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September 15, 2017 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
CULTURE
OPEIU Local 8 strike at Welfare
& Pension Inc. continues
New documentary film looks at the life of
farmworker union leader Dolores Huerta
Photo by George Ballis , © 1976 Take Stock - The Image Works
Dolores, a documentary about
celebrated United Farm Work-
ers union leader Dolores
Huerta, is coming to Portland
and Eugene, Oregon.
Huerta was co-founder with
Cesar Chavez of the organiza-
tion that later became the
United Farm Workers. She
helped lead the historic boycott
of California grapes, and it was
she who coined the phrase “Sí
se puede” (“Yes we can”).
The documentary will COMING TO A SCREEN NEAR YOU United Farm Workers leader Dolores
screen Sept. 29-30 at the Huerta at a march in Coachella, California in 1969.
Northwest Film Center in Port- times, visit nwfilm.org/films/do- broadwaymetro.com]
land. Director Peter Bratt will lores.]
And it will air on Oregon
attend several showings and an-
It will also appear October 6- Public Broadcasting (OPB) at
swer audience questions after- 12 at the Broadway Metro the- 10 p.m. Feb. 26, 2018 — on the
ward. [For tickets and show- ater in Eugene. [For details, visit PBS series Independent Lens.
Low Prices!
Mon-Fri 9-6, Sat 9:30-5:30, Sun 12-6
For the second year in a row,
union nurses at Bay Area Hos-
pital in Coos Bay have part-
nered with nonprofit First Book
to sponsor a book drive for chil-
dren ages 2 to 13. They expect
to distribute more than 1,000
books to children Sept. 16 dur-
rights, cap the medical premium
cost share, and reestablish their
retirement after losing their pen-
sion benefit last year.
WPAS is a private for-profit
corporation. The company has
continued to administer union
benefits with a skeleton staff
that includes temporary scab
workers.
Picketing is held from 6 a.m.
to 5 p.m. Monday through Fri-
day at the WPAS office at 7525
SE 24th St. in Mercer Island.
Washington State Labor
Council is calling on supporters
to call WPAS owners and tell
them to settle a fair contract
now: 1-800-732-1121.
SAFE JOBS
Washington L&I offering grants to help
workplace safety and health innovations
BUILDING COMMUNITY
Coos Bay nurses donate over
1,000 books to kids
Members of Office and Profes-
sional Employees International
Union (OPEIU) Local 8 who
work at Welfare & Pension Ad-
ministration Service, Inc.
(WPAS) in Mercer Island,
Washington, were still on strike
as this issue of the Northwest
Labor Press went to press.
After 11 months of negotia-
tions and seven months without
a contract, 95 workers who ad-
minister health and pension ben-
efits for thousands of Pacific
Northwest union members
walked off the job Aug. 23.
Employees there have had a
union contract since 1973 and
last struck in 1988. Workers are
fighting to maintain seniority
ing the Bay Area Fun Festival
Parade. The parade begins at 1
p.m. at the corner of 4th St. and
Golden Avenue in downtown
Coos Bay.
Oregon Nurses Association
(ONA) represents more than
350 registered nurses at Bay
Area Hospital and more than
14,000 RNs statewide.
TUMWATER, Wash. – Every
year, hundreds of people are hurt
or killed on the job in Washing-
ton. The Department of Labor &
Industries (L&I) is always look-
ing for ways to make work-
places safer and lower that num-
ber. One of those ways is to
provide grants for projects and
ideas to improve workplace
safety and health.
A new round of safety and
health grants is now available
through L&I’s Safety and Health
Investment Projects (SHIP)
grant program. Applications will
be accepted until Oct. 31, 2017.
The agency is looking for in-
novative ideas for training,
equipment or strategies to pro-
tect workers and prevent in-
juries. In the past two years,
SHIP grants funded 19 safety
and health projects at a total of
$2.5 million.
Recent grants have funded
projects to prevent injuries
among special education teach-
ers and to create a best practices
manual to reduce the risk of can-
cer in firefighters.
SHIP grants are meant to en-
courage innovative solutions to
occupational health and safety
challenges, as well as to promote
labor and management working
together to make workplaces
safer.
Grants are also available for
return-to-work projects. The
goal of these grants is to encour-
age new ways to help injured
workers get back to work so that
employers can have the
processes in place before an in-
jury occurs. The return-to-work
grant period is open until further
notice.
The grants are capped at
$150,000 and the projects must
be completed in 24 months.
For more information, go to
www.Lni.wa.gov/SafetyGrants
or call 360-902-5588.
Albert Einstein, Time
magazine’s “Person of
the 20th Century”
was a visionary
scientist, philosopher,
teacher — and a
union member.
In fact, he was a founding member of the Princeton
Federation of Teachers Local 552, signing its charter in
1938. Pretty smart guy, huh?
(From the Washington State Labor Council)