NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | December 18 , 2015 | PAGE 17
Continuing a 28-year tradition, volunteers from
IBEW #48 help light up The Grotto Festival of Lights
A holiday tradition for some
members of IBEW Local 48 is
volunteering to help set up the
temporary power for The Grotto’s
Festival of Lights — all 500,000
of them. This year, union electri-
cians and their employers at the
National Electrical Contractors
Association did the work on
Saturday, Oct. 24.
IBEW Local 48 has been
involved with the distribution of
power for the Festival of Lights
since its first year, 1988. That
first year the Festival ran for just
10 nights with approximately
60,000 lights. It now runs from
the day after Thanksgiving
through Dec. 30, and displays
well over half a million
Christmas lights. The Festival
also has snacks and a petting
zoo for children, and features
nearly 160 indoor holiday
concerts performed in the
chapel by many of the region’s
finest schools, churches, and
civic choirs.
More than 55,000 people
enjoy the Festival each year. The
event runs nightly from 5 to 9:30
p.m. through Dec. 30 (closed
Christmas Day). Cost is $10 for
adults, $9 for seniors 65 and
over, and military personnel, $5
for kids ages 3 to 12, and free for
children 2 and under. Visitors
are encouraged to bring a
donation of canned or dry food
benefitting Snow-Cap, the East
county’s affiliate of the Oregon
Food Bank. Parking is free.
IRON WORKERS’ BREAKFAST WITH SANTA: Iron Workers Local 29 and
the Pacific NW Ironworkers Federal Credit Union celebrated their 30th
annual Breakfast with Santa party Dec. 12 at the Airport Holiday Inn in
Northeast Portland. Initially hosted during the difficult economic times of
1985, the special event was created to help make the holiday season a little
brighter for ironworkers’ families, many of whom could not afford to buy
gifts for their children. Since that first year it has become a very popular and
eagerly awaited holiday event. 350 Iron Worker family members and more
than 150 children and grandchildren enjoyed a holiday breakfast, followed
by a visit from Santa Claus. Each child got to pick out a present.
Minimum wage initiatives
get ballot language
Three initiative petitions sponsored
by the labor-backed Raise The Wage
Oregon coalition to raise the mini-
mum wage have gathered enough
signatures to qualify for ballot titles.
Each received formal ballot lan-
guage Dec. 9. The titles issued by
the Department of Justice are:
IP 57: Local governments may
Wishing you a
Happy Holiday Season
and a New Year
filled with Health, Peace and Prosperity
Robert Porter, President
Gil Freeland, Vice President
Al Shropshire, Business Manager
Financial Secretary/Treasurer
establish minimum wage higher
than minimum established by state
law;
IP 58: Increases Oregon’s mini-
mum wage to $13.50 by 2018; lo-
cal governments may establish
higher wage;
IP 59: Increases minimum
wage: $11 in 2017; $12.25 in 2018;
$13.50 in 2019.
Opponents have until Dec. 23 to
appeal the ballot language.