SERVING ORGANIZED LABOR IN OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON SINCE 1900
NORTHWEST
LABOR
PRESS
VOLUME 122, NUMBER 7
IN THIS ISSUE
NLRB IS UNDERSTAFFED A new report shows regional
staff at workers rights agency down by 33% | Page 3
RENEWABLE DIESEL REFINERY WILL BE UNION
Construction could begin 2022 near Clatskanie | Page 3
Meeting Notices p.4
Turmoil at USPS p.4
PORTLAND, OREGON
APRIL 2, 2021
UNION ORGANIZING
NATIONAL
Precision Castparts must
recognize Machinists Union
A Laborer atop the Department of Labor
Precision Castparts Corporation
(PCC) has lost its marathon ef-
fort to avoid recognizing a union
of welders. On March 16, the
U.S. Court of Appeals in Wash-
ington, D.C., denied PCC’s ap-
peal and granted a motion by the
National Labor Relations Board
(NLRB) to move forward en-
forcing the law.
A group of 100 PCC welders
voted 54 to 38 to join Machinists
District Lodge W24 on Sept. 22,
2017, and for three-and-a-half
years since then, PCC has re-
fused to recognize their union
and negotiate a contract. PCC ar-
gued that a welders-only bargain-
ing unit was inappropriate, be-
cause they work across multiple
departments on three separate
campuses. But that argument lost
at every level. Now PCC’s only
recourse is to ask the U.S.
Supreme Court to hear the case.
At press time, there was no word
on whether PCC planned that.
PCC—a subsidiary of Warren
Buffett’s investment firm Berk-
shire Hathaway—is a key Boe-
ing supplier and has been hit hard
by the drop-off in aircraft manu-
facturing. After the pandemic hit,
PCC laid off nearly 900 workers
in Portland, Clackamas and Red-
mond, more than three-fifths of
the workforce. More than a third
of the welders were also laid off,
and about 62 remain.
“It’s a little bit bittersweet with
all the layoffs that have taken
place, but at the end of the day
it’s about finally getting justice
for the folks who are there,” said
District Lodge W24 Directing
Business Representative Wayne
Thompson about the latest court
decision. Thompson said once
assembly at Boeing picks up
again, welders could be recalled.
Now that PCC’s appeal has
been denied, the NLRB can fol-
low up on four pending unfair la-
bor practice charges, including
the charge that it unlawfully re-
fused to bargain. District Lodge
W24 on March 19 sent another
demand to begin bargaining and
asked the company to supply the
information they’ll need.
“I believe fully that this is go-
ing to be every bit of a battle the
last three years has been,”
Thompson said.
–DM
For the first time in four
decades, the U.S. Department
of Labor (DOL) is headed by a
former union leader. On March
22, the U.S. Senate confirmed
Biden nominee Marty Walsh, a
former president of Boston-
based Laborers Local 223 and
former leader of the Boston
Building Trades Council. The
vote to confirm him was 68-29,
with all Democrats and 18 Re-
publicans in favor. Walsh was
sworn in the next day.
Labor secretary is a cabinet
post, which means that Walsh
will meet regularly with the
president. Walsh will also be in
charge of over 17,000 federal
employees at the DOL. DOL is
a conglomerate of more than
two dozen federal agencies that
enforce over 180 federal laws,
including laws on minimum
wage and overtime, occupa-
tional safety and health, work-
ers’ compensation, Davis-Ba-
con prevailing wage, whistle-
blower protections, employee
benefit security, and standards
for the election of union offi-
cers.
Walsh, 53, is the son of Irish
immigrants, and credits his fa-
ther’s union health coverage
VP Harris administers the oath of office to labor secretary Marty Walsh.
for his recovery after surviving
lymphoma as a child. Follow-
ing in his father’s footsteps, he
joined Laborers Local 223 at
age 21 and worked as a laborer
on the South Boston water-
front. He held public office as
well as union office, serving 16
years in the Massachusetts leg-
islature, and the last six years
as mayor of Boston.
“I spent my entire career
fighting for working people,
and I'm eager to continue that
fight in Washington,” Walsh
said in press conference fol-
lowing the Senate vote.
“Secretary Walsh is a dues-
paying, card-carrying, second-
generation member of the La-
borers’ International Union of
North America whose dedica-
tion and devotion to the cause,
the purpose, and the mission of
the labor movement is unwa-
vering,” said Laborers General
President Terry O’Sullivan in
an official statement on the
confirmation. “I am confident
that he will restore and re-ener-
gize the Department of Labor’s
role as a powerful guardian of
workers, and strong and effec-
tive enforcer of labor laws.”
Wave of unionization sweeps through Washington newspapers
By Don McIntosh
Five Washington newspapers
have unionized in recent
months, the latest in a nation-
wide surge in union organizing
among print and online journal-
ists that has been under way
since 2015.
On Feb. 25, the Sacramento-
headquartered McClatchy
newspaper chain recognized a
bargaining unit of 40 newsroom
employees at four Washington
newspapers: The News-Tribune
in Tacoma, The Olympian in
Olympia, The Bellingham Her-
ald in Bellingham and Tri-City
Herald, which covers Ken-
newick, Pasco, and Richland.
Back in December, 33 of the 37
workers at the four papers had
signed union cards with the
NewsGuild (TNG). McClatchy
initially argued that the four
newsrooms should each be their
own unit, but National Labor
Relations Board director Ron
Hooks in a Feb. 24 ruling agreed
with workers that a combined
unit was appropriate.
The McClatchy workers
unionized because they want
new equipment, more staff, and
a more consistent and equitable
pay structure, and more say in
decisions that affect them.
Then on March 18, after six
months of quietly organizing,
newsroom workers at The Daily
News in Longview announced
their intention to unionize with
TNG, and asked Iowa-based
parent company Lee Enterprises
to voluntarily recognize the
union. Daily News staffers say
they can’t afford to buy homes,
start families or settle down in
the area given current wages
and workload.
Both units include reporters,
columnists, and photographers/
videographers. The Tacoma pa-
per is the largest, with about 20
newsroom workers; the others
each have about six. Median
wages range from $20.51 to
$22.43 at the four papers.
In December, McClatchy was
bought by a New Jersey hedge
fund for $312 million. Mc-
Clatchy owns 30 newspapers al-
together, including the Idaho
Statesman in Boise, where
news room workers were al-
ready unionized.
Formerly known as The
Newspaper Guild, TNG is a di-
vision of the Communications
Workers of America (CWA). It
represents over 24,000 journal-
ists at hundreds of print and on-
line publications. Other TNG-
represented publications in the
Northwest include The Seattle
Times, Yakima Herald-Republic,
Skagit Valley Herald, Kitsap
Sun, and The Columbian.
News room staff at The
Columbian voted to unionize in
October 2019, but former
Columbian reporter Katie Gille-
spie, TNG administrative officer
for the Pacific Northwest, says
the two sides are still very far
apart in negotiations for a first
union contract. Bargaining has
been under way for over a year.
About 3,000 journalists have
joined TNG in the last two
years. The union surge comes in
part because the industry is in
severe crisis. Testifying before
Congress March 12, TNG pres-
ident Jon Schleuss said local
news is facing “an extinction-
level” threat that jeopardizes
American democracy.
Between 2008 and 2019, tra-
ditional newspapers shed
36,000 jobs, according to the
Pew Research Center, shrinking
newsroom jobs by about half.
During that time period, Pew
Turn to Page 3