PAGE 2 | December 17, 2021 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
NORTHWEST
LABOR
PRESS
(International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X)
Established in 1900 in Portland, Oregon as a voice of the
labor 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
corporation owned by 20 unions and councils including
the Oregon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organ-
izations 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:
https://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 for details.
CORRECTIONS: See an error? Please let us
know at editor@nwlaborpress.org or by
phone at 503-288-3311.
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NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
P.O. BOX 13150 PORTLAND, OR 97213-0150
PEOPLE
After 35 years, Labor Press editor to retire
Michael Gutwig is retiring Dec.
31 after 35 years as editor of the
Northwest Labor Press. The
non-profit, semi-monthly, news-
paper is owned by 19 local labor
organizations. Founded in 1900,
its mission is to tell labor’s story
to union members and the wider
public.
Gutwig, 65, often read the La-
bor Press growing up in North-
east Portland’s Parkrose neigh-
borhood. His father, Clifford
Gutwig, was a drywall finisher in
Painters Local 10 who became a
business rep and later apprentice-
ship coordinator for the union.
Encouraged by his dad, Gutwig
worked summers in construction
and completed a drywall appren-
ticeship. He also got involved in
his high school paper as sports
editor, did a several-day job
shadow of Labor Press editor
Gene Klare, and earned an asso-
ciates degree in journalism tech-
nology at Mt. Hood Community
College while working on the
student paper there. In 1981, he
moved to Prineville to become
sports editor and later advertising
director at the Central Oregon-
ian. When Klare, who died in
2008, prepared to retire, the La-
bor Press board decided Gutwig
was a good fit to succeed him.
When Gutwig became Labor
Press editor in October 1986,
the paper had a circulation of
38,000 and was losing enough
money that even short-term sur-
vival was uncertain. Gutwig re-
stored profitability within two
years and kept it in the black for
the next three and a half
decades. He also grew circula-
tion to over 50,000 within a few
years. Circulation peaked at just
under 65,000 and has held
steady at that level for much of
the year. Throughout the years
the Labor Press has won numer-
ous awards of excellence from
the International Labor Com-
munications Association and the
defunct Western Labor Press
Association (WLPA).
In the early days, stories were
written on electric typewriters,
sent to a typesetter, returned,
proofed, then cut-and-pasted on
to pages. Photos were screened in
a bathroom converted into a dark
room lab. The final product was
hand-delivered to the printer.
“Delivering pages to Salem in
the middle of winter could some-
times be an adventure. I had to
chain up more than once,”
Gutwig recollected.
Gutwig soon brought the La-
bor Press into the era of desktop
computers and computerized
page layout.
The Labor Press is a 121-year-
old institution, but Gutwig’s 35-
year tenure was a tough time for
organized labor, an era during
which union-busting, downsiz-
ing, and offshoring depleted la-
bor’s ranks, and unions fell from
17.7% to 10.9% of the U.S.
workforce. Amid that decline,
finding a union web press could
at times be challenging. When
press operators at the Salem
Statesman-Journal went non-
union, the Labor Press switched
to The Columbian, until they too
voted out the union. Today the
Labor Press is trucked down to
Portland from union-represented
Rotary Offset Press in Kent,
Washington, where the Seattle
Times and the New York Times
are also printed.
Over the last three and a half
decades the Labor Press also
weathered a tech bubble market
crash, a housing bubble market
crash, 9/11, The Great Reces-
sion of 2008, an ugly divorce in
the AFL-CIO, and a worldwide
pandemic that shuttered much
of the economy.
“Any one of these events
could have taken down this news-
paper, but they didn’t, and that’s
because of the strong support of
the labor community here,” said
Gutwig. “I take great comfort in
knowing that union leaders in
Oregon and Southwest Washing-
ton want to keep their members
informed about what the labor
movement is doing here.”
Gutwig said one secret to his
success was surrounding himself
with talented people. He has had
just 10 employees work for him
over the years. Several employ-
ees, including senior reporter Don
McIntosh, have logged more than
20 years at the newspaper.
As editor, Gutwig was an as-
sociate member of Office & Pro-
fessional Employees Local 11.
He currently serves as a volunteer
board member of IBEW &
United Workers Federal Credit
Union; Labor’s Community
Service Agency; United Food
and Commercial Workers Local
555’s HOPE Foundation, and as
an employer trustee on the West-
ern States 401(k) plan of OPEIU.
He’ll continue on the LCSA and
credit union boards for now.
In retirement, he’ll spend more
time with his wife Lori, a retired
school library assistant, and their
two grown daughters and four
grandkids.
Gutwig never missed a press
deadline, and he leaves the news-
paper in good financial health.
The paper’s board of directors is
promoting McIntosh to editor ef-
fective Jan. 1. Gutwig will help
with the transition as needed
through the end of 2022.
“You don’t stay at a job this
long unless you enjoy the people
you work with and respect and
enjoy the people you’re working
for — which is the labor commu-
nity,” said Gutwig. “It has been a
truly wonderful adventure and I
feel fortunate to have been given
the opportunity to do it.”