NEWSLETTERDecember 2005 |
Past Newsletters |
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Carpenters Local 247 November 2005 meeting report
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General membership
Meets the second Tuesday, Dec 13, at 6 p.m. at the Carpenters Hall, 2215 N.
Lombard, Portland.
Retirees
Retirees meet for lunch the second Monday, Dec. 12, at 11 a.m. at JJ North’s,
10520 NE Halsey, Portland.
Executive Board
Executive Board meets the fourth Tuesday, Dec. 27, at 6:30 p.m. at the
Carpenters Hall, 2215 N. Lombard, Portland.
Volunteer Organizing Commitee
VOC meets the first Tuesday, Dec. 6, at 6 p.m. in the Conference Room on the
first floor of the office. For more information, contact Jason Sheckler at
503-367-7694.
At
a Nov. 9 rally outside the downtown Portland Benson Tower site, union members
protested Canadian contractor ITC’s use of out-of-state workers paid at rates
below the prevailing wages for the area. The $30 million, 26-story condominium
is under construction at 1500 SW 11th Ave. at Clay Street in Portland. The rally
was organized by the Carpenters and Laborers Unions, but drew workers from
nearly every building trades craft. “Bringing in non-union outside workers is
stealing from the community,” Oregon AFL-CIO President-elect Tom Chamberlain
told the demonstrators. “There have been union supporters run off of this job,
countless safety problems and too many workers who aren’t earning a living
wage,” said Bill Hoffman, an organizer for the Laborers Union. “This turnout
today will show ITC that Portland is a union town.”
Jerry Auvil, an organizer for the Carpenters Union, said the job is nine weeks behind schedule. “And look down the street at the Eliot Tower: That all-union condo is seven weeks ahead of schedule.”
In September the Carpenters conducted a three-day unfair labor practice strike at the jobsite against subcontractor Newway Forming Inc. of Canada. Some masons for union contractor Larusso Concrete of Portland honored the picket line, and ITC retaliated by firing the contractor and hiring an out-of-town non-union firm. The developers are Portlander Joe Weston of Weston Investment Management and American Property Management.
Monthly dues
Apprentice Carpenter $15.00
Journeyman Carpenter $27.00
Tradeshow Carpenter $18.00
Reduced quarterly dues
Payments for each quarter are due prior to the first day of the quarter.
Payments received after the quarter starts will be applied at the monthly rate
as shown above.
1st Quarter – Due by 12-31-05
2nd Quarter – Due by 3-31-06
3rd Quarter – Due by 6-30-06
4th Quarter – Due by 9-30-06
Apprentice Carpenter $42.00
Journeyman Carpenter $72.00
Tradeshow Carpenter $48.00
Reduced yearly dues
Must be paid by 12-31-05
Apprentice Carpenter $160.00
Journeyman Carpenter $264.00
Tradeshow Carpenter $180.00
By John Svob
Local 247 member
I was a Salt on the Benson Tower, where non-union New Way Forming is trying to resist organizing efforts. I interviewed. I was given some hope of finding work (you know the routine: “We MIGHT have some work for you; come back Wednesday.”) I asked for a certain wage (“We’ll see.”). I was hired. Then I was paid three dollars per hour less.
Again and again, I requested raises and was ducked, deferred … essentially denied. They told me that the job would last into 2007, as if this long time period of earning less (with small gains) would compensate for the lower pay, undiscussed benefits, and dangerous work environment, as if wearing thin clothes in the rain for a year is better than enduring that suffering for only a day.
I was re-experiencing the non-union system through which I had climbed. As an individual, I had little strength with which to bargain besides my productivity — a variable only the boss can equate to a “deserved” wage and that only after the worker has provided labor at an uncertain or unfair price.
The UBC’s 20th century campaigns to organize carpenters benefit us today. And without the union of today, your individual battles for just pay and benefits would be a source of constant strife — a personal struggle to remain in the good favor of even the worst of employers, a beggar’s game of hope, frustration, and concession. Instead, we know upon accepting a job, regardless of the employer’s disposition, how much we will make, what our benefits will be, etc. We don’t have to start low and prove ourselves every go-around, and we don’t have to take less just because the boss says he’ll “keep you busy.”
The Organizing Department honored me and other Salts with gifts for our contributions to the New Way organizing effort. I appreciated the gesture. I have decided to pass on that gift so that the organizing drives of the UBC can continue with every drop of fuel available. Along with International and Regional organization, I think that fuel is the blood, sweat, voice, and vote of every rank-and-file member that works and participates in his/her Local and who directly organizes carpenters.
In addition to the usual prizes raffled off at the end of our monthly meetings, the $50 gift I received will also be raffled off at the December meeting for Local 247. However, only those members who bring along a brother or sister-member who has not attended a meeting for three months (or more) are eligible for the raffle. Who knows, maybe only you will bring someone or come along with someone (or meet someone outside the door and “organize” a partnership); maybe only one or two members will be in the running. If so, your odds are that much better. Anyway, every drop counts. And the odds of winning really increase whether only one estranged member attends or if 30 attend, because when we organize, we all win.
En La Union Esta Fuerza
In The Union There Is Strength
By Matthew Franklin-Lyons
At dawn of the 21st century America faces unprecedented changes across the nation. As American jobs sweep to China, India, Mexico and other low wage countries by the millions in high-tech as well as manufacturing, lawmakers find themselves speechless before the greatest economic change in more than 100 years. Traditional government policies of stubborn denial in the 20s and 70s which have marked times of economic struggle in the past now fall short of the expectations of America’s public. Citizens in all classes have looked for solutions to the developing dilemma of globalization and increasing unemployment. Yet as politicians pass on the blame and corporations claim powerlessness, one voice has been strangely absent from the debate: the American labor movement.
Traditionally, this movement has been at the forefront of unemployment struggles. Americans of the past clearly understood the necessity for the labor movement and its fight. Times of great trial across the centuries reminded working class Americans of the great need for representation in a hostile and exploitive capitalist system which clearly favored large business. Strikes throughout the 19th and 20th centuries at the local level brought about increased awareness on a national scale. Some of the first better noted strikes in America began in the late 18 hundreds. Always beginning locally, these small disturbances slowly spread and with them a new workmen’s ideology. In a ripple effect that year, strikes broke out across Ohio and the Southwest in Coal Mines and on the Railroads. Soon the concept of organized labor developed sparking greater struggles and greater success in the fight for workers rights. Notably, the American Federation of Labor led by Samuel Gompers led the long fight for reduced work hours and successfully negotiated higher wages and an 8 hour day for government employees. Ideas were spread at local level, nurturing a new workmen’s solidarity nationally. Soon the identity of the “workman” had touched the American consciousness.
However, the public seems to no longer understand the link between the struggles of the labor movement and the betterment of the common citizen. Union membership has dramatically dropped from 33% to American workers in the early 60s to 14% in the late 1990s, and is made up of 61 unions. This amounts to a mere 1 in 12 workers in America. Clearly the labor movement of America is in crisis. Some look internally to reevaluate the waning success of America’s labor movement.
Recently for example, under the leadership of John Sweeney of the AFL-CIO, and Andy Stern of the SEIU, a coalition of 5 national unions kicked off the “change to win.” Under this program, the AFL-CIO looks to centralize its power. Specifically, Sweeney and his colleagues propose a merger of the 57 AFL-CIO international unions into 15 or 20 larger factions which he termed “mega unions.” Under a national union, these labor representatives hope to broaden the scope of labor standpoints in America, further strengthening its political clout locally and nationally.
Despite AFL-CIO representative’s claims that this attempt to enlarge union precincts will greater strengthen the resolve and determination of the labor movement at all levels, some have questioned the dissolving of local union branches into consolidated larger unions. This development has the opposite effect of buttressing national power on the stable foundation grassroots American union. Instead, it further alienates steadfast local support and strong union communities.
Thus, Unions today are faced with a possible redefinition of their strength. Labor representatives are forced to debate whether or not union strength at the local level, where ideas are communicated verbally and in active discussion in union meetings across the country or through greater consolidation of resources and power in the more nationally represented face of the AFL-CIO. In this trying time for the labor movement, the strong pillar of local strength will find itself shaken by its own leaders, who in an attempt to fight against emerging global trends, undermine their own strength.
Harry Kelber (2005, May 25) “The ethicist’s new clothes” Labor Talk, retrieved July 25, 2005, from http://laboreducator.org/thirdway.htm
P. Taft, The A.F. of L. from the Death of Gompers to the Merger.
Jenice, Fine (2004, July 15) “Debating Labor’s Future” The Nation, 14-33.
Personal Note
This coming September 2005, I will be attending the University of Pennsylvania,
and it’s affiliated Wharton School of Business. This is an Ivy League
institution with a great wealth of resources available to students. I intend to
fully devote myself to the study of international business in the hope of better
understanding today’s changing workplace.
Furthermore, my studies of business will always repose on my past experience as a carpenter. Having worked on a number of projects with my step father, I feel all the more capable of addressing the difficult issues which face American today. I also hope to bring my knowledge of unions and union policies to bear on the Ivy League institutions. In the past, the associations of Ivy League Universities have shown themselves unfavorable to union policies, notably in the unsuccessful janitor strikes at Yale University.
Finally, I would like to thank the committee of Local 247 for the chance to take part in this essay contest. I have attended a number of union meetings since childhood. In particular, I received generous contributions from union members during a fundraiser for a class trip for my elementary school orchestra.
Thank you.
We are collecting toys for needy children ages 1 through 13. These toys will be donated to the Toy & Joy Makers and members who are in need of toys for their families. If you are interested in donating a toy, please bring it to our office. If you would like to gift-wrap it, please indicate the age and gender on the outside. It is important for us to remember those kids in need at this time of the year!
If you have any additional questions, please feel free to call the office at 503-289-9632. Thanks so much!
Our office will be closed on Friday, Dec. 23 and Monday, Dec. 26 in observance of the Christmas Holiday. We wish all of you a safe and wonderful holiday weekend!
