SERVING ORGANIZED LABOR IN OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON SINCE 1900
NORTHWEST
LABOR
PRESS
VOLUME 120, NUMBER 5
IN THIS ISSUE
IN MEMORIAM: CHUCK MOFFIT He was a union
officer in AFSCME Local 189 and Oregon AFSCME. | Page 3
WHAT WORKING FAMILIES WANT AFL-CIO President
Rich Trumka says we need a better labor law. | Page 8
Meeting Notices p.4
Happenings p.4
PORTLAND, OREGON
By Don McIntosh
“My passion,” says Joel Gbu-
rek, “is hanging heavy objects
from buildings.”
Gburek, 47, is an entertain-
ment production rigger. Before
Elton John or Justin Timberlake
can step onto the stage at Port-
land’s Moda Center, Gburek
heads up a spirited crew of three
dozen riggers who hang lights,
speakers, and special effects.
They’re members of IATSE Lo-
cal 28, and in six hours, they can
turn a basketball court into a
concert venue.
“It’s a world that no one ever
thinks about,” Gburek says.
It’s true: Fans at an arena con-
cert don’t think twice about the
50 tons of equipment hanging
100 feet above them — spot-
lights, lasers, speakers, video
walls, pyrotechnic gear, fog ma-
chines, mirrors, balloons, con-
fetti. But it’s a rigger’s job to
make sure it’s all done safely.
It’s Jan. 31, and Gburek’s rig-
ging crew is setting up for KISS:
End of the Road World Tour.
That means unloading 27 semi
trucks and hanging 170,000
pounds from the top of the
arena. At sign-in, crew members
WE DID IT! Pro-union Providence Portland workers and supporters cele-
brate after the vote count in December.
IATSE Local 28 riggers Kraig Stanley and Neil Ewing clock in at Moda Center.
greet each other with hugs and
handshakes. Gburek explains
the day’s set-up. “Upriggers”
then take an elevator to the
arena’s eighth floor, a floor
that’s off-limits to the public,
and use a catwalk to access steel
beams 105’ above the floor be-
low. Communicating with
“down-riggers” below, they’ll
use galvanized steel aircraft ca-
bles to hang chain motors from
the beams. Most of the KISS
concert’s equipment will be fas-
tened to a large oval-shaped
metal truss system that the rig-
gers will construct on the deck
of the arena. Once everything is
attached, they’ll lift the structure
using the array of 155 electric
chain motors they’ve suspended
from the beams.
Entertainment riggers are the
workers that make the spectacle
of show business possible.
Thanks to riggers, members of
Turn to Page 6
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
Clark College faculty want pay parity with K-12
By Don McIntosh
VANCOUVER — About 45
Clark College instructors put
on red union T-shirts and
marched through campus
Feb. 13 to the familiar call-
and-response chant “What do
we want?” “Fair contract!”
“When do we want it?”
“Now!”
To Clark College faculty
union members, a fair con-
tract means long-overdue
raises that are more than infla-
tion. About 500 college fac-
ulty at Clark College are rep-
resented by Clark College
Association of Higher Educa-
tion, an affiliate of the Wash-
ington Education Association
teachers union. They say they
haven’t had more than cost-
UNION ORGANIZING
Photo courtesy of SEIU Local 49
ON THE JOB with IATSE Local 28
MARCH 1, 2019
of-living increases in decades,
and they want salaries compa-
rable to that of K-12 public
school teachers.
Clark is a state-funded
community college that pro-
vides vocational training, as-
sociates degrees, and prepara-
tion for four-year university
degrees. Its non-traditional
student population includes
many older students, veterans,
and parents. The average age
is 26, and 72 percent are first-
generation college students.
Forty-three percent of the stu-
dent body is classified as low
income.
Clark faculty are feeling
pretty low income as well.
Turn to Page 2
Workers unionize at Providence
Portland hospital – by one vote
In a real-life demonstration that
every vote counts, hospital sup-
port staff at Providence Portland
Medical Center have won a
union by a single vote — after
an on-again, off-again cam-
paign that goes back 20 years.
Service Employees Interna-
tional Union (SEIU) Local 49
lost the initial tally by 374 to
376 when the vote was held last
year on December 12 and 13.
But the results couldn’t become
official until legal challenges to
the ballots of 44 workers were
decided by the National Labor
Relations Board (NLRB). In the
end, the NLRB decided 15 of
the challenged ballots were
valid, and opened and counted
them. That brought the final
tally to 383 to 382.
Providence could still appeal
the result. But if it stands, Local
49 will now represent 838
workers in 76 hospital support
classifications ranging from
housekeeping and food service
to certified nurse assistants, im-
aging techs and phlebotomists.
Local 49 represents similar
groups of workers at Kaiser Per-
manente, PeaceHealth, Legacy
Health Services, and at Provi-
dence Milwaukie Hospital,
where workers unionized last
June and are still in negotiations
over a first collective bargaining
agreement.
Registered nurses at Provi-
dence Portland, meanwhile, are
members of Oregon Nurses As-
sociation.
Local 49 says its most recent
Providence union organizing
campaign launched over con-
cerns that the non-profit
Catholic hospital chain has put
too much emphasis on growth
and executive pay and devoted
too few resources to patient care.
Over the last 10 years, work-
ers at the hospital have seen
their wages fail to keep up with
cost of living, and they’ve also
seen their benefits decline, said
Local 49 President Meg Niemi.
Providence took away their de-
fined benefit pension, and di-
minished their health insurance
benefits: Emergency room co-
pays that were once $50 are
now $300, and annual de-
ductibles that were once $500
are now $3,000.
At the same time, as many as
28 Providence executives make
over a $1 million a year, and
CEO Rod Hochman was paid
$10.5 million in 2017. That’s at
a non-profit.
Providence has undergone
several mergers in recent years
and now operates 50 hospitals
in seven states — Alaska, Cali-
fornia, Montana, New Mexico,
Oregon, Texas and Washington.
Niemi said over 12,000 Provi-
dence workers in California and
Washington are represented by
other SEIU locals. Providence
is the largest health system op-
erating in Oregon.
— Don McIntosh