PAGE 6 | May 21, 2021 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
BUILDING COMMUNITY
SW Washington Labor Council hands out 650 boxes of food in 45 minutes
The Southwest Washington Cen-
tral Labor Council (SWCLC)
handed out 650 food boxes in 45
minutes May 14 at Tower Mall in
Vancouver. The boxes contained
fresh produce, milk, dairy, cooked
meats, and other perishable items.
They went to anyone who needed
it—union or not.
The labor council has been
operating an “In Solidarity Food
Bank” since just before Christ-
mas for 152 union members
who were laid off or furloughed
because of COVID-19. Many
are public school employees.
The council raised $22,000 for
the program, with volunteers
personally shopping for the un-
employed union members based
on their needs.
“It just got too big for us to
keep up,” said SWCLC Presi-
dent Shannon Myers. The food
bank ended in late April, but the
need for food did not.
Myers happened to share her
concerns with Lori Vaughn, a
representative with American
Income Life in Portland. “Lori
asked me, ‘Would you like a
food truck?’ She said all we
needed was a location.”
So, with help from State Rep.
Sharon Wylie and Vancouver
Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle,
Myers found a spot at Tower
Mall, where a drive through vac-
cination clinic was already set
up. Vaughn then helped the la-
bor council secure fresh food
boxes through the USDA Farm-
ers to Families program. The
federally-funded national pro-
gram was implemented over a
year ago as a temporary, emer-
gency relief effort to respond to
severe market disruption caused
by the global pandemic. With
the economy improving since
vaccinations for COVID-19
came out, the program is slated
to end on May 31.
On Friday, May 14, a semi-
truck delivered wrapped pallets
carrying 650 boxes weighing 30
pounds each to the Tower Mall
parking lot. Thirty union volun-
teers helped unload the pallets
and prepare the food for distri-
bution. They made signs and set
up safety cones to direct traffic.
It opened to vehicles for con-
tactless loading at 11:39 a.m. By
12:24 p.m. the boxes were gone.
While they were at it, the 30
union volunteers also provided
information about the PRO Act
and how a union can help at
work.
“We’re a well-oiled machine
here,’ Myers said. “Everyone
jumped on board. We had so
many volunteers. No one was
exhausted at the end of the day.
It was amazing.”
IBEW 89 warns labor strife may be
coming with purchaser of Frontier
A Northwest telecom union is
raising the alarm about Ziply
Fiber, which bought bankrupt
cable/internet provider Frontier
Communications in April 2020
for $1.3 billion. IBEW Local 89
represents Frontier’s 700 Ore-
gon and Washington workers in
a collective bargaining agree-
ment that runs through May 31,
2021, and the union is expecting
to meet with Ziply to bargain a
successor agreement. But Local
89 Business Manager Matt Car-
roll says it took 10 weeks and
four requests to get the company
to agree to bargaining dates, and
then the company was a no-
show at the first scheduled bar-
gaining session May 11, 2021.
“This is going to be tough,”
Carroll said in a press statement.
“When they only offer you two
dates then fail to show on the
first one, it is hard to remain op-
timistic that an agreement will
be reached.”
Local 89 says Ziply has so far
failed to reach agreement with
other IBEW locals either.
Ziply, based in Kirkland,
Washington, is a subsidiary of
WaveDivision Capital, a private
investment company. It serves
over 500,000 customers in Ore-
gon, Washington, Idaho and
Montana from offices in
Beaverton, Oregon; Everett,
Washington; and Hayden,
Idaho.
Carroll says he’s worked for
over a year to establish a rela-
tionship with Ziply Fiber in an-
ticipation of bargaining.
With no makeup date se-
lected, Carroll is asking AFL-
CIO affiliates to tell Ziply their
actions are unacceptable to
IBEW members, and to cus-
tomers and communities. Union
supporters can call Ziply Fiber
at 425-250-8199, Ext #102, or
email executives@ziply.com.
A worker injured on the job
has the right to workers’ comp benefits
even if their employer didn’t have
workers’ comp insurance.
Raymond Thomas
James Coon
Cynthia Newton
Chris Frost
www.tcnf.legal
Sydney Montanaro
Scott Sell
Chris Thomas
820 SW Second Ave., Suite 200, Portland, OR 97204