NEWSLETTERAugust 2008 |
Past Newsletters |
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When you come to meetings,
please remember |
July Meeting ReportBy Bruce Dennis We had 63 members and four guests present at our July regular meeting of Carpenters Local 247. Vice-President Mike Anderson chaired the meeting, as President Bruce Dennis was on vacation. Newly elected officers and delegates were given the oath of obligation and seated. Under reports, Jason Sheckler has scheduled newsletter committee meetings on the second Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the small conference room. Our political committee is working towards a statewide format, using the conference call to enable members from all over the region to participate. We got a report on the Tradeshow negotiations. All who have worked at tradeshow will be eligible to vote on the contract. We also got a report on the Robinson ULP strike from regional manager Pete Savage. A new contract is being worked on, but is not signed yet. He also explained other issues of importance for AGC union contractors. Under “Good of the Order,” picket tactics, stewards, organizing and anti-union advertising were discussed. Under “Unfinished Business,” the subject of “Executive Session” was discussed. Under “New Business,” we passed motions to endorse Ben Westlund for State Treasurer and Amanda Fritz for Portland City Council. We also agreed to endorse the Service Employee International Union (SEIU) campaign at Oregon hospitals. A motion was also passed to endorse Doug Tweedy as EST. The meeting lasted about 2 hours and 20 minutes, and as per usual, this report only covers the primary points. For more complete information … attend your meetings! |
New:
Newsletter committee
Newsletter committee meets the second Thursday, Aug. 14, at 6:30 p.m., first
floor, Small Conference Room, Carpenters Hall, 2215 N. Lombard, Portland.
General membership
General membership meets the second Tuesday, Aug. 12, at 6 p.m. at the
Carpenters Hall, 2215 N. Lombard, Portland. If you have any questions, please
feel free to contact the office at 503-289-9632.
Retirees
Retirees meet for lunch the second Monday, Aug. 11, at 11 a.m. at JJ North’s,
10520 NE Halsey, Portland.
Executive Board
Executive Board meets the fourth Tuesday, Aug. 26, at 6:30 p.m. at the
Carpenters Hall, 2215 N. Lombard, Portland.
In the turn of the 20th century, life was hard for those who dared to work in the woods of the great Northwest. Lumber beasts (as loggers were called in those days) worked 10 hours a day for very little pay. By the end of the 10 hours, the beasts were soaking wet. They had to go back to a camp with no place to wash up, no place to dry off and no other clothes to change into. To make things worse, the food was so horrible, it was often inedible, which led to multiple accounts of workers killing their cooks. To even get this horrible job, you had to pay a job shark, who had a deal with the foreman to lay you off so that you had to pay the shark again.
By mid-June 1917, these horrible conditions made the forest of the Northwest a prime target for the most feared union in the United States, the Industrial Workers of the World. Many other unions had tried to organize the lumber beasts in this part of the country and had failed.
The IWW called a strike of all loggers for July 1, 1917. However, this date was moved to July 20. Word spread through the mountains, and by August 1, all lumber work had completely stopped in the Northwest. The demands were the eighthour work day, regular paydays, improved sanitation in the camps, better food, sufficient kitchen help, a minimum wage of $60 a month, no discrimination, and all hiring through IWW halls.
However, this was a time of war, and the government needed supplies for ships, planes and barracks. By August 11, Washington Governor Earnest Lister and the U.S. Secretary of War met with the lumber barons to try to lobby them into implementing the eight-hour day and time-and-ahalf pay for all overtime. The lumber barons would not budge, and accused the government of “groveling in the dust and truckling to a lot of treasonable, anarchistic agitators, and showing a willingness to paralyze a great industry simply to placate these agitators, and doing tremendously more harm to the allied cause than the German army is doing.”
On August 19, martial law was called by Governor Lister. Union offices were raided. The army rounded union leaders up and threw them in prison, but did not charge them with any crime or allow them to speak with lawyers. By the end of August, with its leadership in prison, the IWW called off the official strike, but declared that they were bringing the strike to the job. For many workers, this meant after eight hours one worker would blow a whistle and everyone would simply leave work two hours early. This is where the term “whistle blower” comes from. For others, striking while on the job meant slowing down so that only eight hours of production was accomplished in 10 hours. For years after this, IWW members in the Northwest were thrown in jail, killed or simply run out of the region.
During the strike, the Army created a new branch to scab on the Union. This branch was called the Loyal Legion of Loggers. After the official strike was over and the IWW was striking on the job, the Loy al Legion of Loggers transitioned from a branch of the military into a joint of union loggers and lumber bosses (the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen). They called themselves the 4Ls, and they were effective in bringing about the eight-hour day. This act lent credibility to the new union while at the same time temporarily pacifying the workers. By the end of World War One, the 4Ls claimed 110,000 members. After the war, their popularity quickly diminished, and by 1938 the 4Ls had completely disbanded.
—Gabriel Triplett
Member, Local 247
By Gabriel Triplett
Member, Local 247
On July 9, 2008, the peasants and workers of Peru went on general strike to
protest the liberal free trade policies of the Peruvian government of President
Alan Garcia.
President Garcia, since taking office, has forged free trade deals and cut
tariffs in order to lure foreign investment. This, along with the high demand in
China and India for the minerals that Peru exports, have led to Peru having 9
percent annual growth. Yet because the Peruvian government has no concern for
the people who create that wealth (the workers and farmers), the poverty rate is
around $40, and in some areas reaches up to 75 percent.
The general strike came on the back of a nationwide miners’ strike called by the Federation of Miners of Peru on June 30. The Teachers Union of Peru united with the defeated 2006 presidential hopeful Ollanta Humala and the leftist parties of Peru called for the general strike, which did not take hold until they were joined by the miners, construction workers and farmers. The country was shut down with the demands for general higher wages, an end to free trade policies, lower fuel prices, an end to privatization, an end to government repression and corruption, and for the protection of over 7,000 indigenous communities that the government is proposing to wipe out in order to secure land for the mining companies. According to BBC News over 100,000 police and the military were sent in to bust the strike, and over 100 union leaders had been rounded up and arrested. A week after the general strike started, it was over, yet many unions are still on the brink of striking.
As we workers of the USA are going through many of the same problems as the workers of Peru (rising gas prices, a rising poverty level, national government at its lowest popularity level in history), we must begin to talk about what our response will be. Will labor turn to yet another politician to save us? Will we put our faith in the strike? No matter what we choose, we must begin to talk about solving the greater ills of society, and the decisions must be made democratically or we might all find ourselves working for minimum wage.
Local 247 has a scholarship program available for members’ children and grandchildren. Guidelines are available at the office. Applications and labor history essays are due in the office by Aug.26,2008. Please call or drop by the office for any questions or more information.
Monthly Report
By Jason Sheckler
Delegate & Member, Local 247
Oregon Fair Trade Campaign (OR-FTC) is a coalition of labor unions and activist groups that fight against free trade agreements like NAFTA, CAFTA and the WTO.
Local 247 joined this group a few months ago, and I have started to attend their monthly meetings. What OR-FTC is fighting for right now is the TRADE Act, a piece of legislation that would set new criteria for future trade agreements. It will protect workers from further offshoring of jobs, and prevent trade agreements that force privatization of public industry. The TRADE Act also forces current trade deals, like NAFTA, to be renegotiated to follow the new rules set by this pro-worker legislation. So far Democrat Peter DeFazio is the only member of the Oregon delegation who has come out in support of the Act. He is an original co-sponsor of the TRADE Act. Local 247 member Joe Baron has met with David Wu’s office as part of the OR-FTC’s campaign to lobby our meembers of Congress to support the critical piece of legislation.
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is sponsoring a community walk in Portland on Oct. 11, 2008, to raise awareness about the issues surrounding depression, mental illness and suicide. Laurie Zwingli, wife of the late Raif “Rodeo” Zwingli, brought this to our attention. Raif tragically died by suicide almost four years ago. He was a member of our local and many of you have known and/or worked with him. Laurie is asking that local organizations that Raif was involved with consider sending a team to walk with them. It is a 5K walk and starts at 10 a.m. The idea of raising awareness to these issues is to take the stigma off of the illness and make it easier and more acceptable for people to ask for the help they need. The goal is that fewer people die by suicide. Laurie’s family has had a hard time dealing with Raif’s death, and they are trying to prevent other families from this type of loss and pain. You would think that Local 247 could send a team. If you are interested and can help, please contact the office, or Pete Savage at 503-708-7744 or psavageubc@yahoo.com.
It’s been almost four years since Local 247 member Raif Zwingli, committed suicide, leaving behind a wife and three sons. His widow Laurie Zwingli has contacted Local 247 asking support an Oct 11 event organized by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
The following members are celebrating their birthday this month. We would like to wish them all “Happy Birthday”! We hope you enjoy your special day! Carl Afterbuffalo, Nicholas Albers, Michael Allen, Abel Arango, Richard Arnold, Ryan Asbury, Charles Bates Jr., Jerry Baumgardner, Thaddeus Beisel, David Benfield, Thomas Beutz, Ray Bluemer, John Boling, Steve Boone, William Brickowski Jr., DaMarcus Brown, Billy Broyles, Darrell Budge, Brian Carson, Drew Chadbourne, Kirk Chandler, Jason Chatzigiannakos, John Cherry, Terrance Christianson, John Clark, Daniell Clark, Patrick Cleaver, Steven Conn, Kathleen Copeland, Michael Corbin, Sergio Cortes, Shawn Cottrell, John Cox, Cameron Dalling, John Degn, Corey Dixon, Darryl Dixon, Jonathan Dye, Brian Eekhoff, Michael Fear, Thomas Fearey, Thomas Forsyth, Jason Frazier, Cecil Ghan, Duwayne Gilbert, Colin Glaser, Donald Goodwin, Vincent Grayson, Daryl Griffith, Michael Gwaltney, John Hallstrom, Raymond Hamblin, Howard Hanks, Randy Harris, Jared Haug, Clint Haugen, Alexander Hawk, George Howie, Donald Hummel, Cristobal Ignacio, Corey Jackson, Marc Jackson, Jason Johnson, Robert Judkins, James Kehoe, Jeremy Kidwell, Derek Kirschner, Greg Kofstad, Joseph LaDuca, Mark LaFlamme, Chris Larsen, Bolivar Leiton, William Lewis, Lars Lindegaard, Russ Low, Jeremy Mallatt, Francis Manning, Jesse Marks, Michael McCarthy, Michael McKay, Daniel Mc- Nassar, Paul Millard, David Moaning, Adelfo Morales, Gheorghe Morar, Mark Morse, Jay Myklebust, David Nelson, Jen Netherwood, Chester Neuharth, Ralph Nielsen, Sharkee Niemi, Jason Norris, Ryan O’Neel, Doris Olavarria, Clyde Owens, Scott Owens, Victor Peek, Tyson Peterson, Stewart Philbrick, JP Phillips, Patrick Pierce, Keith Prater, Lee Prose, James Pucci, David Randall, Brian Randall, Micah Rascoe, Dan Ray, Ira Reaves, Gerald Rhoads, Gerardo Rodriguez, Bartolo Rogue, Doug Rule, John Ryan, Scott Sander, Daniel Santillan, John Savage, Mike Schappert, Jack Schmidt, William Schoeman, Mike Shively, John Short Jr., Petr Sirosh, Brad Slate, Eric Smiley, Steven Sneeden, Kenneth Spruit, Ioan Stef, James Stephens, Kristopher Stover, Jeremy Symolon, Lyle Thorgramson, Daniel Toussaint, Jake Traffas, Lauren Upshaw, Rick Vanderveer, David VanVleck, Wesley VanVleck, Douglas Vondrachek, Larry Wade, Frederick Walker, Richard Walker, Kevin Walls, Christopher West, Allen White, Richard White, Lewis Womack, Brent Ziemer, Marco Zuniga.
