A11
B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2022
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BRIEFING
Portland startup
raises $15M
A Northwest Portland
startup that facilitates
group travel said Tuesday
it has raised an additional
$15 million, reporting
rapid growth as the pan-
demic wanes.
TrovaTrip facilitates
multiday travel to inter-
national destinations. It
offers tools to help hosts
gauge interest in poten-
tial destinations, helps
them budget and price
the excursion and market
the trip. Its clients include
social media personalities
seeking to boost revenue
by arranging trips with
their online followers.
TrovaTrip says 15,000
travelers have booked
through its site and it had
bookings of $15 million
last year, despite lingering
effects in the pandemic.
The company said “rapid
growth” has continued
this year.
Founded in 2017, Tro-
vaTrip has now raised
$20 million altogether.
Seattle-based Madrona
Venture Group led the
funding joined by prior
backers including the Or-
egon Venture Fund, Ele-
vate Capital and the Port-
land Seed Fund.
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Beyond Meat
executive charged
after biting man
A top executive at
plant-based food com-
pany Beyond Meat has
been charged with fel-
ony battery after a fight
outside a college football
game in which he was
accused of biting a man’s
nose.
Doug Ramsey was also
charged with making a
terroristic threat after the
attack Saturday in a park-
ing garage outside a Uni-
versity of Arkansas foot-
ball game in Fayetteville.
Beyond Meat said
Tuesday it has suspended
Ramsey indefinitely.
According to a po-
lice report, Ramsey was
angered when another
driver inched in front of
him in a traffic lane and
made contact with the
front passenger wheel
on Ramsey’s Ford Bronco
SUV.
— Bulletin wire reports
EURO
$.9969 -.0044
FOUR-DAY WORK WEEK | PILOT FINDINGS
Successful for most firms, but not all
BY ARIANNE COHEN
Bloomberg
The four-day workweek is...
working.
That’s the message emerg-
ing from the closely watched
companies shifting to four-
day workweeks in pilot pro-
grams run by the nonprofit 4
Day Week Global. A survey
out Tuesday finds that 78%
of leaders at the more than 70
U.K. companies that shifted to
“It’s extremely encouraging to see that (productivity
improved). We would see it as a big productivity success if
productivity stayed the same.”
— Joe O’Connor, CEO of 4 Day Week Global
four-day schedules say their
transition was good or “seam-
less.” Only 2% found it chal-
lenging. Most (88%) say that
four-day schedules are work-
ing well.
The idea of a four-day
workweek is no joke. Califor-
nia lawmakers recently con-
sidered, and then shelved,
plans for a statewide four-day
workweek for some employ-
ees. A survey by Gartner
found a shorter week to be a
favored recruitment and re-
tention strategy.
Six-month pilot programs
with more than 180 compa-
nies are currently underway
in a half-dozen countries. Em-
ployers typically transition to
four-day, 32-hour schedules
(with variations depending on
role and industry), with no re-
duction in pay.
In the U.K. pilot, executives
at companies with a total of
3,300 employees were sur-
veyed at the halfway point.
The program is operated in
conjunction with the 4 Day
Week Campaign and the think
tank Autonomy, along with a
data-collection partnership of
researchers at Boston College,
Cambridge University and
Oxford University.
See Four / A12
CENTRAL OREGON |
UNEMPLOYMENT
Rates
rise
slightly
Bulletin staff report
NTSB wants
vehicles to check
blood-alcohol level
The National Trans-
portation Safety Board
is recommending that
all new vehicles in the
U.S. be equipped with
blood-alcohol monitoring
systems that can stop an
intoxicated person from
driving.
The recommendation,
if enacted by the National
Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, could
reduce the number of
alcohol-related crashes,
one of the biggest causes
of highway deaths in
the U.S.
NHTSA said this week
that roadway deaths in
the U.S. are at crisis lev-
els. Nearly 43,000 peo-
ple were killed last year,
the greatest number in
16 years, as Americans
returned to roads after
pandemic stay-at-home
orders.
Early estimates show
fatalities rising again
through the first half of
this year, but they de-
clined from April through
June, which authorities
are hoping is a trend.
The NTSB, which has
no regulatory authority
and can only ask other
agencies to act, said the
recommendation is de-
signed to put pressure on
NHTSA to move.
q
Breakside Brewery
looks into Astoria location
BY KATIE FRANKOWICZ
KMUN
Breakside Brewery, one of the
dominant players in Oregon’s craft
beer industry, plans to open a loca-
tion in Astoria.
The city confirmed the Port-
land-based business is discussing
the logistics with city staff on open-
ing an eating and drinking estab-
lishment — not a brewery — in a
building that formerly housed the
Astoria Co+op.
Breakside operates several tap-
rooms and breweries in the Port-
land area. The new Astoria location
would be just across the street from
two local breweries, Reach Break
Brewing and Fort George Brew-
ery, and a block over from Bridge
& Tunnel Bottleshop and Taproom.
See Brewery / A12
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
Breakside Brewery could move into the former location of the Astoria
Background photo: 123RF
Co+op on Exchange Street.
JOHN DAY
Antitrust suit filed against logging company
BY STEVEN MITCHELL
Blue Mountain Eagle
A coalition of businesses,
including the Prairie Wood
Products sawmill, logging
contractors and ranchers,
filed an antitrust lawsuit on
Thursday in U.S. District
Court in Pendleton against
John Day-based logging com-
pany Iron Triangle.
In court documents, attor-
neys for the Malheur Forest
Fairness Coalition argue that
the 10-year stewardship con-
tract — set to expire in early
2023 — between the Malheur
National Forest and Iron Tri-
angle was intended to spread
economic opportunities
around.
Instead, the attorneys ar-
gue, Iron Triangle has orches-
trated a series of maneuvers
to consolidate all of the bene-
fits of the long-term contract
into a monopoly on four sep-
arate fronts — timber sales,
contract logging, the saw-log
market and the stewardship
services market.
Russ Young, Iron Triangle’s
owner, said in a statement
Friday that the company had
received a copy of the lawsuit.
“We are working through
the complaint and will have
a statement as soon as we are
able,” he said.
Stewardship contract
Lawyers for the coali-
tion — which, in addition to
Prairie Wood Products, in-
cludes Rude Logging, Brett
Morris of Morris Forestry,
Engle Contracting, brothers
Doug and Darrell Emmel
of Emmel Brothers Ranch
and Pat and Hedy Voigt of
the Ricco Ranch — write in
the court documents that to
understand the “iron grip”
that Iron Triangle has on the
Malheur National Forest,
one first has to understand
how the stewardship contract
came to be awarded to the
company.
See Logging / A12
Unemployment rose slightly
in Deschutes County in Au-
gust compared to the month
before, but, overall, the jobless
rate held steady near record
levels set before the pandemic,
according to the monthly em-
ployment report.
In Deschutes County, the
seasonally adjusted unem-
ployment rate was 3.6% in
August, up slightly from July
when it was 3.4%. Those rates
are up a fraction from record
low unemployment levels set
in February 2020, prior to the
pandemic, when it was 3.3%,
according to the jobs report.
During the same period a
year ago, Deschutes County’s
seasonally adjusted unemploy-
ment rate was 4.8%, according
to the Oregon Employment
Department’s regional unem-
ployment figures.
In all, the county added
about 320 jobs in August, led
by strong job growth in edu-
cation and health services, ac-
cording to the report. Accom-
modations and food services
chipped in 110 jobs. Financial
activities and information jobs
did post losses in August.
In Jefferson and Crook
counties, however, the over-
all employment rate was far
below what it was a year ago
during the same period, ac-
cording to the report.
In Jefferson County the
seasonally adjusted unem-
ployment rate rose to 4.8% in
August, slightly higher than
its lowest rate set prior to the
pandemic in November 2019
through January 2020, accord-
ing to the report. A year ago
during the same period, the
county’s seasonally adjusted
unemployment rate was 6.2%,
according to the report.
Only 260 more nonfarm
jobs were added over the past
year, according to the report.
New jobs were added in the
wood products manufacturing
sector and leisure and hospi-
tality, according to the report.
The wholesale trade sector in
Jefferson County lost 20 jobs,
according to the report.
Similarly, Crook County
saw its unemployment rate
rise to 4.9% in August, just up
slightly from record low unem-
ployment set in October 2019
through January 2020, accord-
ing to the report. Still the Au-
gust numbers were far lower
than the same period a year ago
when the seasonally adjusted
unemployment rate was at 6.3%
The county lost 30 nonfarm
jobs in August, despite being
among Oregon’s top counties
for job growth this past year,
according to the report.
Crook County posted job
growth in construction, infor-
mation and professional and
business services, according to
the report. There were no no-
table industry job losses.