NEWSLETTERJuly 2008 |
Past Newsletters |
|
When you come to meetings,
please remember |
June Meeting ReportBy Bruce Dennis We had 146 members present at our regular June Special Called meeting. We elected officers and delegates. The results are as follows: President, Bruce Dennis; Vice-President, Mike Anderson; Financial Secretary, Joe Baron; Recording Secretary, Ben Basom; delegates, Mike Anderson, Ben Basom, Darell Duffy, John Hahn, Christie Kern, Rich Petrich, Pete Savage, Joe Baron, Bruce Dennis, Krista Farmer, Gene Lawhorn, Jason Sheckler, Kevin Stokes, and Joe Whitney. Davy Oury, Gene Picariello and Tom Sowa were elected as alternates. Trustee Kevin Stokes, Conductor Pete Savage and Warden Mike Couch were not opposed and were elected by white ballot. The election took up most of the meeting. All candidates were given the opportunity to speak, and the balloting proceeded smoothly. Our Ballot Committee consisted of Chairman Jim Murphy, Steve Bates, Randy Durkee, Randy Estes, Shaun Cushman, Lloyd Long, Curt Gallia and Brad Chausee. Thanks to the ballot committee. The delegate ballot is a complex, time-consuming project. The ballot committee all received a Local 247 t-shirt as a show of appreciation. We had a moment of silence for Jason Sims, 27, a third-year apprentice who died recently in a drowning accident. We got a report regarding the recent Unfair Labor Practice strike against Robinson construction. We also had delegate reports from the May delegate meeting. General President Doug Mc- Carron attended the delegate meeting and was warmly received by the delegates. He took questions from the delegate body. We had a political report regarding upcoming elections, and a Local 247 financial report as well. Jason Sheckler was appointed to our newsletter committee. Articles can be
submitted by any member. The Executive Board reviews the newsletter content on
the fourth Tuesday at the 6:30 meeting, which is open to all members. Shaun
Cushman was presented a certificate of achievement for his past service as a
Local 247 officer. The meeting was a little tense during the election, but progressed smoothly
as we moved through our agenda. Now that we have elected our officers and
delegates, we need to pull together and focus on what’s best for our members and
families. Whatever small issues we have should be set aside in favor of
advocating for our core union values. |
General membership
General membership meets the second Tuesday, July 8, 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, July 14, at 11 a.m. at JJ North’s,
10520 NE Halsey, Portland.
Executive Board
Executive Board meets the fourth Tuesday, July 22, at 6:30 p.m. at the
Carpenters Hall, 2215 N. Lombard, Portland.
By Gabe Triplett
Local 247 member
On April 11, with financial help from the 247 membership, three members of Local 247 joined with other building trades unionists from Portland and flew to Detroit, Michigan. In Detroit they met with over 1,000 strong unionists from all over the world for the Labor Notes Conference.
The Conference was entitled “Rebuilding the Labor Movement’s Power” and included over 110 workshops. Because less than 10 percent of the U.S. population is union, we workers gathered to discuss, debate, strategize, and plan how to rebuild the union movement, how to avoid the mistakes of the past, and how to bring democracy to our unions and to our jobs. A highlight from the weekend was when over 250 participants from the conference went out and walked the picket line with workers from the UAWin front of American Axle. We had workers from all walks of life from many different industries standing together and sending a loud message to American Axle: ‘The union movement is not dead! We stand together and will not be divided! We will win!”
The workers from Portland, representing the cross-trade solidarity committee, held two workshops at the conference. The first workshop we held was entitled “Immigration in the Trades.” This was a very productive workshop and was well attended. The second workshop put on by the CTSC was more of a roundtable discussion. Over 30 building trades workers from around the U.S. gathered and discussed the problems of our industry and how to fix them. We talked about different strategies that had been used in different areas to build the union and whether or not they were effective.
All in all it was a great experience. I would like to thank the membership for assisting us financially, and with out you, Carpenters from Portland would not have been able to attend. I look forward to the conference next year and hope Local 247 will have even more in attendance.
By Bruce Dennis, President
The Pacific NW Regional Council established a member retention program several years ago. The goal of the program is to retain carpenters in the union. I have been given the task of doing all the phone calls to members who appear to be dropping out of the union. This has been about 300 calls per month for our contract area. Some of the members are working and have not updated their addresses and phone numbers with their locals. These members promptly address their arrearages and naturally are retained. Many others are having problems with maintaining a job, injuries or other issues.
New members need our help with improving job skills, looking for work, work ethics and understanding our union contracts. If we do not retain these carpenters in the union, many will end up working against us as non-union carpenters. Some end up with a negative attitude about the union. These are the hardest non-union carpenters to deal with. It is incumbent on all of us to help our brothers and sisters when we see them in need; so the next time you find yourself working with a carpenter who may need a hand up, help them out. It only makes us stronger.
