PAGE 8 | December 16, 2016 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Richards retires from Office and Professional Employees Local 11
VANCOUVER, Wash. — Mike
Richards is retiring at the end of
the year as executive secretary-
treasurer (EST) of Office and
Professional Employees Local
11. Richards is in the middle of
his fourth term leading the
2,000-member local.
Earlier this month, Local 11’s
Executive Board selected busi-
ness rep Maureen Colvin to fill
out the remainder of the term,
which expires in May 2017.
Richards, 67, joined Local 11
in 1969 after helping to organize
his co-workers in the Utility De-
partment at the City of Vancou-
ver. He was serving as a shop
steward at the City when Local
11 hired him as a union rep in
1979. There, he was assigned to
Consolidated Freightways, one
of the largest bargaining units of
the local until its bankruptcy in
2002. “Deregulation of the
Mike Richards
trucking industry is what al-
lowed that to happen,” said
Richards.
He left Local 11 in 1990 to
become director of field opera-
tions for the Oregon School Em-
ployees Association. The job re-
quired lots of travel, keeping
Happy Holidays
from
Letter Carriers Branch 82
him away from his family. After
five years he returned to Local
11. In 2005 he was elected ex-
ecutive secretary-treasurer, and
has held the post ever since.
In 2010, Local 11 purchased
property in northwest Vancou-
ver and built a 5,000-square-
foot office building, moving
from a rented office space in
Northeast Portland.
“It’s one of my biggest ac-
complishments,” Richard said.
Richards was born in Van-
couver. He graduated from Hud-
son’s Bay High School, dabbled
briefly in community college,
and worked several union jobs
prior to his work at the City of
Vancouver. He has held union
cards with Iron Workers Local
516, Teamsters Local 58, and
the Association of Western Pulp
and Paper Workers.
Richards has served on the
Oregon AFL-CIO Executive
Board, and as a trustee to several
pension, 401(k), and health and
welfare trusts. He is relinquish-
ing his role in all of them.
“I’ve been through some
good times, and I’ve been
through some really tough
times,” he said. “But I’ve been
here long enough. It’s time to let
it go.”
Maureen Colvin, 50, has been
a union rep at Local 11 for the
last decade. She has served the
local as president, on the Exec-
utive Board, and as a shop stew-
ard. She joined the union in
1997 after taking a job as a court
assistant for Clark County Dis-
trict Court. She is a native of
Vancouver, and a graduate of
Fort Vancouver High School.
“I’m honored that our Execu-
tive Board has the confidence to
ask that I step in as the interim
Maureen Colvin
executive secretary-treasurer of
our union. With great pride, I ac-
cept this task and will fully give
100 percent in sustaining the
Turn to Page 15
Season’s Greetings
from the Officers, Representatives
and Office Staff of
Machinists
District W24
Santa’s Helpers for 241 Years!
from the
Columbia-Pacific Building &
Construction Trades Council
Willy Myers, Executive Secretary Treasurer
Lodge 63 in Gladstone
W38 in Shelton
Lodge 1005 in Gladstone
W130 in Centralia
Lodge 1432 in Gladstone
W536 in Longview
W12 in Klamath Falls
W98 in Arcata, California
W246 in Springfield
W364 in Lewiston, Idaho
W261 in Central Point
Local 88 in Butte, Montana
International Association of
Machinists & Aerospace Workers,
Woodworkers, AFL-CIO