NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS |
June 2, 2017 | PAGE 3
BUY UNION
Need some electrical work done?
Here’s $200 to help you get it done with a union professional
As part of a campaign to win
back residential work, IBEW Lo-
cal 48 is ready to contribute $200
toward your next home electri-
cal project.
IBEW Local 48 is ready to con-
tribute $200 toward your next
home electrical project. That’s
how committed the union is to
the value of union work — and
the goal of recapturing residen-
tial market share.
The offer is part of the
union’s “Qualified Electricians”
program, which was launched in
2014 as Plus 5 PDX. At plus5
pdx.org, you provide your
name, address and other contact
information, and they mail you
the coupon. The coupon is good
for $200 of work from any of
the union residential contractors
listed on the web site — no mat-
ter how small the project.
Since October 2015, 536
homeowners have taken Local
48 up on the offer, and the union
has paid out $103,000 to con-
tractors. Local 48 organizer Ray
Lister says that resulted in al-
most $1 million in new work for
union contractors. It could be as
HOME IMPROVEMENT: IBEW Local 48 member Timothy Dyck on the job.
small as a ceiling fan replace-
ment or simple repair job, or as
big as a major remodel or new
construction. Most projects are
under $1,000, Lister said.
“Everybody’s got something
around the house they’ve been
putting off,” Lister said. “If our
shop goes out there, they build a
relationship. They realize we’re
affordable.… They’re going to
get a professional out there who
knows what they’re doing.”
The Plus5PDX web site
doesn’t mention the work will
be done by a union contractor,
but that’s what makes its claim
of “qualified electricians” rock
solid: IBEW’s joint union-em-
ployer training program is un-
surpassed. And those doing the
work make a living wage and
benefits. Last but not least, the
program also offers a 5-year
warranty over and above the
standard one-year warranty.
Local 48 is trying to get the
word out about the offer through
social media and through booths
at Portland home and garden
shows.
Lister says IBEW members
used to do substantially all of
the local residential electrical
work, but in recent years, as the
union focused on commercial
and industrial work, it lost mar-
ket share in the small residential
market. Lister thinks union elec-
tricians may be performing as
little as 15 to 20 percent of local
residential work. Plus5 could be
a step toward a comeback.
NATIONAL
Trump proposes to privatize
Bonneville Power and air
traffic control
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In his first-year budget proposal,
President Trump is calling for
privatizing the nation’s air traf-
fic control operations — and
selling off publicly owned trans-
mission assets, including those
operated by the Bonneville
Power Administration (BPA).
The air traffic control pro-
posal calls for spinning off air
traffic operations from the Fed-
eral Aviation Administration
(FAA) and placing them under
an “independent, non-govern-
mental organization.” National
Air Traffic Controllers Associa-
tion, the union that represents the
FAA’s 14,000 controllers, sup-
ports the privatization. But the
American Federation of Govern-
ment Employees opposes it.
FAA operates and maintains the
current system, which safely
transports two million passen-
gers on about 70,00 flights per
day. The Congressional Budget
Office says privatizing the air
traffic control system would in-
crease the nation’s deficit by $20
billion over 10 years. And the
Department of Defense says it
has serious concerns about the
impact privatization would have
on national defense — specifi-
cally on critical military assets
managed jointly by the Pentagon
and FAA, including drones,
communication systems, and
surveillance.
Meanwhile, the proposal to
privatize federal power has met
with opposition from local
members of Congress.
“Public power customers in
the Pacific Northwest have paid
for the system, and their invest-
ment should not be put up for
sale,” said Oregon U.S. Sen.
Ron Wyden.
BPA operates three-quarters of
the region’s high-voltage trans-
mission system, which it uses to
market power from 31 hydro-
electric dams in the Columbia
River Basin. The Trump budget
summary proposes raising $4.9
billion for the U.S. Treasury by
selling the BPA’s transmission
assets from 2018 to 2027.