NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | July 1, 2016 | PAGE 7
Carpenters, Operating Engineers rejoin Washington Building Trades
The Pacific Northwest Regional
Council of Carpenters and Op-
erating Engineers Locals 302
and 612 have re-affiliated with
the Washington State Building
Trades Council (WSBCTC).
The Carpenters disaffiliated
from the council in 2008, and
Operating Engineers pulled out
a few years prior to that.
Their announcement to reaf-
filiate was made July 13 at the
state building trades council’s
annual convention in Seattle.
The action brings nearly 24,000
union carpenters and operating
engineers back under the um-
brella of the council, effective
Aug. 1.
“In the words of Abraham
Lincoln: ‘A house divided
against itself cannot stand.’ With
all of the major crafts together in
the same house, we will now
have a stronger voice for the en-
tire construction industry,” said
Lee Newgent, executive secre-
tary of WSBCTC.
“We are simply stronger to-
gether,” added Ben Basom,
communications director of the
Pacific NW Regional Council
of Carpenters. “When the house
of labor is united, we can effect
so much more positive change
and make a larger positive im-
pact on the construction indus-
try, our communities, and work-
ing families in Washington,
which is the duty and obligation
of the labor movement.”
“Executive Secretary Lee
Newgent’s leadership and focus
on furthering the interests of the
construction trades and his will-
ingness to fight for job creation
was critical for our decision,”
said Daren Konopaski, interna-
tional vice president and busi-
ness manager of OE Local 302.
“The Building Trades is heading
in a direction that we want to be
a part of and affiliated with.”
Operating Engineers are affil-
iated with the AFL-CIO. The
United Brotherhood of Carpen-
ters and Joiners are an independ-
ent union. They left the AFL-
CIO in 2001 and helped form
the Change to Win Coalition
UNION ORGANIZING
DirecTV workers join CWA
Salem-headquartered Commu-
nications Workers of America
(CWA) Local 7906 is getting
ready to bargain a first union
contract for about 80 DirecTV
employees who install and re-
pair satellite TV dishes. The
company voluntarily recognized
the union after a majority of
workers signed union cards.
That’s because last year,
nonunion DirecTV was ac-
quired by AT&T, which has
neutrality agreements with
CWA and the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Work-
ers. Under the agreements,
AT&T doesn’t oppose union
campaigns, and grants union
recognition if a majority of
workers in a unit sign cards
within 60 days of the beginning
of a union campaign.
DirecTV workers in Wash-
ington joined Everett-based
IBEW Local 89 through that
method earlier this year.
UNION DEMOCRACY
IBEW Local 48 reelects Gary Young
Incumbent IBEW Local 48
business manager Gary Young
was reelected July 12 in a runoff
election, outpolling challenger
Jakob Juntunen 711 to 665. In
an earlier round of officer elec-
tions June 21,
Young got
489 votes,
followed by
Juntunen
with 379 and
Nancy Cary
with 296. The
runoff was
held because
no candidate
Gary Young
received a
majority. Business manager is a
full-time position overseeing
staff at the 4,300-member union.
Local 48 members also chose
Wayne Chow as president in the
runoff; he overtook Bruce
Barnes 679 to 627. Barnes had
the most votes in the first round
with 386, compared to 353 for
Chow and 321 for Lee Duncan.
Other officer election results
from the June 21 officer election
are:
Vice president: No candidate
filed
Recording secretary: Kathy
Duncan
Treasurer: John Sargent
Executive Board: Paul New,
Jason Jenkins, Christina
Daniels, Marshall McGrady, Jo-
celyn Atkins, Aaron Barber-
Strong
Examining Board: Garth
Bachman, Scott Axness, Al
Gensitskiy
Delegate to the International
Convention: Terry Reigle, To-
pher Edwards, Alan Keser, Scott
Zadow, Lisa Serrano, Ray Lis-
ter, Garth Bachman, Christina
Daniels
SWANSON, THOMAS,
COON & NEWTON
will soon become
THOMAS, COON,
NEWTON & FROST
as we welcome our new
partner CHRIS FROST.
with a half dozen other unions.
The Carpenters disaffiliated
from that alliance in 2009. Only
a few unions remain in the
Change to Win Coalition.