Meeting Notices

General membership
Meets the second Tuesday, Feb. 10, at 7 p.m. at the Carpenters Hall, 2215 N. Lombard, Portland.

Executive Board
Executive Board meets the fourth Tuesday, Feb. 24, at 7 p.m. at the Carpenters Hall, 2215 N. Lombard.

Retirees
Retirees meet for lunch the second Monday, Feb. 9, at 11 a.m. at JJ North's, 10520 NE Halsey, Portland.

Carpenters Local 247 is looking for a Web master. If you have the skills, give the hall a call.

When you come to meetings, please remember to bring donations for the food bank.

Historic building renovation begins -- Carpenters needed!

The renovation of the historic West's Block Building at 701 SE Grand Avenue has started, and the Carpenters are helping to make that happen. West's Block, built in 1883, is the oldest commercial building in Portland's Central Eastside; it is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is located on a very visible corner in the Grand Avenue Historic District. The building is owned by the Bosco-Milligan Foundation, a non-profit historic preservation education organization.

When renovation is completed, the building will house the Architectural Heritage Center that will include two galleries for exhibition of the Foundation's 40,000 of historic building artifacts, two workshop/classroom spaces, and a building-related research library. Since 1992, the Bosco-Milligan Foundation has presented 142 historic preservation programs, serving the needs of nearly 34,000 people.

The Foundation has also served 700 third grade students in North/Northeast Portland with its "Homeworks" program, a five-week series that teaches children about building construction and design, ending with a walking tour near each school.

The Architectural Heritage Center is really all about the history of the building trades and industry, and carpentry is "front and center" in our history. Every imaginable building element ever made using Northwest woods is represented in the Foundation's Collections.

There will be plenty of opportunities for Saturday "Work Parties" for Carpenters of every interest. This is a Union job and our participation is very important. Stay tuned to your Union Newsletter for more information!

Support the Brotherhood: Volunteer!

Above, Local 247 again participated with the Helping Hands Christmas fundraiser for needy families in the North Portland area.

By JOE BARON Trustee & Delegate

Just a few suggestions on how we can promote our Brotherhood to the community and be more active contributors:

Participate in volunteer projects that the Local is involved in such as Christmas in April, Bosco-Milligan, May Day Parade, etc.

Be involved in local community politics. Become a precinct committee person (to be more active in your party) attend School Board Meetings, City Council Meetings and other local meetings.

Enroll in journeyman upgrade classes at WCTC to further your education and gain college credits. Useful classes are available as well, i.e., CPR, OSHA, Steward, etc. These all serve to further our marketability as carpenters.

So....come to YOUR Union Meetings (2nd Tuesday of every month at 7:00 PM ¨C Upper Hall) and call your Local and let us know if you can volunteer, because...WE NEED YOUR HELP!!

Carpenter appointed to Oregon Legislature

Paul Holvey, seated center, was appointed last month to a fill a vacant seat in the Oregon House. Holvey is an organizer for Eugene-based Carpenters Local 1273. [See article on Page 4 of your newsletter for more.]

Editor's Note: The Oregon Historical Society donated approximately 75 books to our Local, so we wanted to give them a chance to tell us about their organization.

By KEN DUBOIS
Public Information Officer,
Oregon Historical Society

The Oregon Historical Society Press has a history of fine publications, beginning with the first edition of the Society's quarterly, published in 1900. The Oregon Historical Quarterly is the journal of record for Oregon history, featuring articles and essays about every period of the state's history, along with images from the Society's vast archives. The Quarterly has been published continuously for 103 years.

Since 1929, the OHS Press has published a wide range of books, including volumes on exploration and the history of the Pacific Rim, the fur trade, the Oregon Trail, Oregon politics, art and culture, and natural history. Some of the most popular OHS Press books were related to OHS Museum exhibits, such as Soft Gold: The Fur Trade and Cultural Exchange on the Northwest Coast of America and Art Perfected: Portraiture from the Cronise Studio. Other popular and enduring Press publications include Wildflowers of the Columbia Gorge by Russ Jolley, That Balance So Rare: The Story of Oregon by Terence O'Donnell, and One City's Wilderness: Portland's Forest Park by Marcy Cottrell Houle.

Recent publications are Range of Glaciers: The Exploration and Survey of the Northern Cascade Range by Fred Beckey and Oregon Geographic Names 7th Edition by Lewis L. McArthur.

Register to vote!

If you are not currently registered to vote, you may want to consider how many issues that affect carpenters are decided by our politicians. Health care, retirement, apprenticeship/training, job development and safety are all affected either directly or indirectly in a variety of political arenas. If you are currently registered and voting regularly, please talk to co-workers, friends and family about the importance of participating in the process. Voter registration forms for both Oregon and Washington are available at the Local 247 office. Stop by or contact us and we will send them to you.

Labor history timeline
Compiled by TOM DAY & GENE LAWHORN

1892 Homestead, Pennsylvania. The Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin workers go on strike against the Andrew Carnegie owned Homestead Works. twelve mill complex employing almost 4000 workers. They take over the complex, and Carngeie sends in Pinkerton Detectives to retake the plant. After a seven hour battle the Pinkertons surrender. Seven workers and three Pinkertons were killed in the battle. State troops were called in to end the uprising, crushing the strike. Eugene Debs leads the American Railway Union on a strike against the Pullman Car Company. US troops are called out and break the strike. Over thirty workers were killed on the picket lines. The Lattimer Massacre. Nineteen striking coal miners are killed shot in the back as they peacefully march to stand picket at a mine entrance. Thirty nine more were wounded.

1898 Fourteen striking coal miners were killed, and twenty four wounded in a battle to prevent a train load of 'replacement workers' (aka scabs) from being shipped in from the South. This became known as The Virden Massacre. The Portland Labor Press, now the Northwest Labor Press issued it first edition. The International Ladies Garment Workers Union is founded. United Textile workers founded. Mother Jones, now 73 years old, leads the march of the mill. Children from the textile mills of Pennsylvania to the summer home of President Teddy Roosevelt . Although Roosevelt refuses to see them the march successfully highlighted the problem of child labor and as a result many States changed laws to restrict child labor as a result. The Industrial Workers of the World is founded. This union was the most unique ever founded in the history of the world. With direct action as their credo the IWW or Wobblies would put the forward back into the labor movement. From 1905 to 1920 the IWW would fight a series of battles from labor rights to free speech rights that would seek to affirm every principle set fourth in the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.

1906 Upton Sinclair's classic exposure of the working conditions in the meat packing industry is published. Many  people, after reading The Jungle have become vegetarians. Feb. 18 United Brotherhood of Carpenters Organizer, and founder, Peter J. McGuire dies. Carpenters Union reaches 200,000 members, making it the largest trade union in the US. 146 workers, mostly women, are killed in the Triangle Shirtwaste Fire in New York City. The doors were locked to prevent union organizers from entering. Most jumped to their deaths from the 14th floor. The great State of Oregon passes the very first minimum wage law in the Nation. Mucklow, West Virginia 12 striking coal miners were massacred by thugs Working for the Baldwin Felts Detective Agency. -- To be continued

Republicans block jobless benefits

For the second time in two months, Republican congressional leaders in both houses rejected Democrats' attempts to bring to a vote renewal of the federal Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation (TEUC) insurance benefits program. Because Congress has not renewed TEUC, a record-high 375,000 jobless workers exhausted their unemployment insurance in January, and an estimated 2 million workers will find themselves in the same predicament during the first half of the year, according to an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Among the 8.4 million officially unemployed U.S. workers, 2 million have been job-hunting for 27 weeks or more, the highest level in 20 years, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.