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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 5, 2018)
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | October 5, 2018 | PAGE 15 New interactive tool looks at critical repairs needed at National Parks in Oregon Tool breaks down $116.5 mil- lion of overdue repairs by park and type National Park Service (NPS) sites are challenged by $11.6 billion in backlogged repairs. A new deferred maintenance interactive tool put out by the Pew Charitable Trusts shows the overdue repairs needed state by state and park by park, using NPS data. Pew acquired the in- formation through a Freedom of Information Act request to NPS. “Identifying repairs needed at national park sites in Oregon, brings home that we must make it a priority to secure reliable funding to preserve these na- tional treasures in our own backyard,” said Willy Myers, executive secretary of the Co- lumbia Pacific Building and Construction Trades Council. The interactive tool shows that park sites in Oregon had $116.5 million in deferred maintenance in 2017, with about a quarter of that needed for historic structures and nearly 65 percentm for transportation assets, which could include roads, parking lots, and bridges and possibly impact access. “Our community and busi- nesses count on the tourism dollars generated by visitors to NPS sites in Oregon,” said My- ers. “Last year alone, Oregon’s national park visitors spent $91.6 million in communities near these sites, having a posi- tive economic impact and sup- porting jobs.” This information comes on the heels of an analysis com- missioned by Pew that found that if $11.3 billion were in- vested to fix deferred mainte- nance across NPS’ 400-plus sites, more than 110,000 jobs could be created or supported, including more than 1,000 jobs in Oregon. Almost 3,000 groups nation- wide, including the Northwest Oregon Labor Council, have called on Congress to dedicate funding to fix repairs at NPS sites. There is currently bipartisan legislation moving through Congress, with the support of the Trump Administration, to provide funding for priority re- pairs over five years. In Oregon, Sen. Ron Wyden and U.S. Rep- resentatives Greg Walden, Earl Blumenauer, Suzanne Bonam- ici, and Kurt Schrader are all sponsors of the legislation. To use the deferred mainte- nance interactive tool go to: To use the deferred mainte- nance interactive tool go to: https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/re- search-and-analysis/data-visualiza- tions/2018/national-park-deferred- maintenance-needs ...New NAFTA From Page 13 PROUDLY ENDORSED BY: • Northwest Oregon Labor Council • Joint Council of Teamsters No. 37 • Clackamas County Fire Fighters Local 1159 • United Food & Commercial Workers Local 555 • Lake Oswego Municipal Employees' Association, AFSCME Local 1546 Endorsed by NW Oregon Labor Council Importantly, the provision does not establish a united NAFTA front to combat currency manipulation and misalignment by non-NAFTA parties. In short, the currency rules do not set a strong marker for China or other non-NAFTA partners with a history of currency manipulation and misalignment. The renegotiation of NAFTA is not over. U.S. Trade Repre- sentative Robert E. Lighthizer has made a good start and incor- porated some of labor's advice, and there is still much work to do. America's unions will con- tinue to work to improve the rules of trade to benefit our members and all working fami- lies of North America. There- fore, we are glad that Canada and the U.S. reached a last minute deal, but we need to re- view the new text to understand its effects on working families.
