PAGE 2 |
July 3, 2015 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
NORTHWEST
LABOR
PRESS
(International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X)
Established in 1900 in Portland, Oregon as a voice of the la-
bor movement. 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-profit mutual benefit corpo-
ration owned by 20 unions and councils including the Ore-
gon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in
Oregon and Southwest Washington.
Office location:
4275 NE Halsey St., Portland, Oregon
Mailing address:
P.O. Box 13150, Portland, OR 97213
Phone: (503) 288-3311
Web address:
http://nwlaborpress.org
Editor & Manager: Michael Gutwig
Associate editor: Don McIntosh
Office manager: Cheri Rice
Printed on recycled paper, using soy-based
inks, by members of Teamsters Local 747-M.
SUBSCRIPTIONS: Individual subscriptions are
$13.75 per year for union members, $20 a year
for all others. Send a check for that amount,
indicating mailing address and union affilia-
tion, to P.O. Box 13150, Portland, OR 97213.
For 25 or more subscriptions, group rates of
$9.60 a year per person are available to trade
union organizations. Call 503-288-3311 for de-
tails.
CORRECTIONS: See an error? Please let us
know at editor@nwlaborpress.org or by
phone at 503-288-3311.
PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID
AT PORTLAND, OREGON.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS NOTICE: Three weeks
are required for a change of address. When or-
dering a change, please give your old and
new addresses and the name and number of
your local union.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
P.O. BOX 13150
PORTLAND, OR 97213-0150
IRS PROBLEMS?
• Haven’t filed for ... years?
• Lost records?
• Liens - Levies - Garnishments?
• Negotiate settlements.
• Prepare offer in Compromise.
Call Nancy D. Anderson
Enrolled Agent
NPTI Fellow/America’s Tax Expert
LTC-1807
www.nancydanderson.com
503-244-2577
Instafab strike articles spark Internet flame war
By Don McIntosh
Associate Editor
Instafab owner Bruce Perkins
is ready to meet with his striking
employees. I have it in writing.
Nonunion Instafab, based in
Vancouver, Washington, makes
and installs structural and archi-
tectural steel for construction
companies like Andersen and
Skanska.
On Feb. 27, five Instafab in-
stallers went on strike after
Perkins refused to consider a list
of grievances regarding working
conditions. By mid-May, other
installers and four workers from
the fabrication shop had joined
the strike, bringing the total to
14. Most of the strikers are
young—in their 20s to mid-30s.
Two are veterans, with service
in Iraq and Afghanistan.
When we first wrote about
the strike May 14, comments
started pouring in at nwlabor-
press.org. Comments on the site
are moderated. Commenters
don’t have to use their real
names, but name-calling and
personal attacks are out of
bounds. And while commenters
are free to disagree with unions,
it’s not a space for anti-union
“trolls” who just want to trash
organized labor—there’s plenty
of space for that elsewhere.
ON STRIKE AT INSTAFAB. Five of the 14 strikers. From Left: Al Stabenow,
William Russell, Laramie Lexow, Matt Momb, and Brandon Nelson.
After the first Instafab article
appeared, strikers and their sup-
porters posted comments critical
of the company, and others
posted comments defending it,
or criticizing the strikers.
“This is America. If you don’t
like your job, find a new one!”
wrote “Kray.”
Someone using the moniker
“Thinks this is Silly” said, “If
this was a terrible company to
work for, you can bet your …
heiny that I would pull up my
drawers and act like a big kid
and find another job.”
A third comment was rejected
for name-calling. “Truth for
IFC” wanted to call a pro-union
commenter an “idiot,” adding,
“How’s that cardboard box
you’re living in?”
The least rude of the four
anti-strike commenters chose
the name “Truth be told.”
But there was a funny thing:
Though listing separate email
addresses, all four anti-union
commenters had the same IP ad-
dress. An IP address is a numer-
ical “address” assigned to a
computer when it connects to
the Internet; it tells other com-
puters where to find it. When
commenters share an IP address,
it means they’re either the same
person, or they’re using the
same computer, or possibly
they’re sharing the same net-
work at an office. And these
commenters seemed very famil-
iar with the inner workings of
Instafab, especially the most
prolific commenter, “Truth be
told.”
Submitting a dozen com-
ments in a little over a week,
“Truth be told” debated strikers
and responded point by point to
criticisms of the company.
“I contacted someone at In-
stafab to get some more details,”
he wrote June 10. “The person I
talked to said they would be
happy to give the NW Labor
Press some time to get the other
side of the story.”
“I don’t see the company ever
going union though,” he wrote
June 17. “I don’t think it would
be a good fit for the owner.”
“Can you please explain to
me what exactly the high road is
that you expect Bruce to take?”
he wrote June 19.
Figured out yet who “Truth
be told” is? He didn’t do much
to cover up his true identity. Our
online comment form requires
Turn to Page 4