PAGE 8 | April 5, 2019 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
...Diversity
From Page 1
rep Don Kool, are active in the committee.
One reason the union remains overwhelm-
ingly white is that those who hear about the
apprenticeship program are often relatives of
those already in the trade. O’Neal didn’t have
that pipeline, and had to find his own way. He
got the phone numbers of two union contrac-
tors and called them every other day trying to
get in. That was 2006. Five years of appren-
ticeship later, he was a journeyman pipefitter.
O’Neal prides himself on bringing profession-
alism to every job, but over the years he’s had
to contend with inappropriate treatment from
some co-workers — from racist jokes and
derogatory comments to being called “boy.”
“That’s unprofessional. And people who it
doesn’t happen to don’t understand it,” he
said.
It’s a history echoed by fellow Diversity
Committee member Lela Brown, a journey-
man plumber who joined Local 290 in 2004.
Brown loves the physical aspect of the work
itself, and enjoys working as part of a team to
get the job done. But she also faced disparate
treatment and systematic workplace harass-
ment. As an apprentice, she was kept busy
cleaning and sweeping for months while a
brand-new white male apprentice was put to
work putting in pipe. Male co-workers sug-
gested that she was only on the job because
of quotas, or might be there to make money
in a lawsuit. Others made gross sexual com-
ments, joked about domestic violence, leave
porn in front of her on the lunch table, and
talk in front of her about the bodies of women
walking by. She eventually notified her gen-
eral foreman about what she was being sub-
jected to, and was laid off soon after.
“There’s this idea that we all have to have
thick skin and put up with it,” Brown says.
“That does a disservice to our craft. Some of
the best tradespeople aren’t going to put up
with cruelty or being mocked for their iden-
tity. We are tough, but that doesn’t mean we
can’t support each other and learn how to re-
spect each other more.”
Brown also experienced solidarity on the
job over the years, and benefited from coach-
ing and support from other male co-workers.
She and O’Neal hope the Diversity Com-
mittee can help improve their union’s culture.
“My goal is to discuss these uncomfortable
things that need to be discussed,” O’Neal
said.
“It’s not about policing people’s language,
or trying to change who our fellow union
members are,” Brown says. “We don’t want
to silence people. We want people to grow …
What we’re trying to achieve is pretty basic,
to be treated with respect in the workplace.”
Christian, the business manager, is in solid
agreement. Attending Diversity Committee
meetings, he says it hurt to hear what mem-
bers had experienced. He says Local 290
needs to be a place where people from all dif-
ferent backgrounds feel at home.
“I believe our local needs the change, and
there isn’t any doubt about that,” he says.