NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS |
March 1, 2019 | PAGE 5
... Multnomah County’s new health department HQ is union-made
From Page 1
ity, and fiscal stewardship,
Kafoury said, and the new
Gladys McCoy building satisfies
all three.
Before construction began,
building trades unions worked
with general contractor JE Dunn,
the county, and minority con-
tractor organizations to hammer
out a project labor agreement
(PLA). Signed by 18 unions, the
PLA ensured that most of the
work would be done union, and
set numeric goals for women
and minorities to have opportu-
nities on the project. Unions and
other stakeholders met monthly
to troubleshoot any challenges
contractors had meeting the
goals. In the end, women ac-
counted for 9.2 percent of the
work hours, and minority males
accounted for 19.7 percent. And
28 percent of the project dollars
went to companies owned by
women and minorities.
The project was also a chance
for a new generation to gain ex-
perience. The PLA set a goal
that 20 percent of the work
hours would be performed by
apprentices, and the project ex-
ceeded that goal by 11 percent-
age points.
IBEW Local 48 rep Bob Car-
roll, president of the Columbia-
Pacific Building Trades Coun-
cil, said that’s so important
because his generation is head-
ing into retirement. Today’s ap-
prentices are the ones that will
replace them, and it takes time
to get trained up; skilled con-
struction trades aren’t jobs you
can hire off the street for.
All told, 935 construction
TWO YEARS IN TWO MINUTES
A two-minute time lapse video
shows how the nine-story building
went up seemingly overnight:
https://youtu.be/M-4pmsRHzj4
workers worked on the site, 250
at the peak, all of them earning
the prevailing wage and bene-
fits. Over 90 percent of the work
was done by union members,
who were employed by 42
union-signatory contractors and
subcontractors. [Nonunion mi-
nority contractors were allowed
to use some of their own core
employees before getting union
workers dispatched.]
The project broke ground
Dec. 14, 2016, and topped out
Dec. 6, 2017. Roughly 500 staff
will have moved in by the end
of April.
Likely none of those health de-
partment workers will miss their
cramped old office at Southwest
Stark and Fourth Avenue, a dilap-
idated former department store.
The new space isn’t opulent, but
ZGF Architects took care to make
it a beautiful as well as functional
space. Abundant natural light
may cut down on seasonal affec-
tive disorder; gender-neutral
bathrooms with individual stalls
will end the bathroom wars, and
a rooftop terrace will give work-
ers panoramic views of Forest
Park, the Fremont Bridge and
downtown while on break.
Ground floor meeting space will
also be available for community
groups to use. Energy and water
saving features in the building —
including an eco-roof with native
plants — could result in LEED
Gold certification.
At the opening, Kafoury cred-
ited former Multnomah County
Commissioner Loretta Smith
with ensuring that the headquar-
ters would continue to be named
after former county chair Gladys
McCoy, the first African-Ameri-
can elected to public office in
Oregon. And she thanked former
commissioner Judy Shiprack for
pushing for the project labor
agreement.
JE Dunn vice president Tom
Heger said he’d never seen as
much cooperation among unions,
contractors, and community in
his 21 years in the industry. The
project also benefited from city-
county cooperation: The City of
Portland donated the land, which
was owned by Housing Bureau,
and Prosper Portland contributed
$36.4 million in TIF financing.
UNION CONTRACTORS ON THE JOB
Bedrock Concrete Cutting
Big C Industries
Boyter Brothers
Brundage-Bone
Carr Construction
Charter Mechanical
Contractors
Complete Fusion Welding
Concrete Restoration
Technologies
Culver Glass Company
DAS Simplified
Faison Construction
Finish Line Concrete Cutting
Floor Factors Inc
Garner Construction
General Sheet Metal Works
Global Electric
J & S Masonry
JE Dunn Construction
Company
Key Electrical Construction Inc
LaRusso Concrete
Loy Clark Pipeline
McDonald Excavating
Norkote
Northwest Fire
Omega Morgan
Oregon Electric Group
O'Neill Electric
Pacific Foundation
Point Monitor
Portland Coatings, Inc., DBA
Williamsen & Bleid
RF Stearns Inc
Snyder Roofing of Oregon
Speciality Firestop Systems
ThyssenKrupp Elevator
Corporation
Toran Construction
Turtle Mt Construction
Vaughn Environmental
Veterans Electric
Western Partitions
Western Rebar
Western States Fire Protection
Company
Zana Construction Company
Union and Independently-owned locations throughout Washington and Oregon
• Beaverton - 503.914.4003
• Longview - 360.639.3388
• Chehalis - 360.639.3377
• Milwaukie - 503.821.0089
• Eugene/Springfield - 541.622.0602
• Salem - 503.914.4007
• Gresham - 503.914.4005
• Salmon Creek - 360.639.3399