NEWSLETTERJuly 2005 |
Past Newsletters |
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Carpenters Local 247 June 2005 meeting report
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When you come to meetings, please remember to bring donations for the food bank.
Note: Membership meetings will now begin at 6 p.m. This was voted on by the membership at January’s Special Called Meeting.
General membership
Meets the second Tuesday, July 12, at 6 p.m. at the Carpenters Hall, 2215 N.
Lombard, Portland. Congressman Earl Blumenauer is expected to attend the August
general membership meeting.
Retirees
Retirees meet for lunch the second Monday, July 11, at 11 a.m. at JJ North’s,
10520 NE Halsey, Portland.
Executive Board
Executive Board meets the fourth Tuesday, July 26, at 6:30 p.m. at the
Carpenters Hall, 2215 N. Lombard, Portland.
I’d like to thank the members of Local 247 for selecting me as Vice President.
Due to some personal life changes and home remodeling, our former Vice President
Willie Gore chose not to run again this year, but to spend time taking care of
business at home. My personal thanks to Willie for his support, friendship and
Brotherhood!
—Gene Lawhorn
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 July 26, 2005. Please call or drop by the office for any questions or more information.
Mark your calendars! The Carpenters Local 247 annual picnic will be Sunday, Aug. 28, 2005 at Camp Withycombe (same place as last year, hopefully without the rain we had last year!) There will be lots of fun, food and activities for the whole family! Be sure to mark the date on your calendar, because it’s an event you won’t want to miss! More details will be provided in the upcoming issues.
Any member who is taking advantage of reduced quarterly dues must have their third-quarter dues payment into the office no later than June 30, 2005. The third quarter payment will pay for your dues for the months of July, August and September. If you are currently not taking advantage of this option and wish to do so, please send your payment into the office before the due date. However, you must have your dues paid through June in order to take advantage of this discount. The reduced rates are as follows: Journeyman - $72.00, Apprentice - $42.00, Tradeshow - $48.00.
In addition, please do not forget to add the Sick & Injured Fund Assessment of $15.
The annual Sick & Injured Fund Assessment fee of $15 was added on June 1, 2005 to all actively working members’ dues accounts. If you are a yearly or quarterly dues member, please remember to submit this amount to the Local. This assessment was voted upon at last year’s May membership meeting.
The Carpenters Food Bank is the third Friday of every month in the back of our building. Please note that the time has changed to 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It is available for members who are out of work and are in need of a box of food. Join us in the back of the building. It is first come, first serve. All you need to do is show your union card.
We are looking for volunteers to cover the UBC booth at the Clark County Fair in Vancouver, Washington. Parking passes and entrance passes will be provided. We have been chosen to cover the booth on Saturday, Aug. 6 and Monday, Aug. 8 from 6 to 10 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 10 and Sunday, Aug. 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Please contact the office if you are interested.
By Joe Whitney
Do you ever wonder why someone might sit down and type an article for the newsletter? Maybe it’s because something happens in your life that gets you going, or something might be happening that you want other people to know about, or maybe it’s a combination of the two. Well, in this case, it’s the latter. “What is this guy talking about?” you might say.
Just in case you haven’t noticed, it’s time for negotiations, and this time around it’s a purely economic package, and by that I mean it’s all about money. Our lead negotiators are working hard to get us the best possible package, and things are not going to be easy. The contractors really aren’t that willing to part with a buck or two. They really don’t want to see steward language. They are balking at downtown parking and double-time-after-10 hours. Reference cities are also something that is on the table, and I hope that you’re still not saying, “What is this guy talking about?”
Believe it or not, these contractors know that most of you out there don’t really care: You don’t show up for your Local Union meetings, you don’t support your Locals or your brothers and sisters in any kind of way, you don’t volunteer for the many charity events sponsored by your brothers and sisters that really do care, and you don’t rally around the rest when it comes to showing any kind of support such as Christmas in April or the Mayday March. You simply sit back and let the Steady Eddies do all the work. You let these same people make all of these important decisions for you, and the only time that you make your voice heard is when we talk money and you want it all put on your check. You don’t care about the apprentices that are learning a new trade, and you don’t care about the fact that prescriptions and health care are absolutely going through the roof, and you’re probably thinking to yourself, “Who needs vision care, who needs dental, what do I care about health insurance?” or “I don’t want to put any more money into pension, I’m still young, I don’t get sick, my eyes are fine.” “What? The training center wants three cents out of my check? That’s outrageous.” My guess is maybe you don’t get it, and if it keeps up that way, some day you might be in for a big surprise.
There is a group of people at Local 247 (or twenty-four seven as President Bruce Dennis likes to call it), that is very active in all kinds of events, whether it’s charity or political, as long as it’s for a good cause and it’s to help out our fellow brothers and sisters, whether or not they belong to the Brotherhood. We have the food bank helping others less fortunate than ourselves. We help out our own with assistance if they are hurt off the job and can’t work. And hardly a meeting goes by without us helping out someone that needs it. Why? Well the answer is very simple: We care! We care about you whether or not you care for yourself or for your family. We care about our union, our local, our brothers and sisters, and that is why I’m writing this article.
It’s not the kind that I usually write, and the words don’t flow as easily as they always have. But the fact of the matter is that I’ve visited many jobsites recently, and not many of the people I’ve visited and talked to have really cared about negotiations, and fewer have cared that major nominations were going on for elected officials of all the locals.
I went to another local’s meeting, and virtually no one stood up for any of the elected positions, and in all but the delegate’s position and the alternate delegate’s position, there was only one person running for office. So that means if you’re nominated and you accepted the nomination, you won. The members were wondering what they could do to pique the interest of their members, and if anyone else in their Local cared about the future.
I know that in fact the members at Local 247 are interested in what’s going on. They care about who’s making the decisions that are going to affect your very livelihood. And we at 247 care about the rest of the brotherhood. How do I know? I’ve seen it , I’ve heard it and I know for a fact that the 65-plus members that do come to the meetings have a real need to know what is going on.
We have a special area set off for the kids. We have toys for them to play with. All children that attend always win a prize in the raffle. We feed you, and quite well, I might add. And to make the meetings better for all, we usually have guest speakers. Most of the Business Agents come to report on upcoming work and work that is ongoing. We always have a Training Center report, so we know what classes are available. W also have great raffle prizes, giveaways, and if you go to enough meetings in a year’s time, you get a Carhartt jacket embroidered with the 247 logo, and some of the most lively conversations (good or bad, heated or casual) that you might ever hear at a Union meeting.
So if you’re still wondering what this article is all about, well, in one word, I guess it would be PRIDE. I’m proud of the fact that I am a Union Carpenter, proud of the fact that I am one of the members who really cares about my community, my family, my Brotherhood and my future. I do take pride in going to the meetings, I do take pride in voting, nominating and volunteering, and I do take pride in my fellow brothers and sisters along with the pride that I feel when someone asks me what I do for a living.
So yes, Brothers and Sisters, I am excited, excited that the future is holding an awful lot of upcoming work, excited that my Local is one of the largest and finest Locals in Oregon, excited that negotiations should bring us a wage equal to the cost of living, excited that if my two beautiful daughters have health care, dental, vision and a hope for the future. And by the way, I bring my older daughter to the meetings and now my youngest is wanting to come and learn about Union values, and of that I am very proud. Come to your meetings, bring your wife or husband, and bring your kids. Why? Because we’re all family and you should be proud and you should also be excited. Why? Because it’s your future and you shouldn’t let others make your decisions for you. Why? Because you have a right to be proud.
By Gene Lawhorn
Vice President-elect
Our Local recently passed a “Resolution for Free Speech” drafted by myself and President Bruce Dennis to be introduced at the United Brotherhood of Carpenters General Convention — without a single voice of opposition. In other words, unanimously! Our Resolution was then sent to the Executive Board of the Pacific Northwest Regional of Carpenters. So I figure it’s a no-brainer: Who could possibly be against free speech in our Regional Council? Well it seems a majority was, and the Executive Board voted to not concur with the Resolution.
To say I was stunned and angered when I heard this is a great understatement! So on the 21st of May at the Regional Council Delegates meeting, us delegates of Local 247 pulled the Resolution from the Executive Board Minutes for discussion under New Business. There we made a motion to not concur with the Executive Board’s decision to not concur with the Resolution. A lively debate ensued, with a majority of the rank and file speaking in favor and supporting the Free Speech Resolution. Many had witnessed the fiasco of the UBC General Convention when after standing in line for hours at a time, “floor whips” called for the question to end debate as soon as any question hit the floor of the Convention, thus shutting out any other delegates from participating in the process.
A resolution we passed at Local 247 and the regional Council to build a monument or memorial to four Carpenter organizers murdered in Bogalusa, Louisiana, was defeated by a recommendation of non-concurrence from Committee, and debate was cut off before anyone could get a chance to speak against the Committee’s recommendation. Sitting at each microphone is a Warden (aka, Floor Whip) with a communication device to let the General President know which microphone not to call on, just in case someone makes it through all the designated members standing in line. I honestly left the UBC General Convention feeling as though I had been kicked in the stomach. It was a sickening abuse of power which was aided by some of our own PNWRCC delegates, but none, I am proud to say, from Local 247!
The idea behind the Free Speech Resolution is to allow all the delegates an opportunity to participate in the General Convention process. To speak for or against resolutions presented, and to communicate with each other our collective visions for making a stronger United Brotherhood of Carpenters nationwide. At the Regional Council Delegates meeting, we passed a vote to not concur with the Executive Board’s recommendation to not concur by a vote of 116 to 62. We then made a motion to concur with the Resolution and won by a voice vote.
President Bruce Dennis then made a motion to send the Resolution to General President Douglas McCarron and other Regional Councils with our recommendation that he embrace the concept of Free Speech at the Convention. This motion passed overwhelmingly without any dissenting voices of opposition.
The idea of free speech does not become a living concept unless exercised. It’s a lot like a muscle that gets tight and inflexible unless it’s stretched. By stretching I mean voicing and writing ideas and concepts that the majority does not always agree with. The founding fathers of this nation wrote these guarantees into our Constitution knowing full well they would have to be reaffirmed again and again through exercising our right to dissent from the majority. When Thomas Jefferson said, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” He knew that throughout the future of the American nation, we would always have to reaffirm through some form of action, whether it be fighting or simply standing up to speak in front of a hostile crowd.
We, with this resolution, are carrying out a historical tradition on the West Coast that goes back in the early 1900s with the Free Speech fights that the Industrial Workers of the World, (the IWW or Wobs) conducted from Fresno to Spokane. Whenever a town enacted an ordinance barring union organizers from public speaking, the IWW would put out a call for a free speech fight. Arriving on trains, boats and on foot, hundreds, sometimes thousands, of IWW activists would arrive and stand in line to get on soap boxes and speak. Sometimes they’d simply read the U.S. Constitution, then they would be arrested and fill the jails so full the city would have to rescind the ordinance barring free speech. Many of these union activists were tortured, beaten, or killed, as with the free speech fight in Everett, Washington on Nov. 5, 1915, when sheriff’s deputies opened fire on a boatload of free speech participants, killing 11 and wounding over 20. I would hope this is enough blood for the Liberty Tree for a long time to come.
I am proud of the work we are doing in this area. I believe we have a membership of possibly the most progressive union carpenters in the nation at 247. Of that we should all be proud. We have a great group of delegates representing us at the Regional Council, and we get the job done. You all should also be proud and keep up the support. When other Locals call the leadership before they make any controversial decision, it’s usually in response to something we have taken a position on already. At 247, we are the leaders of the Brotherhood and act accordingly.
