ S 400 HIGHEST - INCOME TAX RETURNS
for states to set up a kind of “public op-
tion” retirement plan. All employers
that don’t offer a retirement plan would
be required to give employees the op-
tion of contributing by payroll deduc-
tion to a state-sponsored retirement
savings plan. To encourage saving, a
default contribution rate would be set
at maybe 3 or 6 percent, but employ-
ees could also set their own contribu-
tion rate or opt out entirely. To mini-
mize administrative costs and thereby
maximize returns, funds would be
pooled, and investment decisions
would be made by a state board along
the lines of the Oregon Investment
Board, with the goal of assuring work-
ers a lifetime stream of income when
they retire. The plan would have lower
fees than an IRA, and unlike a 401(k),
wouldn’t be tied to a particular em-
ployer. The proposal has passed in sev-
eral states thus far, and is backed by
AARP and a variety of other groups.
In Oregon, the Fair Shot for All coali-
tion will campaign for the bill, with
SEIU Local 503 taking point.
BAN THE BOX. Crime knows no
class or color, but prisons and jails
overwhelmingly house the poor and
minorities. Upon release, they face a
big barrier to going straight — the
“have you ever been convicted” box on
so many housing and employment ap-
plications. The box is blind to circum-
stances, takes no account of reform,
and because it makes it harder to get a
job, it makes re-offending more likely.
Urban League of Portland will lead a
campaign for a law to ban the box from
initial applications. Employers and
landlords could still do criminal back-
ground checks and discriminate based
on convictions that are relevant to the
job being applied for. But ex-offenders
would at least get an opportunity to ex-
plain their record, and make a case for
giving them a second chance.
RACIAL PROFILING. Data
from Portland and Eugene show some-
thing disturbing: African-Americans
and Latinos are as much as three times
as likely as Whites to be stopped and
searched by police while driving or
walking, but they’re no more likely to
be found with contraband. The Center
for Intercultural Organizing, an immi-
grant civil rights group, will head up a
campaign for legislation to address
that, first by defining racial profiling
and beginning to collect more compre-
hensive data on it, and then by giving
the state attorney general the ability to
analyze the data.
2-1-1 can be a lifesaver
2-1-1 is an easy to remember tele-
phone number that connects callers to
information about critical health and
human services available in their com-
munities. In Oregon, it is run by
211info, in partnership with United
Way. It can be accessed online at
www.211info. org.
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Established in 1900 at Portland, Oregon
as a voice of the labor movement.
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Telephone: (503) 288-3311
Editor: Michael Gutwig
Staff: Don McIntosh, Cheri Rice
Published on a semi-monthly basis on the first and third Fridays of
each month by the Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non-
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PAGE 2
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
JANUARY 16, 2015