NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | May 18, 2018 | PAGE 7
Oregon governor names unionists to boards
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown re-
cently appointed several union
leaders to state boards and com-
missions.
One of the most prominent is
the TriMet board of commis-
sioners. There, she tapped Keith
Edwards, a former business
manager of IBEW Local 48 and
IBEW international rep from
Northeast Portland. Edwards is
now retired, but remains active
in community affairs. Also new
to the board are Osvaldo Gonza-
les and Kathy Wai. Gonzales re-
places Joe Esmonde, a retired
IBEW Local 48 business rep.
Amalgamated Transit Union
Local 757 represents about
2,400 TriMet employees. Local
757 spokesperson Andrew Riley
said the union doesn’t know
much about Gonzales, but is
cautiously optimistic based on
what they’ve heard from com-
munity partners. Riley said ATU
was pleased with Wai’s appoint-
ment. She is an advocate at the
Asian Pacific American Net-
work of Oregon (APANO) and
has served on the North Clacka-
mas School Board.
“Overall, we’re pleased to see
the governor taking diversity on
the TriMet Board so seriously.
It’s been a good ol’ white boys’
club for a long time, and that has
to change,” Riley said.
Terms are for four years and
start May 25.
Brown appointed John
Mohlis, retired executive secre-
tary of the Oregon State Build-
ing and Construction Trades
Council, to the State Accident
Insurance Fund (SAIF) board of
trustees. Mohlis, of Oregon
City, replaces Kevin Jensen, re-
tired business manager of Iron
Workers Local 29.
Kevin Billman, director of
Legislative & Community Ac-
tion at United Food and Com-
mercial Workers Local 555, Di-
ana Winther, staff attorney for
IBEW Local 48, and Ateusa
Salemi, a labor relations repre-
sentative for Oregon Nurses As-
sociation in Umatilla, were re-
appointed to the Workers’
Compensation Management-
Labor Advisory Committee.
MLAC, as it is known, studies
issues affecting the workers’
compensation system and re-
ports its findings and recom-
mendations to the Oregon Leg-
islature.
In other appointments:
■ Walt Caudle, business manager of
Insulators Local 36, was named to the
Mechanical Board.
■ Randy Carmony, business manager of
Elevator Constructors Local 23, was tapped
for the Electrical and Elevator Board. He
succeeds Roberty Pyne, a journeyman
elevtor constructor.
■ Thomas Engstrom of the Boilermakers
Union was appointed to the Board of
Boiler Rules.
■ Karly Edwards of the Oregon Nurses
Association was named to the
Government Ethics Commission.
All nominees must be con-
firmed by the Oregon Senate.
The Senate Rules Committee is
scheduled to meet May 22.
Most of the appointments are
for four-year terms.
...Nabisco offer: $15k signing bonus
From Page 1
That’s not going to happen,
said Ron Baker, International
Strategic Campaign Coordina-
tor for the BCTGM.
BCTGM Local 364 Vice Pres-
ident Leo Lovato said he wit-
nessed cleaning crew workers at
the Portland bakery rip their let-
ters in half and throw them in the
garbage — in full view of their
foreman. Local 364 members
had already heard about the com-
pany’s offer at an April 28 union
meeting, so they knew what the
letters were about.
“This is a baited offer,” said
Local 364 business representa-
tive Cameron Taylor. “It’s giv-
ing it to you up front and then
taking it away with increased
health care costs and eliminated
pensions.”
Instead of making new pen-
sion contributions, Mondelēz is
proposing to contribute an
equivalent amount to a 401(k)
retirement savings plan. The
company says that’s a better
deal, because the union-spon-
sored multi-employer pension
plan is 12 years away from in-
solvency, according to the latest
projections. Once its assets are
gone, retirees would get only a
fraction of the benefits promised
— funded by contributions from
any remaining employers and
from the Pension Benefit Guar-
anty Corporation. But BCTGM
leaders are holding out hope that
Congressional action could res-
cue pension plans like theirs.
They say once workers lose the
pension, they likely would never
get it back.
If Mondelēz is allowed to
withdraw from the pension, the
company would be obligated to
pay about $28.5 million a year
for 20 years in withdrawal lia-
bility.
Mondelēz cleared $2.9 billion
in net income last year. In No-
vember it sent its retiring CEO
Irene Rosenfeld off into her
golden years after paying her
$231 million for 11 years of
leading the company.
...Precision Castparts
From Page 1
the larger group has voted sev-
eral times against unionizing.
The case went all the way up
to the Board in Washington,
D.C., where a 3-2 majority of
Trump appointees used it to
overturn a major Obama-era
NLRB decision known as Spe-
cialty Healthcare. Since 2011,
business groups had derided the
Specialty Healthcare ruling,
saying it allowed “micro-
unions.” When the Board over-
turned Specialty on Dec. 16, it
directed the NLRB’s Seattle re-
gional director Ron Hooks to
take another look at whether a
welders-only unit would be ap-
propriate at Precision Castparts.
Yes, it would, Hooks deter-
mined. In a May 4 decision,
Hooks said that even under the
pre-Specialty standards, the
welders would qualify as an ap-
propriate bargaining unit — as
certified practitioners of a spe-
cialized craft. Members of the
group are the only Precision em-
ployees to do what they do.
They use gas metal arc welding,
gas tungsten arc welding,
shielded metal arc welding, and
plasma arc welding to repair de-
fects in metal castings such as
jet engine components.
“We’re taking it as a victory,”
said Machinists Grand Lodge
Representative Bill Anderson.
Will Precision Castparts now
recognize the union and get
down to bargaining a first con-
tract? The company has until
May 18 to request a review of
the decision.
—Don McIntosh
UNIONIZATION ] MAR-APR 2018
The following are Oregon and Southwest Washington workplaces where workers have
decided whether to be represented by a union. The thumbs-up symbol means workers
will be union-represented. Thumbs-down means they’ll be on their own. The
information comes from the National Labor Relations Board and the Oregon
Employment Relations Board.
Union election results
Employer (Location) Union
First Student (Elmira) Teamsters Local 206
Yes-No
4-1
^
■ 6 monitors
Reed College (Portland) Student Workers Coalition Local 1
34-14 ^
■ 52 housing advisors
Mike Patterson Plumbing (Gladstone) Plumbers Local 290
5-7
%
18-4
^
■ 14 employees who do plumbing installation work
Burgerville (Portland) Industrial Workers of the World
■ 30 crew members at the company’s 3504 SE 92nd Ave. restaurant in Portland
Unionization by majority signup
Employer (Location) Union
Curry County Road Department (Gold Beach) Teamsters Local 206
■ 16 employees, including engineers, mechanics, road crew and secretaries