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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 20, 2017)
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | January 20, 2017 | PAGE 3 Portland Bakery Union member Shad Clark made international VP for Western Region DON’T END OBAMACARE. IMPROVE IT. A Portland gym overflowed in one of a series of rallies Jan. 15 called by Bernie Sanders and Democ- rats in Congress to defend Obamacare. When every space was taken at the SEI gym, hundreds more rallied outside in the snow-filled street. They heard from U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley (front left) and Ron Wyden as well as U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Kurt Schrader and Suzanne Bonamici. Blumenauer’s call for Oregon to look at a single payer sys- tem got by far the loudest applause. Union nurses lined the stage’s back row, including, from left: Elizabeth McPhee and Teri Mills of the Oregon Nurses Association; Adrienne Enghouse of Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals; and Travis Elmore of Washington State Nurses Association. Shad Clark, a member of Port- land-based Bakers Local 114, has been elected international vice president for the Western Region of Bakery, Confec- tionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM). He succeeds Randy Roark, who re- tired Dec. 31, 2016. Clark, 46, was elected by the BCTGM General Executive Board to complete the unex- pired term of Roark, which runs through December 2018. As international vice presi- dent, Clark’s primary duty will be assisting Western Region lo- cals in organizing and contract bargaining campaigns. With the title, Clark also will have a seat on the BCTGM General Exec- utive Board, and he will be a union trustee on health and wel- fare plans and pension funds. The Western Region covers locals in Oregon, Washington, California, Montana, Idaho, Ne- vada, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and Arizona. Shad Clark It’s a diverse membership, rang- ing from big industrial bakeries to Boise sugar beet factory workers to Bay Area employees of Ghirardelli, See’s Candy, and American Licorice (makers of Red Vines). Clark has worked as an inter- national representative for the Western Region since June 2015. Prior to that he was a business agent at Local 114. Clark was born in Honolulu, but grew up in Portland, where he has a long history as a union worker and activist. His mother was a member of the Oregon Nurses Association. According to Clark, growing up he often helped her at the office stuffing envelopes and other union tasks. And the BCTGM has been a part of his life for many years prior to his joining the union. His father, Pat Clark, served as sec- retary-treasurer of Local 364 in Portland. In his youth, Clark spent time as a member of the Machinists Union working sum- mer jobs at the Portland ship- yard. Clark earned a bachelors de- gree in human resources at Winthrop University under a soccer scholarship. He later worked at Franz Bakery in Port- land, where he became a mem- ber of Local 114. He has served the local as president, recording secretary, and on the Executive Board. “It’s an honor to take over the legacy of Randy Roark, who has been on staff for 35 years,” Clark said.” Building Trades Council joins group challenging Portland’s ban on new fossil fuel terminals Maurice “Mo” Starks Tragedy strikes Cement Masons Local 555 ... again More tragedy has struck the small Cement Masons union in Portland. On Dec. 27, Local 555 member Maurice “Mo” Starks was killed in a roll-over car crash on I-405 in Portland. Starks, 30, was pronounced dead at the scene and his girl- friend, Krystle Lenae Webster, 26, was hospitalized with non- life threatening injuries. A week earlier — on Dec. 21 — longtime Local 555 member Chris Brown lost his wife and home to a fire. Gayle Brown was a member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555. Chris Brown received burns on his hands and arms, and broken bones in his foot. He has been off work since the mishap. According to news reports on the car accident, Starks was ex- iting the Fremont Bridge on the Kerby Avenue off-ramp when he failed to negotiate a curve, struck a barrier and went over it before crashing into another one. Police said speed may have been a factor in the crash. Starks came to Portland from Tennessee. He joined Local 555 as an apprentice, and turned out as a journeyman cement mason in August 2015. Geoff Kossak, a business agent at Local 555, told KOIN 6 News that Starks “worked very very hard at it (training) and he was very appreciative of the in- struction he got. He was cared about very much and he was just a kid.” Starks leaves behind a young son and a daughter. “It’s just a sad day, a real shock,” Kossak said. “I received a phone call from his brother-in- law in Tennessee. It just left me devastated.” A GoFundMe page raised $4,250 to help pay for funeral expenses, and to transport Stark’s body back to Tennessee. The Columbia Pacific Building and Construction Trades Coun- cil has joined a coalition chal- lenging a new City of Portland ordinance that restricts the de- velopment and expansion of bulk fossil fuel terminals. The yet-to-be-named coali- tion includes the Portland Busi- ness Alliance and a wide range of businesses along the Portland Harbor that are part of another group, the Working Waterfront Coalition. The ordinance, sponsored by out-going mayor Charlie Hales, changes zoning codes in order to halt the construction of new large fossil fuel terminals — and the expansion of existing facili- ties — within city limits. The ordinance passed City Council Dec. 14 by a unani- mous vote. Willy Myers, executive sec- retary of the Columbia Pacific Building Trades Council and spokesman for the coalition, said the new zoning ordinance was done in violation of Ore- gon’s land-use laws. “It’s not only bad policy for the citizens of Portland, but also to the entire state, since 90 per- cent of all the basic fuels we consume pass through the City,” Myers said in a press statement. Myers said that disallowing new fossil fuel infrastructure within the City of Portland “could create an energy bottle- neck in meeting the needs of businesses and households across the state and lead to in- creased costs if supply is con- strained, which could hamper economic growth.” The coalition is preparing to file a petition for review with the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA). Washington state lawmakers introduce bills to guarnatee paid family and medical leave Bills have been introduced in the Washington state House and Senate to give new parents and those who are sick or caring for a loved one paid time off from work. A coalition of legislators, business owners, parents and advocates announced the pro- posal to bring paid family and medical leave to the state in Olympia on Jan. 10. State Rep. June Robinson of Everett, sponsor of House Bill 1116, says paid leave has advan- tages, both for employers and employees. If the bill passes, employees would have 26 weeks of paid leave to care for a newborn or newly-adopted baby or an ill family member, starting in 2019. In 2020, employees could take up to 12 weeks of paid medical leave to tend to their own health conditions. The pro- gram would be funded through a payroll deduction, costing em- ployers and workers about $2 a week. State Sen. Karen Keiser is supporting the companion bill, Senate Bill 5032. Three states currently have paid family and medical leave laws on the books: California, New Jersey and Rhode Island. New York will join them in 2018.
