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April 20, 2022 Page 3 INSIDE L ocaL N ews Biden to Visit Thursday President to tout infrastructure Arts & ENTERTAINMENT page 7 o piNioN c Lassified /B ids page 9 pages 10 Established 1970 USPS 959 680 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR 97211 The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manuscripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope. All created design display ads become the sole property of the newspaper and cannot be used in other publications or personal usage without the written consent of the general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition of such ad. © 2008 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED. The Portland Observer--Oregon’s Oldest Multicultural Publication--is a member of the National Newspaper Association--Founded in 1885, and The National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc, New York, NY, and The West Coast Black Publishers Association PO QR code Publisher: Editor: Michael Leighton Office Mngr/Clasfds: Lucinda Baldwin Admin.Coord.: Quayuana Washington Creative Director: Kenya Anderson Office Asst/Sales: Shawntell Washington Postmaster: Send address changes to Portland Observer, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208 Avalon Flowers 520 SW 3rd Ave., Portland, OR 97204 • 503-796-9250 A full service flower experience Owner, Operator President Joe Biden is scheduled to be in Portland Thursday to talk about investments being made with last year’s infrastructure bill, and hold a fundraiser for other Democrats. on these kinds of initiatives as his more ambitious agenda to boost education, social services and climate change initiatives remains stalled. With the midterm elections approaching later this year, the president is eager to convince voters that one of his adminis- tration's top accomplishments is creating concrete progress af- ter years of unfulfilled promises from his predecessor, President Donald Trump, who never cut a deal on infrastructure spending. According to reports, while in Portland he will also raise money for Democrats running for office. Mark Washington, Sr. CALL 503-288-0033 • FAX 503-288-0015• news@portlandobserver.com ads@portlandobserver.com• subscription@portlandobserver.com Cori Stewart-- President Joe Biden is sched- uled to visit Portland on Thursday where he is expected to talk about investments being made with the passage of last year's infrastruc- ture bill. One potential target is the proposed Interstate Bridge Re- placement Program, which aims to replaces the I-5 twin bridges over the Columbia River that con- nects Portland to Vancouver. Under the $1 trillion infrastruc- ture law, taxpayer money will be available nationally for infrastruc- ture investments, targeting things like the replacement of lead wa- ter pipes, the build-out of broad- band internet, projects to protect against climate change and repairs to roads and bridges. Biden has repeatedly focused • Birthdays • Anniversaries • Funerals • Weddings Open: Mon.-Fri. 7:30am til 5:30pm Saturday 9am til 2pm. Website: avalonflowerspdx.com email: avalonflowers@msn.com We Offer Wire Services Diversity in Hiring Pledge Grows Promotes women and people of color in construction A new agreement amongst local government agencies and labor unions aims to make a dra- matic improvement toward hiring more women and people of color on construction projects in the Portland area. The Regional Workforce Eq- uity Agreement announced last week by the regional government Metro covers specified projects undertaken by Metro, Multnomah County and the city of Portland over the next five years. For Metro, all capital projects of more than $5 million will be subject to the terms of the agree- ment. Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury has signed the agreement. The City of Portland is expected to approve it later this month, officials said. Workforce agreements are le- gally binding contracts that set standards for wages, benefits and safety protections for workers. For project owners, they are a tool to control costs, improve job quality and efficiency and prevent work- ers from striking. Officials say they can also be an opportunity to address historical wrongs. Women and people have color have been shut out of lucra- tive construction jobs in the past, while minority-owned firms have not always been able to compete Deborah Kafoury Maurice Rahming on projects covered by traditional workforce agreements. “We began with equity,” says Sebrina Owens-Wilson, regional impact manager at Metro, describ- ing how Metro’s Diversity, Equi- ty and Inclusion team set out to negotiate the agreement. On one side of the table were the public agencies, on the other the building trades and carpenters unions. Maurice Rahming, president of O’Neill Construction, served on the equity advisory table. “We identified opportunities and bar- riers and came up with solutions for this crisis we’re facing: A sil- ver tsunami of workers retiring, and we aren’t filling the void. We needed to make sure that women and people of color get the op- portunity to fill those higher-paid construction jobs.” The agreement implements hiring targets that ramp up over five years. Eventually, 14% of work hours at every jobsite will have to be performed by women, 25% by people of color and 20% by apprentices. Also addressed, is bullying and catcalling by coworkers, a prob- lem for everyone in the construc- tion industry, but especially for women and people of color. The workforce equity agreement re- quires that everyone on a jobsite participate in anti- harassment or respectful workplace training. The agreement also includes protections for BIPOC and wom- en-owned smaller firms who al- ready have a diverse workforce. Mark Matthews, president of open shop firm Pacificmark Con- struction, says under the agree- ment, he can use his own work- force and is not required to hire through union hiring halls. “It lev- els the playing field.” On March 30, Metro issued a request for proposals to ren- ovate or replace the operations and maintenance facility at Blue Lake Regional Park. The project will be the first to be governed by the Regional Workforce Eq- uity Agreement.
