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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (June 19, 2020)
PAGE 6 | June 19 , 2020 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS PORTLAND CITY COUNCIL Runoff: Loretta Smith endorsed by Northwest Oregon Labor Council In a special-call Zoom meeting Workers Local 555 in the pri- June 2, the Northwest Oregon mary. Ryan had no union en- Labor Council (NOLC) dorsements. endorsed Loretta Smith Labor was mostly for Portland City Coun- behind Julia DeGraw, cil. Smith, a former an environmental ac- Multnomah County tivist and union ally. commissioner, was the She ran with support top vote-getter among from AFSCME Local 18 candidates vying to 189, Portland Associa- fill the remainder of tion of Teachers, and Nick Fish’s term. Fish Loretta Smith Protect 17, but finished died of stomach cancer third. in January. Smith didn’t obtain At the NOLC endorsement 50% plus one of the vote, so meeting, public employee she’ll be in a runoff with Dan unions mostly abstained from Ryan, former CEO of the educa- voting, saying they had yet to tional nonprofit All Hands take a position in the race. Raised and a former Portland Smith ran for City Council in Public School Board member. 2018, losing to current Commis- Because it is a race to fill a sioner JoAnn Hardesty. Smith vacancy, the runoff election will served two terms as a Mult- be held Aug. 11. The winner nomah County commissioner will serve the remainder of starting in 2010. She was pre- Fish’s term, which expires in vented by term limits from run- 2022. ning for re-election. Prior to Smith was endorsed by that, she worked for U.S. Sen. United Food and Commercial Ron Wyden for 23 years. UNION DEMOCRACY Travis Eri unopposed for a sixth three-year term at IBEW 125 In union officer elections that cific Power, and Bonneville concluded June 3, Travis Eri was Power Administration are up for renewal in 2021. elected unopposed for a Eri says another focus sixth three-year term as will be recruitment of business manager of new apprentices and re- 3,557-member IBEW tention of the existing Local 125. work force, with PGE in As an electric line- particular slated for ex- men local, Local 125 pansion. represents electric utility “We’ve got a lot of workers, power line work coming up,” Eri clearance tree trimmers, Travis Eri told the Labor Press. and workers who con- struct and maintain transmission “We want to make sure we’ve lines and electrical substations. got a work force in place that can Its territory includes parts of Ore- handle those needs.” The officer election took place gon, Washington, Idaho, Mon- by mail, with ballots counted tana, and Nevada. Eri, 49, began work as a union June 3. Local 125 members also rep at Local 125 in 1998, and has elected all other officers (those served as business manager since with asterisks were unopposed): President Larry Browning * 2005. Over the next year, he and the Vice president incumbent Randy Bryson union staff under his direction Recording Secretary Pacific Power expect to be busy negotiating a employee Raymond Cowell * new round of collective bargain- Treasurer PGE employee Joe Gass * ing agreements. Existing union agreements with the National Executive Board Pacific Power employee Jeremy Barr (Private Utility); Clark PUD Electrical Contractors Associa- employee Cliff “Zeek” McCarthy (PUD); BPA tion (NECA) covering about employee John Brooks (challenger) 1,000 employees of union-signa- (Government); Robert Clarkson tory line and tree trimmer con- (Construction) tractors expire this year. And Lo- cal 125 contracts covering about Examining Board Lee Cole*, Ryan Hagel*, Rick Larson*, John Howard, and Tommy Lux 1,450 utility workers at PGE, Pa- APPRENTICESHIP TRAINING BACK IN SESSION Operating Engineers Local 701 resumed apprenticeship training classes June 8 at the Mark Holliday Operating Engineers Training Center in Canby, Oregon. Forty new apprentices accepted from 200 applicants are in the class. The training pro- gram is practicing social distancing and providing masks for all the apprentices. Fund set up for 2 ironworkers hurt in roof collapse James Sackett and Justin Rothgeb, members of Iron Work- ers Local 29, were badly injured June 10, when a roof partially collapsed on the new Portland General Electric headquarters under construction in Tualatin. Both men are hospitalized at Oregon Health and Science Uni- versity. Rothgeb has undergone back surgery and is in a trauma unit and Sackett was in a med- ically induced coma at press time. The union said doctors are optimistic that both men will re- cover, but it will be a very long road back. PGE is building a new head- quarters at the corner of South- west Tualatin-Sherwood Road and 124th Ave. in Tualatin. Lease Crutcher Lewis is the general contractor. The accident is under investi- gation by the Oregon Occupa- tional Safety and Health Admin- istration. Ironworkers USA Credit Union has set up an account for both members. You do not need to be a member of the credit union to donate, and all dona- tions will go directly to the in- jured workers. To donate, go to ironworkersfcu.org/donate.
