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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (July 15, 2016)
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | July 15, 2016 | PAGE 7 EXIT INTERVIEW 5 questions for Oregon AFSCME’s Ken Allen By Don McIntosh Associate editor One of Oregon’s best-known la- bor leaders, Ken Allen, is retiring July 31. Allen, 62, is executive director of 25,000-member Ore- gon AFSCME (the statewide council for the American Feder- ation of State, County, and Mu- nicipal Employees). An Oregon native, he began his 42-year-ca- reer in the labor movement with a stint at the United Farm Work- ers in Massachusetts. In the 1970s and ’80s, he worked for unions in Massachusetts and Oregon, including the hospital workers union known as 1199; United Electrical Workers (where he was an underground union organizer and staff rep); Oregon State Employees Asso- ciation (later SEIU Local 503); and AFSCME. He went to work for AFSCME permanently in 1987, as a union rep, and be- came executive director in 1995. Under his leadership, Oregon AFSCME added about 10,000 members. Over the years, he led many contract negotiations for state employees, instigated pio- neering union organizing efforts among family child care providers, and helped put to- gether the Fair Shot Coalition that won paid sick leave and other victories in Oregon. In re- tirement, he’ll continue to serve as a governor-appointed mem- ber of the board of directors of Oregon Health and Science Uni- versity. I interviewed him June 6 in a temporary underground of- fice at Oregon AFSCME head- quarters. How did you get started in the labor movement? I grew up in Salem, Oregon, so I worked picking strawberries and beans when I was a kid. At University of Massachusetts Amherst, I hooked up with the United Farm Workers grape and lettuce boy- cott in 1973. I had seen the con- ditions that migrant farmwork- ers worked under in the Salem area, so I dropped out of college to work full-time on the boycott. My piece was organizing trade union support of the boycott in Western Massachusetts, because I came from a union family. My dad and grandparents were IWA out of Coos Bay, and my dad was AWPPW in Salem. He was a lumber mill worker, then a pa- per mill worker. I walked picket lines when I was five years old with my dad. Then AWPPW struck when I was a teenager, and Dad’s best friend scabbed. It was actually a family that we socialized with. And we never saw that family again. He never talked to that scab again. So there were some life lessons. What’s it like to become the old guard? I first became aware of it in 2004 when we were challenged in the first Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) lawsuit. I was the old- timer that knew about the PERS tradeoff that happened in 1979 to 1981, when the union work- ers traded some wage increases for the 6 percent pickup [In lieu of raises, the employer picked up the required employee pen- sion contribution.] For the old guard, there’s a time to turn things over to a younger group, and people should recognize that instead of just trying to hang on. I probably haven’t lost skill in negotiations, but I’ve done some 100-hour work weeks, and I can’t do those any more. What’s the biggest myth some members of the public have about public employees? Pub- lic workers work just as hard as private sector workers. It’s bull- shit to think they don’t. I’ve rep- resented them both in my life- time. Public service workers are dedicated to their work and they work just as hard as private sec- tor workers. What advice do you have for other union leaders? I think it’s important for people at my level, directors, to continue to be directly involved in organizing and first contract campaigns, be- cause it keeps the fire in your belly. There’s nothing more im- portant than having that fire in your belly, and you get that from workers who don’t have a union. You find out how shitty it is, and then you do the work to get that first contract and im- prove their lives, and see leaders develop. That’s what’s reward- ing about the work. Why do you think public em- ployees need union represen- tation? I think all workers need union representation. The wealthy and the CEOs, the cor- porate elite, are getting greedier and are treating workers worse and worse. I’m not surprised by the 15 Now movement. I think labor’s going to be on the up- swing so long as people are will- ing to be creative and try to or- ganize in different ways. PRIDE ON THE JOB UA Local 290’s Dallas Crone takes first at regional steamfitter apprentice contest local 290 steamfitter apprentice Dallas Crone prepares a 3-inch carbon steel pipe for a saddle during regional apprenticeship contest June 22 at the A&J training Center in Van Nuys, California. Crone won the competition, and will represent local 290 at the national finals in Ann Arbor, Michigan in August. Dallas Crone, a 10th-term ap- prentice steamfitter at United Association of Plumbers and Fitters Local 290, captured first place at the District 5 Regional Apprentice Competition held June 22-23 at A&J Training Center in Van Nuys, California. District 5 encompasses 12 west- ern states, including Oregon and Washington. Crone, who works for J.H. Kelley, qualified for the regional competition by winning the Oregon State Apprenticeship Contest held in April at Local 290’s training center in Tualatin. He now moves on to the na- tional finals Aug. 13-18 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The competition is comprised of hands-on challenges that in- clude pipe threading, pipe bend- local 290 steamfitter apprentice Dallas Crone gets a handshake and bragging rights after winning a re- gional competition in California. ing, soldering/ brazing, fabrica- tion, and a written test. Contest- ants are judged on efficiency, accuracy and final product. In addition to steamfitting, the apprentice competition has categories for plumbing, weld- ing, and HVAC/R (heating, ven- tilation, air conditioning and re- frigeration). Representing Local 290 in those disciplines in Van Nuys were Oregon winners Alex Kuenzi (HVAC/R); Kevin Kuborn (plumbing); and Jordan Alwert (welding). “We have a group of appren- tices that look very promising. We are very proud of all of them,” said assistant apprentice- ship coordinator Justin May. Local 290 currently is train- ing 400 apprentices. [Editor’s Note: Since the regional competition, Crone turned out and is now a journeyman. Under contest rules, he is still eligible to compete at the national finals.]
