NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS |
January 3, 2020 | PAGE 7
From Page 6
BUILDING COMMUNITY
ployees: invest in their 401(k)s,
and go to college.
“We have to run a business
that’s competitive with others,”
Boyle explained. If the business
is profitable, the stock price
goes up. And Columbia em-
ployees are stockholders, if
they’re investing in their
401(k)s, which “I hope every-
body is here,” Boyle said (to
warehouse employees his com-
pany pays less than $20 an
hour.)
The other path out of poverty,
Boyle seemed to suggest, was
for warehouse workers to get
educations so they could come
back as white collar workers at
headquarters.
“Hopefully we’re working
here to get employees in this
population into the other parts of
the business where wages are
higher, doing other categories of
work,” Boyle told warehouse
workers. “We want to make sure
that people have the opportunity
to get a better salary and a better
wage.”
Another worker wanted to
know if Trump’s tariff trade war
with China was hurting the
company.
“We’ve moved a lot of pro-
duction out of China in the last
10 years, primarily because
China’s an expensive place to
work these days. There are other
countries in the world where we
can produce products more
competitively. We have to con-
stantly be working on that.”
After 20 minutes of ques-
tions, Boyle was gone.
“To me it gave the impression
that he doesn’t really care that
much,” Mikhaylov said. “It al-
most seemed like he wasn’t re-
ally concerned.”
Of course, Rory Gatto got
that impression the moment he
found all those empty first-aid
stations. But there’s always
hope. Four years after his battle
for band-aids, Gatto discovered
first-aid kits restocked through-
out the Columbia warehouse …
right after a surprise visit Oct.
30 from an Oregon OSHA in-
spector.
To get the company’s official
public position on the union
campaign, the Labor Press
reached out to Mary Ellen
Glynn, Columbia’s director of
corporate communications.
Glynn said the company would
have no comment.
“This is going to be a battle,”
said Davison. “But we commit-
ted to these employees that
we’re not going to walk away.
We’re going to stand by them.”
Who won the Presents From Partners’ Toy Challenge? The results are in
Five unions competed for brag-
ging rights in the annual Pres-
ents from Partners Toy Chal-
lenge, sponsored by Labor’s
Community Service Agency
(LCSA). The competition pit-
ted union locals to see which
one could bring in the most 32
to 45 gallon bags full of toys.
IBEW Local 48 defended
their title with an “out-of-the-
stratosphere” victory. (See
photo right.) LCSA Executive
Director Eryn Byram said
their beyond expection toy
drive results earned the union
their own station at the Pres-
ents From Partners giving
event on Dec. 14.
Southwest Washington Cen-
tral Labor Council was
awarded first place, and second
place awards went to Interna-
tional Union of Painters and
Allied Trades District Council
5; Oregon Federation of
Nurses and Healthcare Profes-
sionals Local 5017-American
Federation of Teachers; and
United Association of
Plumbers and Fitters Local
290.
Of course, the real winners
were all the kids who got gifts
at the Presents From Partners
event.
Ham: Two pick-up trucks worth
IBEW Local 48 members
Aaron Watts, Josh Carter,,
and Kat Smith go shopping.
What started over a decade ago
as a modest joint donation to
Lower Columbia CAP Meals
on Wheels by the local Building
Trades and the Cowlitz-Wahki-
akum Central Labor Council has
grown 500%! This year, with ex-
tra help from individual unions
and other community partners,
local labor groups were able to
purchase $5,585 worth of hams
from local grocer Cascade Select
Market for the program, which
delivers food to homebound and
disabled seniors. There were
enough hams to fill two full-
sized pickup trucks with eight-
foot beds and side rails. Donat-
ing were Plumbers and Fitters
Local 26, IBEW Local 48, Op-
erating Engineers Local 701,
Boilermakers Local 502, Labor-
ers Local 335, Service Employ-
ees Local 925, Association of
Western Pulp and Paper Workers
Local 633, Longview-Kelso
Building Trades Council,
Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Central
Labor Council, Northwest Inno-
vations Works Kalama, Millen-
nium Bulk Terminals, and Sun-
rise Dental.
Bethany Sherer
971.978.9534
12/31/19
2018