PAGE 2 | November 15, 2019 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
NORTHWEST
LABOR
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UNION ORGANIZING
Business owners call the union: We want in
Hamer Electric determined there
were undeniable advantages to
signing up with IBEW Local 48
It’s not every day an employer
calls a union to talk about sign-
ing up. But that’s what hap-
pened at Hamer Electric in
Longview, Washington, and
both the company owners and
the union officers of IBEW Lo-
cal 48 are celebrating a combi-
nation they believe will make
both sides stronger.
Brothers Kyle and Cory Cole
have been co-owners since
2017, when they bought the
business their grandfather
founded in 1971 from their fa-
ther and uncles.
Kyle Cole, company presi-
dent, told the Labor Press be-
coming a union-signatory con-
tractor makes good business
sense. Access to the union hiring
hall means Hamer can scale up
and take on larger projects. And
being union gives Hamer oppor-
tunities to bid on big upcoming
projects where developers have
signed project labor agreements,
such as NW Innovation Works’
proposed $2 billion methanol
plant in Kalama.“We also
SEALING THE DEAL: Hamer Electric co-owner Kyle Cole (right) brought his employees into the union and signed
on with IBEW Local 48 Business Manager Garth Bachman (left) after talking it over with Bachman and IBEW reps
Randy Davis, Mike Bridges, Scott Zadow, and Tim Gauthier of the union electrical employer group NECA.
wanted to offer our guys the best
there was in benefits,” Cole
said. “And we felt like the
union’s training center was state
of the art.”
Hamer specializes in electri-
cal work for heavy industry like
pulp and paper mills, water
treatment plants, and manufac-
turing facilities, but has also
done commercial and health
care industry work.
“They’re in a strategic loca-
tion that will really help increase
union market share in industrial
work in the Longview-Kalama
area,” said Local 48 Business
Manager Garth Bachman.
“We’re excited to have them on
board and help them grow.”
Mike Bridges, Local 48’s rep-
resentative in Longview, said
Hamer already had a reputation
as a good employer, with com-
pensation close to the union
scale.
Twenty Hamer employees —
over three-fourths of the exist-
ing workforce — made the tran-
sition and are now Local 48
members.
The owners signed on Oct.
18, employees signed up Oct.
25, and terms and conditions
took effect Nov. 1.
Low Prices!
Coats, etc.
Mon-Fri 9-6, Sat 9:30-5:30, Sun 12-6
PLEASE SHOW OUR
ADVERTISERS YOU
APPRECIATE THEIR
SUPPORT FOR THIS
LABOR MOVEMENT
NEWSPAPER!