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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (March 20, 2015)
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | March 20, 2015 | PAGE 7 Machinists conduct informational picket at Bodycote in Camas Labor educator Feekin to retire Members of Machinists District Lodge W24 conducted an infor- mational picket Feb. 24 at Body- cote in Camas, Wash. Forty workers at the plant, which specializes in making titanium aerospace parts for Precision Cast- parts (PCC Structurals), voted last June to join the Machinists. It was a hard-fought campaign, with the company — a multi-national cor- poration with nonunion facilities in several states — hiring a union buster. Immediately after the union victory, the company retali- ated against some union support- ers, changing their work shifts and break times. The Machinists filed and won an unfair labor practice (ULP) complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Bargaining for a first contract hasn’t been much better. Talks be- gan in August with an attorney flown in from Oklahoma. On Dec. 29, the Machinists filed a second ULP complaint, this one accusing Bodycote of bad-faith bargaining and refusing to put proposals in writing. The NLRB is currently in- vestigating the charges. Meantime, talks were held Feb. 25-26, with more scheduled for March 30-31. To date, the sides have tentatively agreed to only nine items. Machinists union rep Will Lukens said more informational picketing is likely if the company doesn’t start making some movement in bargaining. Labor educator Lynn her mother worked for a Feekin will retire April 1 department store. She after 21 years at the La- was the first in her fam- bor Education and Re- ily to go to college, and search Center at the Uni- earned a bachelor’s de- versity of Oregon. gree in sociology from Feekin, 64, helped University of Northern train a generation of Iowa in 1972. union staff and leaders in She became involved Oregon. She worked with organized labor Lynn Feekin with unions to prepare when — as a worker at for collective bargaining and de- a factory making prefabricated velop strategic plans, and she or- houses for hogs — she helped a ganized LERC’s Collective Bar- campaign to unionize with Ma- gaining Institute, an annual chinists Local 1728. She then week-long training at the served on the union bargaining Menucha Retreat Center in Cor- committee. Through her union, bett. She also did research for she learned about a graduate as- Change to Win labor federation, sistantship at University of Iowa Communications Workers of Labor Center that was sponsored America, and the Association of by the Iowa Federation of Labor. Western Pulp and Paper Work- She applied, was accepted, and ers, and was part of a strategic studied industrial relations at the planning effort with the 325,000- University of Iowa. From 1976 member California Teachers As- to 1984, she worked at Univer- sociation. sity of Iowa Labor Center as an “I feel really privileged that instructor and later director. Then I’ve been in a department that re- for 10 years, she taught labor ally focuses on trying to build a studies at Indiana University. She strong labor movement,” Feekin also served as executive director said. at the Calumet Project for Indus- Feekin grew up in Iowa. Her trial Jobs, a non-profit in East father was a railroad worker and Chicago, Indiana, that was formed to contend with thou- sands of layoffs from factory and steel mill closures. She moved to Eugene, Ore- gon, in 1993 to accept a tempo- rary position at LERC, and was hired to a permanent position in 1994. There she also served as co-chair of the Eugene-Spring- field chapter of Jobs with Justice, and was a member of the Eugene Mayor’s Sustainable Business Initiative Task Force in 2005 and Mon-Fri 9-6, Sat 9:30-5:30, Sun 12-6 2006. Low Prices! LOCAL MOTION FEBRUARY 2015 The following are Oregon and Southwest Washington workplaces where workers are determining whether to be represented by a union. The thumbs-up symbol means workers will be union-represented. Thumbs-down means they’ll be on their own. Decert means a decertification election, where union-represented workers vote whether to remain union. The information comes from the National Labor Relations Board and the Oregon Employment Relations Board. NOTE: There were no representation elections held in February. Election Requests Employer (Location) Union Highland Laboratories (Mt. Angel) UFCW Local 555 ■ 24 workers – vitamin factory City of Medford (Medford) Teamsters Local 223 DECERT ■ 5 workers – mechanics Unionization by majority signup Employer (Location) Union City of Tualatin (Tualatin) Tualatin Sergeants’ Association ■ 5 workers –police department sergeants City of West Linn (West Linn) West Linn Sergeants’ Association ■ 6 workers –police department sergeants
