SERVING ORGANIZED LABOR IN OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON SINCE 1900
NORTHWEST
LABOR
PRESS
VOLUME 117, NUMBER 9
May 17 Primary Election
Endorsements of the
Northwest Oregon Labor Council
CLACKAMAS COUNTY
Commissioner, Position 3 : M ARTHA S CHRADER
Commissioner, Position 4 : T OOTIE S MITH (no endorsement*)
Chair: J OHN L UDLOW (no endorsement*)
* Actively oppose
Measure 3-476
(General obligation bond to replace obsolete emergency radio communications sys-
tem in Clackamas County)
S UPPORT
Measure 3-477
(Milwaukie, Oregon general obligation bond for library repairs, improvements and
updated technology)
S UPPORT
COLUMBIA COUNTY
Commissioner, Position 1: M ARGARET M AGRUDER
Commissioner, Position 3: T ONY H YDE
METRO
Councilor, 5th District: S AM C HASE
Councilor, 6th District: B OB S TACEY
MULTNOMAH COUNTY
Commissioner, District 3: J ESSICA V EGA P EDERSON
Commissioner, District 4: A MANDA S CHROEDER
CITY OF PORTLAND
Commissioner, Position 1: A MANDA F RITZ
Commissioner, Position 4: S TEVE N OVICK
Measure 26-173: Fix Our Streets Portland
(a temporary 10-cents-per-gallon Portland gas tax for street repair, traffic safety)
S UPPORT
WASHINGTON COUNTY
Commissioner, District 1: D ICK S CHOUTEN
MT HOOD COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Measure 26-170
(Bond to construct Workforce Training Center; enhance safety and technology)
S UPPORT
Authorized and paid for by the Northwest Oregon Labor Council,
9955 SE Washington, St., Suite 305, Portland, OR 97216
IN THIS ISSUE
WORKERS MEMORIAL DAY Labor honors fallen
workers. | Page 2
NEW PRESIDENT AT NW OREGON LABOR COUNCIL
UFCW’s Jeff Anderson elected. | Page 5
Meetings p.6
Bowling for MDA p.8
Classifieds p.11
PORTLAND, OREGON
MAY 6, 2016
Instafab hearing turns to shouting match
Oregon House Speaker Tina
Kotek headlines a Workers
Rights Board panel
An April 28 forum for striking
ironworkers turned into a shout-
ing match between pro- and
anti-union workers after the
company owner showed up
with about 15 employees to re-
but stories about his company
that supporters of Ironworkers
Local 29 have been telling.
At Vancouver-based Instafab,
a nonunion steel fabricator and
installer, five employees went
out on strike Feb. 27, 2015, after
the company general manager
rejected a list of demands they
presented —water and dry
shacks on every job, safety and
other training, company-paid
health coverage, a retirement
plan, and area standard wages.
Most of Instafab’s approxi-
mately 75 employees remained
on the job, but strikers say their
At nonunion Instafab, supporters of Iron Workers Local 29 have been on
strike over a year, but at an April 28 meeting organized by Jobs with Justice,
the owner, Bruce Perkins (above) and anti-union employees came to say em-
ployees are happy.
number has grown to 19, though
several have also gone back to
Instafab. Strikers have called on
Instafab customers to stop doing
business with the company, and
have even taken their com-
plaints about Instafab to Port-
land City Council.
The April 28 event, held at a
meeting room at the downtown
Portland offices of Mercy
Corps, was to be a hearing on
worker safety at Instafab, put on
by Portland Jobs with Justice as
Turn to Page 3
Union standoff widens at Nabisco
By Don McIntosh
Associate editor
Nabisco and its principal union
have reached a standoff. The
union contract covering 2,000
American workers in five states
expired Feb. 29, but the two
sides haven’t reached a new
agreement, and no further con-
tract talks are scheduled. At any
time, the workers could strike, or
the company could lock them
out of their jobs, or just imple-
ment its own contract offer and
see what the union does about it.
As the union’s national president
told local officers in a recent
conference call, it’s like a game
of chess when there are very few
pieces left on the board.
Leaders of the Bakery, Con-
fectionery, Tobacco and Grain
Millers (BCTGM) say it’s no se-
cret why there’s no new agree-
ment: Mondelēz, owner of the
Nabisco brand, is proposing to
withdraw from the union pen-
sion plan and worsen health in-
surance coverage — despite the
fact that the company is prof-
Bakers Local 364 member Shelly Lasher hands out Boycott Nabisco fliers out-
side a May 1 Portland Timbers game. Mondelēz is the official “snacks partner”
of Major League Soccer. Lasher’s union is calling on consumers to check the
label, and not buy made-in-Mexico Nabisco products.
itable. The company is also shut-
ting down some production lines
in Chicago and shifting produc-
tion of Oreos and other snacks to
Mexico.
When the two sides last met
April 7-8, Mondelēz presented
what it called its “Revised Last,
Best and Final Offer.” The com-
pany is proposing a four-year
contract with 2.25 percent an-
nual wage increases and a
$5,000 ratification bonus — but
it also wants concessions on
health and retirement benefits.
Mondelēz proposes to replace
the current “100 percent” health-
care plan with a “90/10” health-
care plan in which workers
Turn to Page 10