NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | March 16, 2018 | PAGE 3
A
raising gang from Iron
Workers Local 29 “set a
world record” erecting a new
roller coaster at Oaks Amusement
Park in Southeast Portland. The
Adrenaline Peak roller coaster
opens on the midway March 24.
For those who attend the an-
nual Labor Day Picnic at Oaks
Park, the old Looping Thunder
roller coaster has always been a
crowd favorite, but it closed last
September after a 21-year run.
Park officials say the new
roller coaster is unlike anything
Portland has experienced be-
fore. It features a 72-foot verti-
cal lift, past-vertical initial drop,
a 97 degree loop, an Immelman
turn and heartline roll. Maxi-
mum speed is 45 mph.
The new ride is a Gerstlauer
Euro-Fighter roller coaster de-
signed and fabricated by Gerst-
lauer Amusement Rides of Ger-
many. The coaster was shipped
in containers to Portland, and
Oaks Park hired WBF Construc-
Ashton Oesterreich and James Marble unfurl union banner.
tion Services of Seattle to erect
it. WBF specializes in building
amusement rides all over the
world. A technician from Gerst-
lauer, Martin Daexle, oversaw
the installation.
John Barlean, a 44-year iron-
worker recently retired from
Local 29, has been friends with
the owners of WBF for years.
Now working for WBF as a part
time consultant, Barlean con-
vinced the owners to use union
ironworkers on the Oaks Park
job. The company signed a one-
project project labor agreement,
and the move paid off big time.
“It went great,” Barlean said.
“This raising gang set a world
record. No other crew in the
world has erected that ride and
had all the bolts torqued in two
weeks.”
The Local 29 crew—connec-
tors Jens Ulven and James Mar-
ble, foreman Kevin Reams,
hook-on guys Mike Cosgrove
and Aaron Harlan, and appren-
tice Ashton Oesterreich —
worked for 6 days the first week,
Photos courtesy of Brenda Stephens, Oaks Park.
Union Iron Workers erect
new roller coaster at Oaks
Park in record time
and 5 days the second Pictured below left to right: James Marble,
Mike Cosgrove, Aaron Harlan, Martin Daexle,
week, completing the ride Ashton Oesterreich, John Barlean, Jens Ulven,
on Feb. 16. Placing the and Kevin Reams.
1,050 feet of track with a
100-ton Link Belt rough
terrain crane was Neal
Davis, a member of Op-
erating Engineers Local
701 employed by Camp-
bell Crane.
“It would take most
crews 10 days just to
erect the ride, and an-
George Kolibaba, director of
other week to torque the bolts,” operations at Oaks Park, told the
said Barlean, citing the crews’ Labor Press that Gerstlauer and
expert rigging skills and con- Martin “were really impressed
necting skills in the air.
with how fast it went up.”
Protesters call Reagan’s induction into DOL’s ‘Labor Hall of Honor’ a ‘shame’
By Chris Garlock
Metropolitan Washington Central Labor
Council & Press Associates Inc.
WASHINGTON, D.C. —
“What’s a crying shame?
Ronald Reagan in the hall of
fame!” chanted two dozen
American Federation of Gov-
ernment Employee (AFGE)
members and supporters on an
impromptu picket line March 1
outside the U.S. Department of
Labor (DOL).
The picketers braved wind
and rain to protest the former
Republican president’s induction
into the Hall of Honor alongside
labor giants like Frances Perkins,
FDR’s Labor Secretary and the
first female Cabinet member,
and Cesar Chavez, the legendary
United Farm Workers co-
founder and leader.
“Reagan was a disgrace,”
said one DOL employee. “The
union movement suffered be-
cause of him.”
“What he did to worker
safety and health standards was
abysmal,” said another.
Protesters took turns leading
chants, and one AFGE member
even impersonated the former
president, asking GOP Trump
Administration Labor Secretary
Alex Acosta to “take my name
off this wall!”
DOL political appointees
named Reagan to the hall, which
is not to be confused with La-
bor’s Hall of Fame elsewhere.
The Hall of Honor was estab-
lished in 1988 to honor Ameri-
cans whose contributions have
elevated working conditions,
wages, and overall quality of life
for American families.
The citation conveniently
mentioned Reagan’s presidency
of the Screen Actors Guild
(SAG), where he played two
prominent roles. One was getting
good contracts for SAG mem-
bers. The other was “singing”
about alleged Communists in the
entertainment industry during the
witch-hunting McCarthy era. His
plaque cites only the first.
It also does not mention Rea-
gan is known for firing the Air
Traffic Controllers in 1981 after
they struck over unsafe work
conditions. The PATCO strike
left up to 14,000 people without
jobs and, more importantly, gave
a green light to corporate chief-
tains to declare war upon work-
ers and unions, which they have
waged ever since.
All that prompted Jordan
Barab, former deputy assistant
secretary of labor in the Obama
Administration, to include the
Reagan induction in what he
called “Kill the Labor Movement
Week,” following the Feb. 26
U.S. Supreme Court hearing on
the Janus case, which would cre-
ate national right-to-work for
public employees.
“Inducting Reagan into the La-
bor Hall of Honor is equivalent to
inducting Colonel Sanders into
the Poultry Hall of Honor,” Barab
said, adding that an email inviting
DOL employees to attend the cer-
emony didn’t make one mention
of fired air traffic controllers, nor
any fond memories of destroying
OSHA’s cotton dust publications
because the cover displayed a
photo of a worker with brown
lung disease, nor any mention of
Reagan devastating OSHA’s en-
forcement program.”