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July 1, 2016 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
‘Fast Track’
Democrats won’t
be on stage at
Labor Day picnic
Members of Oregon’s Con-
gressional delegation who
supported Trade Promotion
Authority (Fast Track) legis-
lation won’t be invited to ap-
pear on stage with other
politicians at this year’s Labor
Day picnic at Oaks Park.
This is the second year run-
ning that picnic-sponsor
Northwest Oregon Labor
Council has banished U.S.
Sen. Ron Wyden and U.S.
Reps. Earl Blumenauer,
Suzanne Bonamici, and Kurt
Schrader from the stage.
All are Democrats who sup-
ported a Fast Track bill that
narrowly passed Congress in
June 2015. [The vote was 218-
208 in the House and 60-38 in
the Senate.] The legislation
makes it easier for Congress to
pass more corporate-friendly
free trade agreements like the
proposed Trans-Pacific Part-
nership (TPP).
Given the Senate’s 60-vote
filibuster rule, any senator
who voted for Fast Track
could have halted its passage
if they’d voted the other way.
Wyden not only voted for it,
he brokered a deal with Re-
publicans that brought other
fellow Democrats along.
And in the House, had five
“yes” votes gone the other
way, Fast Track would have
failed.
In the wake of that vote last
year, delegates to the North-
west Oregon Labor Council
passed a resolution to not in-
vite any congressional mem-
ber who supported the bill to
the annual Labor Day picnic,
which attracts some 18,000
people.
This year, the members of
Congress will be invited to
come out to the park, but they
still won’t be allowed on
stage to speak during a special
political event at 1 p.m.
All five are up for re-elec-
tion this year, though none
faces a serious challenger. A
vote on the TPP has yet to
take place.
UNION PENSION FUNDS KEEP PORTLAND BOOMING. Representatives from nearly a dozen Port-
land area craft unions helped break ground June 20 on the $160 million Broadway Tower, a 19-story office
and hotel tower located on the corner of Southwest Columbia and Broadway in downtown Portland. Wash-
ington Capital Management will provide a portion of the construction financing with union pension funds.
The exact amount was not disclosed, but it’s enough that the project will be 100 percent union-built. BPM
Real Estate Group is the developer and Howard S. Wright Construction is the general contractor. It is the
same team that was behind the recently completed Pearl West office building in Northwest Portland — an-
other union pension fund project. “Pearl West came in on time and on budget, and today it’s 85 percent oc-
cupied,” BPM CEO Walter Bowen said at the Broadway Tower groundbreaking. The 430,000-square-foot, 254’-
3”-tall Broadway Tower will include 175,000 square feet of office space, 247 underground parking spaces,
and a 180-room Radisson RED hotel. The project is expected to create 1.5 million hours of construction work.
Completion is set for the third quarter of 2018. “Without investor support, this project would not happen,”
said Bowen.
Sunrise Dental
Wishes all our
Brothers & Sisters
of Labor
a Safe and Happy
4th of July
Union represented and locally-owned
throughout Washington and Oregon
For all patients that keep 6 month checkup
appointments (ask for details)
Beaverton - 503.914.4003
Chehalis - 360.639.3377
Eugene/Springfield - 541.622.0602
Gresham- 503.914.4005
N!
Hillsboro - 503.719.6452 NEW LOCATIO
Longview - 360.639.3388
Salem - 503.914.4007
Salmon Creek - 360.639.3399
Southern Oregon - 541.227.6966