NEWS
LETTER
June 2000
INDEX
The results of our contract vote
held on May 20 are as follows. Associated General Contractors Master Labor
Agreement
Passed - 72 percent yes
General & Concrete
Contractors Association Master Labor Agreement
Passed - 73 percent
The proposals call for a $0.75 wage increase on June 1 and three more $0.75 increases at six-month intervals. A total of $0.26 will be additionally added to the Apprenticeship and Training Fund, primarily to pay for the Skill Advancement program. We will be sending out ballots to determine how to disperse this and future increases. The General and Concrete Contractors Association agreement will be four years in duration and the Associated General Contractors agreement will be two years in duration. If you have questions, call the Regional Council at 503-261-1862. PNWRCC Carpenters 'Working the Phones' "Reach out and touch someone" or "Come in on Saturday to Vote" was the message sent to over 4,000 members of the bargaining unit through personal phone calls made on the evenings of May 16,17 and 18. Over 25 volunteers stepped up to help inform our members about the contract vote held on May 20. The Council sponsored the phone bank at three locations, one of which was at Local 247. Members helping from 247: Chet Caruthers, Eldon Middleton, Gene Lawhorn, Brian Carson, Kevin Weller, Gerald Hays, Andy Franklin, Willie Gore, Tom Daugherty, Bruce Dennis, Clyde Owens, Ken Curry, Dave Oury, Floyd Willson and Bruce Ashback. Ed Glad from 2130 helped set up with help from Sarah and April of the AFL-CIO. We also had help from members of 711, 1715 and 1388. Thanks, everyone.
Local 247 wants to congratulate
our apprentices who became Journeymen.
April 2000
Carpenters: Adam Forman, David Gray, Joshua Hill, Wade Huber, Nick Teel, Spencer
Wirkkala
Scaffold Erectors: Terrance Christianson, Troy Miller
May 2000
Carpenters: Darrell Budge, Laumer Colli, James Knapp, George Maruhn, Sulton
Shabazz
We have a good relationship with our neighbors, Kenton United Presbyterian Church.They are letting us use their parking lot almost all of the time during the week. We have been approached about assisting them remodeling their downstairs gym.They make the gym available for local young people for recreation. I have looked at the project. They want to replace ceiling tiles, paneling, repaint, re-tile and do some miscellaneous repairs. With a few volunteers from 247, this is no problem. IF YOU are interested, Give me a call. -Bruce Dennis, President
 |
Our volunteer effort to help needy families on April 29 was a big success. Christmas in April - Portland worked on 51 houses and five non-profits. We had volunteers helping in the Portland and Washington County Chapters of Christmas in April. We had 30 – 40 carpenter volunteers - CONGRATULATIONS! Our house captains were Chet Caruthers, Andy Franklin, Willie Gore, Ray Grahn, John Jackson, Pat Kehoe, Dave Royer and Pete Savage. Bruce Dennis helped coordinate our volunteers, took pictures and worked on one of the houses. The contractors who sponsored houses were A.C. Schommer & Sons, Advanced Technology Group, DPR Construction Inc., Lease Crutcher Lewis Construction and Neil Kelly. |
June 13, 2000 at Carpenters Local 247 meeting hall, Election for the Delegates to the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters and Trustee of Carpenters Local 247. Carpenters Local 247 is entitled to 13 delegates to the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters. We will be electing 13 delegates. The term of the delegates' office is two years and will commence upon being sworn in at the regular Council meeting. The newly-elected delegates are to assemble at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2000 at the Benson Hotel in Portland, Oregon. To be eligible for nomination and to be elected as a delegate and trustee you must have been a member for two years and have been in good standing the past 12 months.
The following are the nominees for delegates:
Bruce Ashback
John Hahn Joe Baron
Gene Lawhorn
Larry Burkhalter
Eldon Middleton
Chet Caruthers
Jodi Murphy
Mike Couch
Dave Oury
Shawn Cushman
Pete Savage
Bruce Dennis
Kevin Stokes
Andy Franklin
Steve Wright
Willie Gore
Floyd Willson
Dave Bean
The following are the nominees
for trustee:
Eldon Middleton Kevin Stokes
 |
Local 247 members recently
took a trip to tour the Snake River dams. A forum discussing the pros and cons
of dam breaching was discussed at our recent quarterly Regional Council meeting
in Spokane. By David Bean |
In an action that should make you proud, your board led the Regional Council to table a motion to oppose the breaching of the Snake River Dams. Some members of your board and some rank-and-file members then flew an inspection tour and inspected Lower Monumental Dam. Delegate David Bean presented the case for breaching the dams, along with Executive Board member Don Atwood (Astoria) and Sam Pointer, president of 2154.The pro-dam panel was composed of two Executive Board members from Montana and one from Idaho. A lot of information came out in the forum, the first of its kind, such as: The dams provide no flood control; three of the four dams have no irrigation; and each dam in an average water year produces 1 percent of the region's power. Their main function is to provide wheat transport for 140 miles, under which 76 named spawning rapids are submerged. The panel agreed to leave the dam breaching on the table in large part not to harm Carpenter brother Tommy Flynn's candidacy for Congress in the region next to Lewiston. Clarkston will no longer be a seaport if the dams are breached. The Corps of Engineers estimates that it would create 20,000 construction jobs over 10 years toreconfigure the transportation and build additional power plants, etc., with the dam breaching. (Some say that is an inflated estimate.) It will continue to be tabled at least until after the elections in November. This action will do more to preserve the salmon in the Northwest region than any other single act. It will boost the economy of the coast. If you are from the Northwest, I hope this will make you proud to be a union carpenter.
I would like to thank the E-Board and Members of Carpenters Local 247 for your generous donation of $247.We raised a total of $632 as a family, and exceeded last year's contributions. Jon, myself and, our family joined over 750,000 walkers across the nation participating in the 30th annual Walk America to save babies on Saturday, April 29. Since its beginning in 1970, Walk America has raised more than one billion dollars to help save millions of babies from death or disability. Four major problems threaten the health of America's babies: birth defects, infant mortality, low birth weight, and lack of prenatal care. The March of Dimes, with all your help, is bringing us closer to the day when all babies will be born healthy. - Linda Watson, Local 247 Bookkeeper
Please note: our e-mail address has changed to carpenters@ubc247.com.If you have a moment take a look at our "ubc247.com" Web site, it is in process of being constructed and it looks great! Dues reminder Those who want the quarterly discount for paying dues in advance - third-quarter payments are due by the end of June. Trust has moved The OR-WA Carpenters-Employers Trust Office (Zenith Administrators, Inc.) has moved to:9600 SW Oak, Suite 380, Tigard, OR97223. Use the following direct phone numbers (they have not changed): Local: (503) 276-1148 Toll Free: (888) 286-3159 Picnic 2000 Mark your calendar for Sunday, Aug. 13, 2000.We still need volunteers to help with planning, making signs, children's games, and help the day of the picnic. RSVP at Carpenters Local 247 if you plan to attend or to sign up as a volunteer for the picnic. - Willie Gore, chairman
Applications will be taken after Tuesday, April 11. Please call Linda or Julie at Carpenters Local 247 for details.
Please support Brother Wayne Wallace on the K2000 Expedition. We have K2 T-Shirts for sale at Local 247 for $25. Denim shirts are in. They are short-sleeved, with 2" embroidered Carpenters Local #247 logo. Price $34.
With help from Carpenters, drywall hangers get back pay; more due Exterior/Interior Specialists Local 2154 is helping 16 drywall hangers get wages for hundreds of board-feet of drywall they installed in March and April. Local 2154 is an affiliate of the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters. After weeks of pleading for paychecks worth about $18,000, the non-union hangers contacted Local 2154 for help. On April 21, nine men picketed Center Commons, a new assisted senior and federally-subsidized affordable housing community under construction at Northeast 60th Avenue and Glisan Street in Portland - where they have worked without pay for more than six weeks. The general contractor is R&H Construction and the drywall subcontractor is Western Integrity. The project is co-sponsored by Oregon Department of Housing Commission, Portland Development Commission and METRO. The workers - all Hispanic - say they are owed an additional $10,000 for work at another Western Integrity jobsite at Northwest 25th Avenue and Thurman Street in Portland. The picketing caught the attention of R&H supervisors and within a week (on May 2)the contractor issued two checks counter-signed by Western Integrity to two of the workers. One check was for $4,700 and the other was for $3,242 - far short of what the workers say is owed. According to the union, the two men receiving the checks were somehow convinced to work under their own licenses as "independent contractors" and to pull together their own work crews. Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries has subsequently listed Western Integrity as ineligible to work for a public agency as a contractor.