NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | February 17, 2017 | PAGE 7
Apprentices can benefit from
energy infrastructure projects
Photos courtesy of Keep Washington Competitive
Energy infrastructure projects
are not only an important source
of family wage jobs for con-
struction workers, they provide
real-world projects that help
train apprentices and sharpen
the skills of journeymen and
women.
That’s what lawmakers, port
commissioners, and business
and union leaders heard during a
recent tour of the NECA-IBEW
Electrical Training Center in
Northeast Portland. The center,
considered one of the nation’s
best apprenticeship training fa-
cilities, is responsible for train-
ing thousands of electrical work-
ers for projects in the Portland
metropolitan area, and in South-
west Washington.
The tour was arranged by
Keep Washington Competitive,
a coalition of business, labor,
agriculture, and trade represen-
tatives that support energy infra-
structure projects. The focus was
the need for more skilled labor
on both sides of the Columbia
River, and how energy infra-
structure projects can help meet
that need.
Among those taking the tour
were Brian Wolf, president of
the Port of Vancouver Board of
Commissioners; Mike Bomar,
executive director of the Colum-
bia River Economic Develop-
(Photo Above) NECA-IBEW Electrical
Training Center Executive Director
Rod Belisle (left) shows one of the
hands-on classrooms during a tour
of the NECA/IBEW Electrical Training
Center in Northeast Portland. To the
right, Gary Young, IBEW Local 48
business manager, looks on.
(Photo Right) Port of Vancouver
Commission President Brian Wolf
(right) talks with Vancouver Energy’s
Jared Larrabee at the NECA/IBEW
Electrical Training Center. Standing
to the left is Nate Stokes, field rep co-
ordinator for Operating Engineers
Local 701.
Buffet-owned Precision Castparts
busts union drive in California
Precision Castparts, the Port-
land-headquartered metals com-
pany that’s is now owned by the
world’s second richest man,
paid a union-buster last year to
defeat a union campaign at a
California subsidiary.
According to a required fed-
eral disclosure filed in Decem-
ber 2016, PCC Structurals hu-
man resources vice president
Brian Keegan contracted with
Labor Information Services,
Inc., of Malibu, California to
conduct anti-union meetings
with employees of Permaswage.
Permaswage is a PCC sub-
sidiary in Gardena, California,
that makes fluid fittings for
aerospace companies; it’s also
known as Designed Metal Con-
nections.
Machinists District Lodge
725 in Huntington, Beach, Cal-
ifornia, was seeking to represent
workers there, and on Sept. 17,
filed a request for a union elec-
tion. The National Labor Rela-
tions Board set an election date
of Oct. 21. Then “union avoid-
ance” consultants Chuck Ahern
and Miriam Navarro got to
work, on Oct. 10. Nine days
later, the union withdrew.
It’s not the first time Precision
Castparts fought unionization;
some of its subsidiaries have
union contracts, but at its Port-
land main campus, the company
defeated union campaigns in
1995, 1996, and 2013.
Precision was bought in Jan-
uary 2016 by Warren Buffett’s
Berkshire Hathaway holding
company. Billionaire Buffett has
garnered great press for express-
ing concern about rising eco-
nomic inequality, and some of
his companies have unionized
workforces. But he’s also spo-
ken out against calls for a $15
minimum wage. Now, a Buffett
company fought an effort by
workers to unionize.
ment Council; Matthew Hepner,
executive director of Certified
Electrical Workers of Washing-
ton; Washington state Rep. Jim
Walsh (R-19th); executives from
Vancouver Energy, and con-
struction union leaders from
Oregon and Washington.
Energy infrastructure projects,
like the Vancouver Energy ter-
minal being proposed at the Port
of Vancouver, would provide
significant training opportunities
and apprenticeships for electrical
workers and other skilled trades-
men and women, said Jared
Larrabee of Vancouver Energy.
“The IBEW Training Center
is a world-class facility for elec-
tricians of all levels of experi-
ence. But they need real-world
experiences to fine-tune their
skills,” said Gary Young, busi-
ness manager of IBEW Local 48
and a Port of Portland commis-
sioner. “We don’t expect other
professionals to learn everything
in the classroom. We want new
doctors to actually see patients
and develop their clinical skills.
The same can be said for electri-
cians and other people in the
trades. We need them to work on
real projects, and the reality is,
major energy infrastructure proj-
ects like Vancouver Energy pro-
vide excellent training opportu-
nities.”