PAGE 28 | August 24, 2018 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
UNION DEMOCRACY
Sheet Metal Local 16 members elect first-ever female business agent
In balloting that took place in
June and July, members of Sheet
Metal Workers Local 16 elected
their first female business agent
in the local’s 130-year history,
and returned several incumbents
to union office unopposed, in-
cluding business manager Char-
lie Johnson.
Vanessa Steward challenged
incumbent business agent
Robert Riehl, and the initial re-
sult was an outright tie, 143 to
143, in voting held June 25-28.
That led to a July 23-26 runoff
election for the office, which
Steward won 242 to 218. In
both elections, members cast
ballots in person at nine loca-
tions around Oregon and South-
west Washington.
Steward came to Local 16 as
an apprentice in 1996, and be-
came journeyman in 2001. In
2013, she was recruited by for-
mer business manager John
Candioto to join the staff of Lo-
cal 16 as a union organizer.
Since then she has worked to
sign up new contractors and
bring non-union members over
to the union side.
Johnson, meanwhile, was un-
opposed for re-election as busi-
ness manager. He’ll serve a sec-
ond three-year term amid a
construction boom that’s keep-
ing members fully employed all
over the local’s jurisdiction.
Local 16 includes sheet metal
workers in both construction
and production. The production
side includes employers like
Helser Industries in Tualatin,
which makes steel forms for
precast concrete, and Thompson
Metal Fab in Vancouver, which ceptance of women and minori-
fabricates large-scale
ties in the local, a com-
metal works used in
mittee of women and
bridges, hydro dams,
minority members
vessels and in oil and
meets before Local 16
gas industry. On the con-
general membership
struction side, Local 16
meetings begin.
Member involve-
journeymen earn $40.82
ment has also in-
an hour plus benefits.
creased in the last few
The 2,045-member
years, Johnson says. In
local is currently train-
ing nearly 300 appren- Vanessa Steward response to a call from
tices, more than ever before, so the international union, Local 16
many that the Local 16 training formed a committee of mem-
bers called the SMART Army to
center is at capacity.
Johnson says the local has volunteer in the community,
been working to increase union build team spirit, and get mem-
market share and attract more bers more politically engaged.
women and minority workers, [SMART stands for Sheet
who haven’t traditionally been Metal, Air, Rail and Transporta-
well represented in the local tion Workers; it’s the name the
sheet metal workforce. To en- former Sheet Metal Workers In-
courage the participation and ac- ternational Association took af-
UNION ORGANIZING
North coast bus drivers unionize
A group of 20 drivers and me-
chanics at the Sunset Empire
Transit District in Astoria and
Warrenton Oregon have union-
ized. The workers drive and
maintain buses that connect
Astoria to Cannon Beach and
parts in between.
In May, Sunset Empire
driver Jessie Martin reached
out to Amalgamated Transit
Union Local 757. Sunset Em-
pire management reportedly
told workers that “hell will
freeze over before there's a
union,” but the decision wasn’t
up to management. Members
signed union authorization
cards, and on Aug. 20 the Ore-
gon Employment Relations
ter its 2014 merger with the
United Transportation Union.]
Local 16’s branch of the
SMART Army has as many as
50 members.
Also elected were:
■ President Dustin Hysmith
■ Vice president Devin Hosking
■ Recording secretary Michael McIntyre
■ WardenTom Belezos
■ Executive Board members Art Himm,
Jared Bonney, Steve Stewart II, and Ed
Dawes (building trades); and William
Willman and Russ Jacobson (production)
■ Trustees Justin Bigelow, Todd Stevens,
Doug Haase, and Eric Clayton
■ Business agents Joe Harris and Josh
McClaughry (building trades) and Shawn
Eckelberry (production)
Board certified them as mem-
bers of Local 757.
When contract bargaining
starts, they’ll have nowhere to
go but up: Drivers now earn
$14 to $16 an hour, and work
up to 6 hours without a break.
Almost every driver qualifies
for food stamps. Several live in
tents because they can’t afford
the cost of housing, and some
walk long distances to work
because they can’t afford a car.