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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 6, 2021)
PAGE 6 | August 6, 2021 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS NATIONAL U.S. Senate confirms three union attorneys to NLRB The confirmations, mostly along party lines, will give NLRB a worker-friendly majority. WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI) — The U.S. Senate confirmed three well-known union attor- neys to the National Labor Re- lations Board (NLRB) last month. The confirmations will bring a worker-friendly 3-2 ma- jority back to the agency, along with a person from labor seated as its top lawyer. On July 21, the Senate con- firmed union attorney Jennifer Abruzzo as General Counsel. The vote was along party lines, 51-50, with Democratic Vice President Kamala Har- headquarters of the Of- ris breaking the tie. fice and Professional Abruzzo was Special Employees in New Counsel for Strategic York. Initiatives for Commu- Wilcox will fill a nications Workers of seat that has been va- America (CWA). cant since 2018. On July 28, the Sen- Abruzzo will suc- ceed Acting General ate confirmed David Counsel Peter Sung Prouty in a 53-46 vote. Jennifer Abruzzo Ohr. Ohr, a NLRB re- Prouty was General Counsel for New York-based gional director from Chicago, Service Employees Local 32BJ. was appointed Acting General Republican Sens. Susan Collins Counsel after Joe Biden was of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski elected president. One of and Mark Sullivan of Alaska, Biden’s first acts was to fire joined all Democrats and Inde- General Counsel Peter Robb, a Trump appointee. pendents in voting for Prouty. Prior to joining CWA in 2017, Prouty will replace Republi- can member William Emanuel, Abruzzo worked at the NLRB a union-busting attorney from for 23 years in several roles, in- Los Angeles whose term ends cluding as acting general coun- sel, field attorney, supervisory later this month. Earlier in the day on July 28, field attorney, deputy regional the Senate confirmed Gwynne attorney in Miami, and deputy Wilcox by a 52-47 margin. assistant general counsel. The General Counsel’s office Collins and Murkowski were the only Republicans to support wields key powers within the Wilcox, who will be the first NLRB, which handles most la- Black woman in NLRB history bor-management relations dis- putes in the U.S. Her office de- to serve on the Board. Wilcox is a pro-worker attor- cides what cases to bring and ney and partner in the Levy, proposes rules that cover a wide Ratner law firm, whose offices range of labor-management is- are in the same building as the sues, such as union elections. Bethany Sherer 971.978.9534 12/31/20 2020 In Memoriam MICHAEL D. SMITH: June 23, 1953 - July 23, 2021 Mike Smith, a business rep- resentative of Sheet Metal Workers Lo- cal 16, passed away July 23. He was 68. Smith joined the union when he was 18 years old, af- ter taking a job with My- Mike Smith ers Con- tainer. He worked there for over 20 years. In 1995, Smith was elected as a business representative for Portland-based Sheet Metal Workers Local 16, and he was re-elected for several terms, serving until his retirement in 2006, at age 53. Smith worked on the produc- tion side, and was involved in the lengthy CleanPak Interna- tional strike that began in 1998. At the time, it was one of the longest strikes in Portland’s his- tory. M ICHAEL D AVID S MITH , also known as “Mikey,” was born on June 23, 1953. He was the sec- ond oldest son of Dolores Madeline and Arthur Thomas James. He attended Jefferson High School, where he was a star football player. He gradu- ated in 1971 and was offered two football scholarships, but instead went to work and joined the union. Smith was a volun- teer coach in the Jefferson Pop Warner league and after retire- ment he coached offense and defense for the Reynolds High School freshman football team. As a union member and offi- cial of Local 16, Smith attended numerous classes at the George Meany Center for Labor Studies in Maryland, as well as classes put on by the Labor Education and Research Center at the Uni- versity of Oregon. Smith married his high school sweetheart, K’Lynn Es- telle Pulliam, in 1983. They had two daughters, Lauren Rae and Brittni Lynn. Smith is survived by his wife and two daughter; a grand- daughter; and five siblings. A memorial service was held July 31 at the University of Port- land. In lieu of flowers, dona- tions can be made to the DePaul Treatment Center or Reynolds High School Football, 1698 SW Cherry Park Rd., Troutdale, Oregon 97060.
