NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | December 16 , 2016 | PAGE 5
How to buy union ...Union stand at Standing Rock
this holiday season
From Page 1
Plan to buy any gifts this year? If you buy union, you’re helping
keep good jobs in the community, and voting with your dollars
for enterprises that pay your fellow workers a living wage with
benefits. Of course, union-made can be hard to find these days.
Here are some ideas to make it easier.
UNION-MADE
Blankets: Give the gift of warmth with a
blanket from Pendleton Woolen
Mills. Pendleton blankets (but not
apparel) are made in Washougal,
Washington, and Pendleton, Oregon. You
can see how they’re made with free tours
at both locations, where members of the
Workers United union earn wages of
$15.42 to $17.73 an hour, plus overtime
after eight hours, and health and pension
benefits.
Boots: Danner today is a subsidiary of
Japanese shoe company ABC-Mart, but
still makes about half of its products at its
Northeast Portland factory, where workers
are represented by UFCW Local 555.
Check the label: If the boots are U.S.-
made, they were made here with union
labor.
Kitchenware: Foreign imports may fill
the shelves, but union-made in America is
still a mark of quality for several brands.
U.S.-made Pyrex glassware and All-
Clad Stainless Steel Cookware are made
by United Steelworkers members in
Pennsylvania. Cutco cutlery is made by
union Steelworkers in New York. And U.S.-
made Fiesta brand dinnerware is made
in West Virginia by members of the Glass,
Molders, Pottery, Plastic and Allied
Workers union.
Culture: Oregon Ballet Theater, the
Portland Opera, the Oregon
Symphony: All of them employ
members of American Federation of
Musicians Local 99, IATSE Local 28 crews,
and IATSE Local B-20 members, who
work as ushers, ticket takers and elevator
operators. The biggest employer of union
musicians is the Oregon Symphony, with
76 full-timers. Session players earn $200
per two-hour appearance, plus pension
and healthcare contributions.
Chocolate: Ghirardelli chocolates and
See’s Candies gift boxes are made in
California by members of Bakery,
Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers.
Wine: Unions are rare in the wine
industry, but Washington’s award-
winning Chateau Ste. Michelle is an
exception. It employs members of United
Farm Workers in its vineyards, and
members of Teamsters Local 117 in the
barrel room, warehouse, production,
shipping and maintenance departments
at its Woodinville facility. Company labels
include Columbia Crest, Chateau
Ste. Michelle wines, Domaine Ste.
Michelle, and Snoqualmie, and
others.
UNION-SOLD
Shop Fred Meyer and Powell’s, not Walmart, Target and Amazon
NO, THANK YOU: Out of 5,300 Walmart stores in the United States, guess how many
are unionized? Not one. That’s no accident. Walmart is one of the most ferociously anti-
union companies in the world. When Walmart workers in Jonquiere, Quebec, voted in
2004 to unionize, the company closed the store. It also closed a store in Pico Rivera,
California, in 2015 after many workers there took part in a strike. Target is hardly better:
None of its 1,800 U.S. stores is union either, though nine pharmacy workers at a Brooklyn,
NY store did unionize in 2015. At least Walmart and Target have stores; Amazon has
only warehouses, and its 270,000 employees toil nonunion in conditions that have
shocked the public in several widely shared exposés.
YES, PLEASE: When you buy at Fred Meyer, Portland’s only unionized general retailer,
the money you spend will employ members of UFCW Local 555 (and Bakers Local 114,
at Fred Meyer bakery departments). Or keep it simple and get a Fred Meyer gift card. And
why shop at Amazon when you could buy books and gifts at Powell’s Books and
support about 450 Portland-area members of ILWU Local 5, from cashiers to truck drivers
to computer programmers. Powells pays wages that average over $14 an hour, and
provides health benefits for full-time employees. And if you shop online through
ilwulocal5.com, 7.5% of your purchase goes to the union strike fund.
tionwide.
Roben White — a retired
union painter and former presi-
dent of Painters Local 10 — is
one of them. White is of mixed
Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne an-
cestry on his father’s side, and
he’s an enrolled member of the
Oglala Lakota tribe at the Pine
Ridge Indian Reservation in
South Dakota. He’s also a
staunch unionist who says he
was pained to see unions take a
stand he disagrees with.
The Standing Rock Sioux ob-
ject to the pipeline chiefly be-
cause of the potential risk to
their water supply. When com-
plete, the Dakota Access
Pipeline would pump 470,000
barrels a day of light crude oil
through a 30-inch-wide, 1,172-
mile-long pipeline from the
Bakken Oil Fields of northwest-
ern North Dakota through South
Dakota and Iowa to refining fa-
cilities in Illinois. The pipeline’s
route was originally supposed to
cross the Missouri River just up-
stream from Bismarck, North
Dakota, but because of concerns
that an oil spill could wreck the
city’s water supply, the route
was changed to cross just up-
stream from the Standing Rock
Sioux Reservation. The pipeline
would cross half a mile north of
Roben White, a retired
union painter and for-
mer president of Port-
land-headquartered
Painters Local 10, is also
a member of the Oglala
Lakota tribe. “These are
peaceful, prayerful peo-
ple,” he said of the
Standing Rock protest.
the reservation, 92 feet under-
neath the Standing Rock Sioux
water supply — Lake Oahe, a
reservoir formed by a Missouri
River dam.
To protest that course, in
April, members of the tribe es-
tablished a “spiritual camp” on
Army Corps of Engineers land
along the banks of the Missouri
river. By August, it had become
the largest gathering of Native
American tribes in more than a
century. With protesters attempt-
ing to stop construction, North
Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple
declared a state of emergency
Aug. 19. Private security con-
tractors, joined by police rein-
forcements from six states, de-
ployed in armored personnel
carriers, and used rubber bullets,
tear gas grenades, pepper spray,
and sound cannons against un-
armed protesters. On Sept. 3, se-
Local 14,
Spokane, WA.
curity guards attacked nonvio-
lent protesters with pepper mace
and dogs.
Then on Sept. 9, Department
of Justice, Department of the In-
terior and Department of the
Army asked that the pipeline
company voluntarily halt con-
struction within 20 miles of
Lake Oahe, after a federal judge
denied the Standing Rock Sioux
Tribe’s request for a temporary
injunction.
Shortly after that, national
AFL-CIO President Richard
Trumka weighed in with an of-
ficial statement on the pipeline:
“The AFL-CIO supports
pipeline construction as part of
a comprehensive energy pol-
icy,” he declared Sept. 15.
“Pipeline construction and
maintenance provides quality
Turn to Page 10
Local 751,
Anchorage, AK.
Local 29,
Portland, OR.
Local 506,
Seattle, WA.
Local 86
Seattle, WA.
Local 516,
Portland, OR.
We Wish All The Working Men, Women and Their
Families Joy and Happiness This Holiday Season
and a Very Special New Year
The Pacific Northwest
Iron Workers District Council
and its
Affiliated Local Unions