NEWS
LETTER
August 2000
INDEX
Doernbecher Children's Hospital fundraiser
We are continuing to support the Children's Hospital through a fundraising sweepstakes at our annual picnic. We have donated prizes for our drawing. Last year, we went over the $10,000 mark, making us an official founder of the hospital. We will have information about the hospital available at the picnic, and if any of you members would like to donate prizes for the sweepstakes drawing, feel free to do so.
Your organizers, representatives and volunteers have been handbilling the public, letting them know about Safeway's contracting practices, which favor contractors who pay low wages and provide no fringe benefits. We need all the help that we can get, because this is an issue that we can not afford to drop. If we get Safeway to recognize the need to implement some ÒResponsible BidderÓ guidelines, then our contractors will pursue and get work with Safeway. Safeway is not the only problem we have out there, so please find some time to come out and strengthen YOUR position in the market place.
The Carpenters of 247 have always stepped up to the plate for monetary contributions to various charitable organizations. The body of the local always is generous. We have various members who are involved in multiple actions. We, as a local, can not expect them to give up another evening or Saturday. This Local has had excellent participation in Christmas in April, Phone Banking and the Christmas Toy Drive. We have 266 members coming to our picnic. The organizers have ongoing campaigns against Safeway, Walgreen's and anti-union politicians and measures. The organizers formed a coalition with a church group to leaflet these campaigns. This is good because we can possibly recruit new members and apprentices. It is bad because we can not get enough of our own people involved. We are planning a meeting Aug. 16 at 6:30 p.m., upstairs at Local 247, to revitalize the Volunteer Organizing Committee and our political volunteer groups. Let's step up to the plate and show the area carpenters why we have earned the ÒBig DogÓ title in a positive way. Now is the time to participate in continuing ÒUnion and Family Values.Ó Maybe we could get some new faces for these and other functions out of the members attending the picnic. See you the 16th Ñ pop and pizza will be provided.
Marc Willis works on the Carpenters 247 annual Christmas In April event.
Safeway's construction practices are tearing down our community's standards by hiring some construction contractors that don't pay area standard wages and benefits. Please let Safeway store managers know that you care about our community and the workers who live there. Or you can call Safeway directly at (503)657-6146 and let them know that you don't like them using contractors who don't pay area standard wages and benefits. We are not promoting any work stoppages or refusals to pick up or deliver goods or perform services. Thank you from the members and families of the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters, the Construction Alliance for Community Standards (CACS) and the Columbia-Pacific Building Trades. ÒI support the Council of Carpenters in their effort to see that all workers have health benefits. ÓÑ Mike Swaim, mayor of Salem
Lane County commissioners support right to organize
A Workplace Justice Resolution calling on employers to be neutral and respect the right of employees who choose to organize a union was passed by the Lane County commissioners in a 4-to-1 vote. This culminates an effort begun over a year ago, highlighted by an ad signed by over 400 people published last Labor Day, a bus tour with community leaders to listen to workers tell how they experienced employer intimidation during organizing campaigns, and many visits to community and faith-based leaders.
We now have numbers to shoot at:
Sizemore's anti-union initiatives will be measures 92 and 98 It is now official. Bill Sizemore's attacks on our right to participate in the political process will be on the ballot as measures 92 and 98. Measure 92 (which was circulated as Initiative #25) would prohibit the use of payroll-deducted funds for a wide range of political activity and expression - from supporting or opposing candidates or ballot measures to lobbying elected officials Ñ unless authorized in writing every year by each affected employee. This is a more extreme version of California's infamous Proposition 226, which was defeated in June 1998. Like Prop. 226, it applies to both public and private sector employers and employees. But it goes farther than Prop. 226 by restricting expenditures for lobbying. Even writing a letter to a legislator would be treated as a political expenditure by this measure.
Measure 98 (which was circulated as Initiative #24) is a more extreme version of Sizemore's Measure 59, which voters rejected in 1998. It would prohibit the use of public resources, including payroll-deducted funds, for the same range of political activity and expression described in Measure 92 Ñ from supporting or opposing candidates or ballot measures to lobbying elected officials. this is an outright ban on using payroll-deducted funds for political advocacy. It applies to public sector employers and employees only.
ÒSizemore has packaged Measure 92 as a proposal for authorizations, but the only thing he wants to authorize is our silence,Ó says Tim Nesbitt, president of the Oregon AFL-CIO. ÒMeasure 92 is really Catch 22. The way it's written, we could get 99 out of 100 members signing authorizations for lobbying, and we'd still be prohibited from defending our interests in the legislature. And Measure 98 is even worse. It would prohibit all forms of payroll deductions for political advocacy, including union dues and voluntary contributions, whether separately authorized or not.Ó
Striking actors blasted Texas Governor George W. Bush (R) for using non-union actors in a presidential campaign commercial July 8, two months after making a commitment to use union actors. ÒBush is running for president on the promise of integrity, honor and trust, but his word apparently means very little,Ó said SAG President William Daniels, and Òsends a clear message that Bush is no friend of labor.Ó The 135,000 SAG and AFTRA members struck the advertising industry May 1 over management demands to roll back actors' residuals for commercials.
Congratulations to our apprentices
Carpenters Local 247 would like to congratulate our apprentices who became journeymen.
June, 2000: Jason Doetch
July, 2000: Daniel Allen, Donald Bain II, David Blakey
The following is a response to your inquiry about Mary Fromm and the scholarship. Mary will be attending the University of Arizona beginning in August of 2000. She will be attending for four years and would like to annually apply for her remaining three years of $500 scholarship monies from Local 247. She will not be reapplying for the higher $750 scholarship. Instead, she would like to continue with the $500 one. We will continue to advise the Board of Mary's progress and successes while attending U of A. Thanks! Ñ Dave Fromm
Local 247 is happy to announce this year's recipient of the Labor History Essay Scholarship. She is Miranda Middleton. The following is her self-bio and essay: ÒHello! Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I am a senior at Westview High School. I am attending Portland State University in the fall. I live with my dad, who is a member of the Carpenter's Union, which is how I heard about the union scholarship. I have a part-time job at G. I. Joe's, working at Ticketmaster and Customer Service. On my spare time I like being outdoors, drawing, reading and spending time with my family and friends. Thank you for your time.Ó
In the years between the Civil War and World War I, America transformed from a nation of independent craftsmen and farmers to an industrial society of mass production workers, business tycoons, and factory owners. Millions of men, women, and children left their farms and small towns for the low wages and long working hours in the cities. A lot of immigrants fell into this laborious work, in the mines, factories, and sweatshops. They lived in company towns, and slum tenements. The working conditions were at their worst: dull routines, overcrowding, long hours with no extra pay, overpowering supervision and possible death by unsafe machines. Before unions, work hours were as long as wages were short. The average work week was 60 hours long and brought a take-home pay of $12 per week. If women chose to work, it was even worse. They worked just as much but only received $1.50 a week. Rent alone was around $4 and a half ration of meat for the average family was $3.50. That is already half the weekly earnings gone, and the grocery, clothing and housing needs still needed to be met. Many housewives had been heard saying ÒYou go to the market with the money in a basket, and carry home the goods in your pocket.Ó The workers were finally able to rise up in their own defense. They organized themselves into unions. The basic idea of the union was group action. Unions demanded higher wages, safer working conditions and respect for the workers. The unions declared the eight-hour-a-day, 40-hour work week. However, this was not done easily. This was a struggle that was filled with depression and strikes that often turned violent. Men starved, and families were left in poverty because of refusal to put up with unfair working conditions. America was under capitalist slavery, until the unions started forming. Union workers are the only workers organized enough to help make laws. They are a group of people that can hire people to work as representatives for them. In recent times, for example, the labor commissioner decided to listen to arguments on whether or not some companies should provide coffee and lunch breaks. The unions had representatives to argue that it wasn't a good idea to take away the breaks, so the regular law was maintained (coffee and lunch breaks are allowed). If there was no union, only people that weren't working could represent, and that would be only if they had heard about the issue at hand. The unions make laws that benefit workers. They send representatives to support the law, which in turn expresses the needs of all the workers. The union advocates for everybody who works. In conclusion, the union movement had a tremendous impact on society today. It affects everything from housing, automobiles, and medical care to schools and taxes. Unions put money back into society, which betters our economy. Unions are the only group organized enough to help make laws (like the 40-hour work week). Without the union, workers wouldn't have the established rights that they have today.