Carpenters Local 247 November 2004 meeting report By Bruce Dennis President Joe Baron, Financial Secretary, gives a donation from our picnic to Toys for Kids representatives Adina Flynn, Debbie Alvarado and Alec Shebiel. Left, Owen Holum receives a Steward's jacket. President Bruce Dennis gives three new members the UBC obligation. We had 54 members present at our regular November union meeting. Three new members were present and were given the UBC obligation. Representatives from “Toys for Kids” were in attendance to receive a check for $1,000. This was our collection for charity at our annual picnic. Pacific Northwest Regional Political Director Roger Johanson reported on the recent election and upcoming legislation. Oregon Political Representative Ed Glad discussed Oregon results, including City of Portland races. Newly appointed Local Organizing Director Ben Embree reported on his new job and plans on organizing. He is also working on the prevailing wage survey. We had representatives’ reports, May Daeeeeeeeey planning and Metropolitan Alliance for the Common Good reports as well. Under Good of the Order, we were reminded about the December Special Called Meeting, Parry Center solidarity, election results and safety on the job. Under New Business, we passed motions to donate $247 to the PNWRCC Toy Drive and to set a special call meeting to change our bylaws regarding meeting time. We also passed the hat for the Toy Drive and gathered another $112. See you at our December Meeting!

Meeting Notices

General membership
Meets the second Tuesday, Dec. 14, at 7 p.m. at the Carpenters Hall, 2215 N. Lombard, Portland. The Dec. 14 meeting is a Special Call meeting to change bylaws regarding meeting time.

Retirees
Retirees meet for lunch the second Monday, Dec. 13, at 11 a.m. at JJ North’s, 10520 NE Halsey, Portland.

Executive Board
Executive Board meets the fourth Tuesday, Dec. 28, at 7 p.m. at the Carpenters Hall, 2215 N. Lombard.

‘Special Call’ Dec. 14
At the December general membership meeting, members will vote on the proposed increase to the monthly, quarterly and yearly dues amount. The proposal is as follows:

• $1.00 per month increase for monthly and quarterly dues
• $2.00 per month increase for annual dues

Please be sure to attend this meeting!

Holiday closures
Our office will be closed on Thursday, Dec. 23 and Friday, Dec.24 in observance of the Christmas Holiday. We will also be closed on Friday, Dec. 31 in observance of the New Year Holiday. We wish all of you a safe and wonderful weekend!

Carpenters logo quilt is back
Several years ago, Christy Kern made a quilt that displays all of the logos of the Locals in our council. This quilt has raised thousands of dollars that has been donated to Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. We are pleased to announce that we have the quilt on display in the office this quarter. Please stop by and see it! It is quite an amazing sight!

Thanks for a great year
I just want to take this opportunity to wish all of you a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year! Thanks for a great year! I look forward to working with all of you in 2005!
— Joe Baron, Financial Secretary

Scholarship essay: Mine workers showed the way

Chris Ramig, son of Local 247 member John Ramig, was the winner of a $750-a-year Carpenters Local 247 Scholarship based on the following essay.

The history of the American labor movement is riddled with tragic and fascinating events. A person could spend days studying the Haymarket Square Massacre or the Pullman Strike, just to name a few. But, inevitably, one particular group appears at the forefront more often than all others — the coal miners. In almost every way the coal miners were leaders in the labor movement. They were among the first American working class professionals to strike against unfair labor practices. Their union, the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) was the first industrial union and the most successful during the labor movement. The coal miners were the pioneers of many reforms that most people today take for granted. John L Lewis, one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century labor movement and a president of the UMWA once called the coal miners “the shock troops of the American labor movement.” The coal miners deserve this title, having led so many of the main attacks, often fighting first and hardest for many of the most crucial reforms won by labor revolutionaries.

As one of the earliest industrial professions to unionize, the coal miners fought longer and harder than most before achieving any sort of victory. In the northern Illinois fields alone, there were serious strikes in 1868, 1874, 1877, 1889, 1894, and 1897 before the Great Anthracite Strike in 1902. The Illinois coal miners won only one of these early strikes, the one in 1897. For this they received a pay raise and the right to an eight-hour work day. The vast majority of early coal strikes failed, however. During most of the nineteenth century, the government, especially the military, backed the operators of coal mines and supported them in efforts to break strikes. The coal miners were the first into battle, and as such they did not receive much sympathy or attention from the American public, to who organized labor was still a very new and foreign idea.

Much of the glory of the early labor movement went to other organizations, such as Eugene V. Debs and his American Railway Workers. The Pullman Strike of 1894 especially was instrumental in bringing the “labor question” into the minds of the American people. The strike stopped virtually all railroad transport in and around Chicago from May 11th to August 2nd, 1894. When passengers could no longer take the train in or out of Chicago, people began to ask why. The Pullman Strike stopped abruptly when the US military stepped in at the behest of the railroad owners. The railroad workers lost their strike and Debs was imprisoned, but the average citizen saw it happen and social consciousness began to grow at an accelerated rate. The Pullman Strike came on the heels of a particularly bitter coal strike, which was also unsuccessful. In many ways Debs and his railway workers drew much of their inspiration for Pullman from the Illinois coal workers who mined not far from the railroad tracks in northern Illinois.

In many very literal ways, the coal miners were shock troops in the labor movement. In 1897 and 1898, the Illinois coal miners struck for higher wages, which many mine operators eventually agreed to. The Pana and Chicago-Virden Coal Companies, however, attempted to bring in non-union black coal workers from Alabama, as replacements for the striking union miners. They were brought up on trains which the union strikers first stopped and boarded, and then reportedly informed the black workers that their lives might be in peril if they continued further north. However the companies were eventually able to get the workers into the mining compounds. They set up a stockade around the area, complete with professional gunfighters on patrol. A few months later the affair ended in a true battle between armed miners who laid siege to the stockade and the gunfighters. Between the two forces twelve died and about forty-five were injured. The Illinois National Guard was sent in to keep the peace. The miners won their strike and received a higher wage scale. This is only one example of the militancy which coal miners often had to resort to in order to change their lot in life. These militant striking methods provided a bold example for other unions looking to improve their conditions. It also caused employers to rethink just how far they wanted to go to keep unions from achieving their goals. Because of the example of the coal miners, industrialists everywhere had to ask themselves if they were willing to fight a war with their own employees.

The leadership of the coal miners did not end with the striking methods they popularized. They were also instrumental in the creation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) which strove to unionize all mass production industries. The passage of Roosevelt’s National Industrial Recovery Act in 1933, which gave all workers the right to unionize and bargain for better conditions with their employer, only fueled their zeal. After unionizing coal miners throughout the country, the UMWA played a key role in the unionization of the automobile and steel workers. Two of the most prominent present day unions, the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) and the United Auto Workers (UAW), both owe their existence to the help and leadership of the coal miners. With their help, nearly 4 million workers were unionized in two years.

Finally, the coal miners blazed the trail for other unions by winning many crucial reforms. In 1946, the UMWA struck a deal with the federal government, creating the multi-employer UMWA Welfare and Retirement Fund. Not only did this allow thousands of miners to retire, but it also set up several clinics for miners who suffered from a myriad of work related diseases, most notably “black lung”. Both the retirement fund and the increases in health care were among the first created by unions. Then, in 1969, the UMWA persuaded Congress to pass the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act, which changed several mining practices to protect the safety of miners and provide compensation to miners suffering from “black lung” disease. This legislation helped pioneer workman’s compensation for unionized labor. But perhaps more importantly, this was the first time that Congress mandated the elimination of an occupational disease, black lung.

In every way, as organizers, strikers, and reformers, the coal miners were leaders in the American labor movement. Their grim determination and passion inspired others to strive harder to achieve the rights they honestly deserved and struck fear in the hearts of those who would oppose the labor effort. Their leadership allowed millions to realize the possibilities of unionized labor. Their pioneering work in the political arena led the way for all organized labor to achieve reform as well. On so many fronts, the coal miners led the labor movement into battle against the monumental forces opposing them. They were not always the first to succeed, but the coal miners certainly earned their title, shock troops of the American labor movement.

Sixth Annual Carpenters Holiday Toy Drive

Well, Christmas is almost upon us, and it’s time to start talking about our annual Christmas Toy Drive. Last year’s Carpenters Christmas Toy Drive brought 1,153 gifts and $3,051 into the communities across Oregon and Southwest Washington. In the last five years, we have gathered in excess of $13,000 and close to 4,900 toys through donations of members, contractors, affiliates and locals throughout our area.

Special thanks to last year’s contributors:

List of Partnering Organizations:

Centro Latinoamericano, Eugene, Oregon
Childrens Advocacy Center, Medford, Oregon
Clark County Abused Child Center, Vancouver, WA.
Hillsboro Fire Department
Lebanon Fire Department
Marines Toys for Tots, Lebanon, Oregon
Northwest Human Services, Salem, Oregon
Salem Head Start
Trees of Joy, Coos Bay, Oregon
Toy & Joy Makers, Portland, Oregon

Bring a wrapped or unwrapped toy to the Local by Monday, Dec. 13.

If wrapped, label the toy for gender and age for a good match. There is always a special need for children in the 9-12 age group.