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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (April 21, 2017)
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | April 21, 2017 | PAGE 11 COLLECTIVE BARGAINING Plumbers & Fitters #290 ratifies six-year contract Bargaining takes less than 3 hours, and the result is an in- crease of $16.03 over six years. Annual contest challenges Bricklayer apprentices Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 1 held its annual apprenticeship contest April 1 at its training center in Northeast Portland. Seven apprentices participated for the chance to advance to the Western States regional finals May 20 in Tracy, California. Representing Local 1 at region- als in bricklaying will be Ben Wall (photo above), a 90 per- cent apprentice who took first place, and Micah Edwards (below right), an 80 per- cent apprentice, who fin- ished second. Zach Welch finished third and will be an alternate. Josh Graham, a 90 percent apprentice, will represent Local 1 in the marble competition. He was the lone competitor and advanced automati- cally. Apprenticeship Coor- dinator Shawn Lenczowksi said the competition re- quires apprentices to build 60 percent a project from a blueprint apprentice in five hours. The project is Kirstie then judged for quality. Reeves. HAPPENINGS Labor recognition night May 20 The Northwest Oregon Labor Council’s 20th annual Labor Ap- preciation and Recognition Night will be held Saturday, May 20, at the IBEW Local 48 hall, 15937 NE Airport Way, Portland. The dinner and awards cere- mony serve as a fundraiser for La- bor’s Community Service Agency. This year is a Hawaii theme — “Lei’d Back Luau.” Dinner tickets are $25 per person. Raffle tickets also will be sold. The labor council is currently accepting cash and prize donations for the raffle. The labor council also is ac- cepting nominations for persons to be recognized for their service to and with the labor community. The top award is the Del Ricks Community Service Award, recog- nizing one individual for their ex- emplary service. Nominations should be sent to: Northwest Oregon Labor Council, 9955 SE Washington St., Suite 305, Portland, OR 97216. The deadline is April 28. For more in- formation or to order tickets, call 503-235-9444. garet Hallock Program for Women’s Rights. It is being cosponsored by the Labor Edu- cation and Research Center at the University of Oregon, the World Affairs Council, and AFT-Oregon. ■ Time: Tuesday, April 25, 5:30 p.m. ■ Place: First Congregational Church, 1126 SW Park Ave., Portland ■ Cost: Free and open to the public AFT’s Weingarten at Portland forum on future of education Letter Carriers prepare for May 13 food drive Randi Weingarten, international president of the American Fed- eration of Teachers (AFT), will be the featured speaker at a fo- rum April 25 in Portland to talk about the future of public educa- tion. The free event is part of the Wayne Morse Center’s Mar- Letter carriers in the Portland met- ropolitan area and in Clark County, Wash. will help “Stamp Out Hunger” on Saturday, May 13, part of the 25th annual National Asso- ciation of Letter Carriers and U.S. Postal Service Food Drive. According to the Oregon Food Bank, an estimated 240,000 peo- Members of United Association of Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 290 ratified a new six-year collective bargaining agreement March 18 with 80 percent ap- proval. The deal with the Oregon chapter of the Plumbing and Mechanical Contractors Associ- ation (PMCA) provides for an- nual increases of 3.5 percent — for a total increase of $16.03 over the life of the agreement. The contract took effect April 1. As is typical in construction bargaining, members decide how to divvy up the new money — whether it be in wages, pen- sion contributions, or for health insurance. The increase on April 1 was $2.45. Members decided to put 99 cents on the check— bumping their hourly wage to $43.82. The full package of wages and fringe benefits in- creased to $72.40 an hour. Union members will meet every Febru- ary through 2023 to decide where to apply that year’s raise. Remarkably, bargaining the contract lasted just 2 hours, 23 minutes, said Local 290 Busi- ness Agent Travis Argue. A union committee had met with PMCA officials a few times prior to official bargaining, but when the sides sat down for the first time on March 4, Local 290’s first proposal was ac- ple get meals from emergency food boxes in an average month. To help, letter carriers will deliver plastic bags to every household a few days before the Food Drive. All you have to do is fill the bag with nonperishable food items, and leave it at your mailbox on the morning of May 13. Letter Carri- ers will collect the bags and deliver them to drop points, where volun- teers will sort the donations and forward them to the Oregon Food Bank. Food collected in Clark County will benefit Clark County hunger-relief agencies. The Food Drive raises more than 1.5 million pounds of food each year for the Oregon Food Bank. It is the largest one-day food collection of the year in Oregon — and in the nation. cepted. “It didn’t take very long, but honestly, this contract is the prod- uct of labor-management rela- tionship building that we’ve been working on for the last three years,” said Local 290 Business Manager Al Shropshire. Historically, bargaining has mostly been adversarial, with contracts running well past their expiration dates and customers worried about work stoppages. When a deal finally was reached, the sides were barely speaking to each other. “We decided as a union and as contractors that there had to be a better way to do this,” Shrop- shire said. “Our goal was to pres- ent something that we believed was fair and reasonable for everyone.” With bargaining behind them, the focus now, Shropshire said, is to increase market share. “This contract provides a lot of stabil- ity for the industry,” he said. UA Local 290 is a multi-craft union with more than 4,300 ac- tive and retired members spe- cializing in the fabrication, in- stallation and servicing of piping systems throughout Oregon, Southwest Washington, and Northern California. Its training center is currently working with 400 apprentices, with a new batch ready to enter. PMCA is a coalition of more than 250 plumbing and mechan- ical contractors within the juris- diction. Shropshire expects the local will be at full employment within the next month or two — and lasting for at least two years. In Oregon, Nike is in the midst of a 3.2 million square foot expansion at its world head- quarters. New high rises are pop- ping up in the Pearl District and in South Waterfront. Hospitals are embarking on extensive ex- pansions projects. Google is adding another data center in The Dalles, and Intel is ready to ramp up again. School districts are passing bonds to construct new buildings and remodel old ones. Portland airport is prepar- ing for a billion-dollar expan- sion. A new convention center headquarters hotel is about to break ground. Multnomah County is going to build a new courthouse. And the United States Post Office broke ground for a new main post office.
