SERVING ORGANIZED LABOR IN OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON SINCE 1900
NORTHWEST
LABOR
PRESS
VOLUME 117, NUMBER 11
IN THIS ISSUE
IATSE BATTLES RHINO Riggers trying to get a first
contract. | Page 2
STARS RECOGNIZED Painters and Floor Coverers’
commitment to training. | Page 10
Labor History p.4 Meetings p.6 Helping Hands p.11
PORTLAND, OREGON
JUNE 3, 2016
Verizon strike ends after 45 days
Verizon has reached a tentative
deal for a new four-year con-
tract, ending a 45-day strike by
39,000 members of Communi-
cations Workers of America
(CWA) and International Broth-
erhood of Electrical Workers
(IBEW) in its East Coast land
line operations.
The settlement was an-
nounced May 27 by U.S. Sec-
retary of Labor Thomas Perez,
who spent 13 days working
with the two sides to broker a
deal.
CWA announced in a press
release that under terms of the
proposed contract, Verizon will
add 1,300 new East Coast call
center jobs and reverse several
other outsourcing initiatives
that will create new field tech-
nician jobs. The new agree-
ment provides 10.9 percent in
raises, a $1,250 signing bonus
in the Mid-Atlantic and a
$1,000 signing bonus plus a
$250 healthcare reimburse-
ment account in the Northeast,
$2,800 minimum in profit shar-
ing, pension increases, and a
first contract for about 100
Verizon Wireless retail store
workers in New York and Mas-
sachusetts who voted to join
CWA in 2014.
“This contract is a victory
Turn to Page 9
WELCOME, LABORERS LOCAL 737!
Laborers International Union
of North America (LiUNA)
Local 737 is the newest sub-
scriber to the Northwest La-
bor Press. The local was
formed last August with the
merger of Laborers Local
296, Local 320, and Local
121. Add up those numbers
and you get 737, the number
of the new statewide local,
which has nearly 2,500 mem-
bers who work in construc-
tion, roads and highways, and
in the public sector. Local 737
is headquartered in the new
Oregon and Southern Idaho
Laborers-Employers Training
Center at 17230 NE Sacra-
mento St., Portland. You can
find your Official Meeting
Notices on Page 6 of this is-
sue.
ABOUT THE LABOR PRESS
The Northwest Labor Press is
an independent union-sup-
ported newspaper that is
mailed to members of more
than 80 unions in Oregon and
Southwest Washington.
There are few other publica-
tions like it. Founded in 1900
by a consortium of trade
unions, it’s one of America’s
oldest labor movement news-
papers. Our focus is on the
Portland metro area, Oregon,
and the Pacific Northwest,
but we also report on national
and global issues.
Unions are vehicles for
promoting and defending the
interests of working people.
At the Northwest Labor
Press, we believe unions are
most effective when they
have an active membership,
an engaged community, and
an informed public. Hence
our mission: to provide accu-
rate and timely information
on the issues that matter most
to union members and work-
ing people.
UFCW Local 555 Executive Director Mike Marshall (center) and union rep Frank
Handricksen explain a proposed union contract to members during ratifica-
tion voting held in Gresham May 18.
Grocery workers ratify new
UFCW union contracts
After nine months of bargaining,
members of United Food and
Commercial Workers Local 555
employed at Fred Meyer, Safe-
way, Albertsons, and QFC have
ratified new three-year contracts
in the Portland and Vancouver
area, Eugene, Longview, New-
berg, Bend, Burns, The Dalles,
Hood River, Klamath Falls and
Lakeview. The union members
work in grocery, meat, central
checkout, and non-food depart-
ments.
All of the contracts include
wage increases for journeyper-
sons in each year of the contract,
with retroactive pay for those
with expired contracts; increases
to the apprentice brackets so as
to keep them ahead of the in-
creases in the minimum wage;
and no cost increases to the
health and welfare plan.
“This could not have hap-
pened without members’ help
sending a strong message to the
employers that they deserve bet-
ter,” UFCW Local 555 said in a
statement.
Details of the contract will be
made available to members upon
request, and to the public once
members throughout the Local’s
jurisdiction have voted. Several
Local 555 contracts don’t expire
until later this year.
Labor’s Oregon primary scorecard
By Don McIntosh
Associate editor
In the May 17 primary, Ore-
gon’s labor movement wasn’t
always in agreement about who
and what to support, but overall,
it was a good night for organ-
ized labor. Among the highlights
were labor commissioner Brad
Avakian’s win in the Demo-
cratic primary for secretary of
state, and first-time wins by at
least six union member candi-
dates who trained in the Oregon
Labor Candidates School, in-
cluding Sheri Malstrom, who is
all but certain to be in the Ore-
gon House come January.
Federal elections
PRESIDENT
Oregon proved to be a Bernie
Sanders state, at least among
Democrats: The Vermont sena-
tor drew 56 percent to Hillary
Clinton’s 44 percent. Clinton
had the endorsement of most na-
tional unions, but in Oregon
most local labor organizations
sat out the Democratic primary.
A notable exception was the la-
bor-supported Oregon Working
Families Party, which went all
in for Sanders, devoting staff
time and even encouraging its
registered voters to temporarily
switch their party affiliation to
Democrat to help him win.
While Clinton made no cam-
paign appearances in Oregon
except for a private $2,400-a-
plate fundraiser in August,
Sanders drew overflow crowds
at rallies in Salem, Eugene, and
Portland, where 29,000 turned
out in August to hear his mes-
sage of universal health care, tu-
ition-free public higher educa-
tion, a living wage for all
workers, and serious investment
in clean energy. Donald Trump,
meanwhile, cleaned up in Ore-
gon with support from 67 per-
cent of Republicans, but by the
Turn to Page 5
A GOOD NIGHT FOR THE OREGON LABOR CANDIDATE SCHOOL: At an elec-
tion night party for union member candidate Roberta Phillip-Robbins, Ore-
gon Labor Candidates School director Sara Ryan checks results alongside
Oregon AFSCME President Jeff Klatke. At least six union members who grad-
uated from the Oregon Labor Candidates School won elections May 17, in-
cluding one candidate who is almost certain to win election to the state
house in November. But Phillip-Robbins herself lost over the next two days
as opponent Tawna Sanchez pulled ahead in a very close race.