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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (April 2, 2021)
PAGE 2 | April 2, 2021 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS (International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X) Established in 1900 in Portland, Oregon as a voice of the la- bor movement. Published on a semi-monthly basis on the first and third Fridays of each month by the Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non-profit mutual benefit corpo- ration owned by 20 unions and councils including the Ore- gon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Office location: 4275 NE Halsey St., Portland, Oregon Mailing address: P.O. Box 13150, Portland, OR 97213 Phone: (503) 288-3311 Web address: http://nwlaborpress.org Editor & Manager: Michael Gutwig Senior staff reporter: Don McIntosh Office manager: Jill Lukens Printed on recycled paper, using soy-based inks, by members of Teamsters Local 747-M. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Individual subscriptions are $15 a year for union members, $23 a year for all others. Pay by credit card online at nwlaborpress.org/subscribe, or send a check to our mailing address (above) along with your name, address and union affiliation, if any. Group rates of 48 cents an issue per member —$11.52 a year— are available for 25 or more subscriptions; call 503-288-3311. CORRECTIONS: See an error? Please let us know at editor@nwlaborpress.org or by phone at 503-288-3311. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT PORTLAND, OREGON. CHANGE OF ADDRESS: If you move, let us know at nwlaborpress.org/subscriber-services or by mail at our mailing address (above). Be sure to provide your old and new addresses and the name/number of your local union. Please allow three weeks for the change to take effect. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS P.O. BOX 13150 PORTLAND, OR 97213-0150 THIS NEWSPAPER BROUGHT TO YOU BY AMERICA'S LA- BOR MOVEMENT. SHOP LOCAL. AND BUY UNION AND AMERICAN-MADE. Hours: Mon-Sat 12-6 pm Closed Sunday ‘Ellensburg 6’ make a stand The linemen, public employees, take their cause to the public. A struggle for a fair union con- tract for six electric linemen at the City of Ellensburg, Wash- ington has galvanized the town of 21,000 and earned solidarity from fellow union members hundreds of miles away. Members of IBEW Local 77 who maintain the city’s munici- pal electric utility have been ne- gotiating since August 2020 over a new contract. Under the agreement that expired Dec. 31, 2020, journeyman linemen make $47.65 an hour, roughly $2 less than their counterparts in neighboring jurisdictions. They also have fewer retiree benefits. Journeyman lineman Bryan Ring says that lower-than-stan- dard pay is contributing to high turnover. Since he arrived in Ellensburg in 2016, nine jour- neymen have left. The six re- maining workers—three jour- neymen, two apprentices, and a meterman—are responsible for a network of over 10,000 elec- tric hookups in a six-square- mile Central Washington serv- ice area half an hour north of Yakima. Crew members wanted to catch up in the next contract, but instead would fall behind under the City’s offer of 1% pay in- crease over the next three years. The crew voted to reject that in December. Now they’re appealing to the public for support, and getting it. Yard signs are popping up all over town. Posters are going up in business windows. A cam- paign Facebook page has 828 followers. And members of the public are turning up at meet- ings of the Ellensburg City Council. Streamed on YouTube, the meetings normally attract a few dozen views. The Feb. 16 meeting got 1,030 views, equal to a twentieth of the population of Ellensburg. A four-hour March 5 picket outside city hall drew residents and fellow IBEW members from as far as Coeur d’Alene and Seattle. “It’s really made us feel like the community supports us,” Ring said. “All of us belong to this community. And all we are going after are fair wages and benefits.” –DM
