NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS |
BUILDING COMMUNITY
Donations reach $227,680 for families of
ironworkers killed in Seattle crane collapse
An outpouring of sup-
Shortly after the
port for two ironwork-
accident, Ironwork-
ers killed in an April 27
ers USA Credit
tower crane collapse in
Union put out the
downtown Seattle has
call for donations to
raised $227,680 for the
help the families.
surviving families.
Money came pour-
The mishap took the
ing in from iron-
lives of Travis Corbet, a
workers, contractors,
member of Portland Travis Corbet and trade unionists
from 22 states. One
Iron Workers Local 29,
and Andrew Yoder, a member hundred percent of the dona-
of Seattle Iron Workers Local tions go directly to the families.
“I think this is an amazing
86.
Corbet, 33, was a newlywed show of support and love,”
from Oregon City just getting said Teri Robinson, CEO of
Ironworkers USA Credit
ready to start a family.
Yoder, 31, was married and Union. “This is another perfect
the father of two sons, ages 5 example of People Helping
and
UNION
and 3. He lived in North Bend, People
Washington, but had ties to STRONG. The brotherhood
Oregon, having been raised in and sisterhood shown has re-
ally touched my heart!”
Silverton.
July 5, 2019 | PAGE 3
Local letter carriers
gather 23 tons of food
National Association of Letter
Carriers (NALC) Branch 82 col-
lected 465,845 pounds of food in
the one-day Stamp Out Hunger
food drive on May 11. In Clark
County, Washington, NALC
Branch 1104 brought in 122,405
pounds of food. Both numbers
are down from the previous
year: -2.7% in Oregon and -
16.5% in Clark County. The two
locals also took in $15,374.65 in
cash donations. The Stamp Out
Hunger food drive started 27
years ago in a partnership be-
tween NALC and the U.S.
Postal Service. Other labor part-
ners include the AFL-CIO and
United Food and Commercial
Workers. On the second Satur-
day in May, letter carriers—in
addition to their regular work-
load—collect nonperishable
food products left at mailboxes
Teamsters Local 162 members Bill Martinmass and Greg Hampton joined re-
tired IBEW Local 48 member John Vandermosten (right) sorting and boxing
food donations at the Gresham, Oregon Post Office. That location collected
15,972 pounds of food. After the food was boxed up, Martinmaas and Hampton,
who are employed at Fred Meyer, loaded it onto 18-wheel trucks and hauled it
to the Oregon Food Bank, where it gets distributed to families in need.
by participating residents in
more than 10,000 cities across
the country. It’s the largest one-
day food drive in the world. Last
year, the food drive brought in
71.6 million pounds of food na-
tionwide. National results for
this year have not been released.
GREENING OUT THE OHSU BOARD. More than 100 members and supporters of AFSCME Local 328 marched
into the June 27 meeting of the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) board of directors. They were
there to show their opposition to concessions in contract negotiations. The board wouldn’t give them an op-
portunity to deliver a statement, so they sat in silent protest, then walked out when OHSU’s chief financial offi-
cer got up to speak. He reported that OHSU’s operating income was “well above budget” at $140 million, with
earnings at $56 million above budget. At the bargaining table, OHSU is proposing meager raises, takeaways
on health insurance, and a new paid-time-off policy that would incentivize employees to work while sick.
A life-saving school bus driver
Amalgamated Transit Union Lo- children aboard on their way
cal 757 member Deb Biel loves home, she was on Cornelius Pass
her job as a school bus
Road waiting for a
driver, but at times her
pause in oncoming
outer-Northwest Port-
traffic to turn left onto
land route—with lots
Kaiser Road. Checking
of curvy two-lane
her rear-view mirror as
country roads—can be
she’s trained to do
dangerous. Biel, 65, is
every eight seconds,
a five-year employee
she saw a double dump
of First Student, trans-
truck coming around a
porting students to and
blind curve behind her
Deb Biel
from Skyline K-8
at approximately 45
school in the Portland Public miles an hour. The narrow road
School District.
where she was stopped has no
On June 6, with two dozen shoulder, just a few feet of grassy
ground. Realizing that the truck
wasn’t going to stop or even
slow, she accelerated into the
center of the road, giving the
truck just enough room to pass
her on the right. Her action
stopped traffic in front of her, and
she was pretty shaken up, but her
focus and reflexes may have
saved lives.
“The most important thing to
stress is that all of us drivers
need to remember our training,”
Biel told the Labor Press. “Don’t
become complacent, and don’t
take anything for granted.”