Meeting Notices

General membership
Meets the second Tuesday, June 8, at 7 p.m. at the Carpenters Hall, 2215 N. Lombard, Portland. This is a special call meeting for the purpose of electing one trustee and 12 delegates to the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters. A steak and chicken dinner will be served. Wear a Hawaiian shirt, as there will be a contest.

Retirees
Retirees meet for lunch the second Monday, June 14, at 11 a.m. at JJ North’s, 10520 NE Halsey, Portland.

Executive Board
Executive Board meets the fourth Tuesday, June 22, at 7 p.m. at the Carpenters Hall, 2215 N. Lombard.

‘Special call’ meeting - June 8
At the June general membership meeting, members will elect one trustee and 12 delegates to the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters from among the members that were nominated at the May membership meeting.

Scholarship available
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 27, 2004. Please call or drop by the office for any questions or more information.

Carpenters Local 247 Picnic
Mark your calendars! The Carpenters Local 247 annual picnic will be Sunday, Aug. 8, at Blue Lake Park. 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.

Dues reminder
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, 2004. 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 - $66.00, Apprentice - $42.00, Tradeshow - $48.00.

Corporate war against workers

By Gene Lawhorn
[Continued from the May 7 issue]

During the next few years the militia in several states was centralized, more armories strategically built, and conspiracy laws enacted against trade unions. Take careful note, this legacy is very much with us today. The US National Guard is nothing less than reserve army that stands on alert, ready to defend the interest of rich and powerful should the working class rise up again.

In the years following 1877, the war against workers struggling for shorter hours, better wages and the right to unionize would escalate. In 1886 during a nationwide general strike for the eight-hour workday, Pinkerton thugs opened fire on peaceful pickets at a Chicago McCormick-Harvester factory, killing six and wounding over 40. The next day, May 4, leaders of the Chicago anarchist movement gathered at Haymarket Square to protest the killings. As the demonstration was ending, someone believed to be an agent provocateur threw a bomb into column of police killing seven and wounding over 540. The panicked police opened fire on the crowd, killing as many as 20 and wounding over 200 demonstrators. Eight leaders of the Chicago anarchist movement were arrested. For advocating ideas that led to the bombing, August Spies, Albert Parsons, George Engle, and Adolph Fischer were hanged on Nov. 11, 1887.

On Nov. 22, 1886, 30 striking African-American sugar workers were massacred in Thibodaux, La., by a local militia group of the county’s leading citizens. After the massacre, the county sheriff took the strike leaders, Henry and George Cox, from their jail cells, and lynched them. They were members of the Knights of Labor.

In 1892, 300 Pinkerton thugs would attack striking steelworkers in Homestead, Penn., killing nine workers. A 13-hour battle took place, with Pinkies surrendering to the strikers. The strike was broken when 8,000 National Guardsmen came in to act as strikebreakers.

At the same time, striking hard rock miners in Idaho were also fighting Pinkertons. Three strikers were killed, and again the National Guard would be called out to support Pinkies. The same year found coal miners in Coal Creek, Tennessee, kicking off a two-year armed struggle to end the convict lease system.

In June of 1894, the American Railway Union, under the leadership of Eugene Debs, started a nationwide boycott of Pullman cars to support Pullman strikers. The strike and boycott was so effective that National Guard and government troops were sent out against strikers. Judges issued injunctions against the strike leaders, having them arrested. U.S. troops and the Guard opened fire on strikers in several cities where strike activities were most active. By the end of the strike, over 34 workers were killed, and hundreds wounded. In Chicago alone, 13 were killed, and 53 seriously wounded.

In the Lattimer Massacre of 1897, there were 19 peaceful striking coal miners killed and 39 wounded in Lattimer, Pennsylvania.

In 1898, 14 striking coal miners were massacred and 24 wounded in what is known as the Virden Massacre.

On Feb. 10, 1913 in Mucklow, West Virginia, 12 striking coal miners were massacred by Baldwin-Felts thugs. Three days earlier one miner was killed and several miners and wives wounded when a armored train equipped with machine guns known as the “Bull Moose Special” open fire on a peaceful sleeping tent colony.

On Dec. 24, 1913, 62 children and 11 adults were crushed to death on a narrow stair case when Mahon-Wadell thugs yelled a false fire alarm at a Christmas party for the children of striking copper miners of the Calumet & Hecla mining company.

On April 20, 1914, The Colorado National Guard & Baldwin-Felts detective agency working for the great American John D. Rockfeller, who controlled interest in the Colorado Fuel and Iron Co., massacred 12 children, and two women (Cedilano Costa & Patricia Valdez). By some accounts, 10 to 30 miners were also massacred, including strike leader Lois Tikas. In the post-massacre uprising, U.S. troops would have to be called in to quell the miners revolt. The Ludlow massacre marked the beginning of corporate public relations campaigns to whitewash the bloody hands of millionaires who give dimes to children while sucking the life’s blood from their fathers and mother in the workplace.
On Nov. 5, 1915, 500 deputies in Everett, Washington opened fire on a boatload of unarmed peaceful IWW members protesting restrictions in free speech for union organizers. Eleven were killed, 27 wounded.

— To be continued

Second Annual Building Trades Unions Motorcycle Poker Run
a benefit for Doernbecher Children’s Hospital
Saturday, June 12, 2004
Registration 10 to 11 a.m., $10 entry

Sponsored by Columbia-Pacific Building Trades, affiliates and other local trade unions

All riders welcome. Come for a nice ride, good people, and the best chili (you being the judge).

Where: Start and finish at IBEW Local 48, 15937 NE Airport Way, Portland.
What: A scenic round-trip ride with four checkpoints. Participants will receive
a playing card at registration, at each of the four checkpoints and return
to the IBEW. You may then donate $5 for a sixth card if you like.
Fun: Cash prizes awarded for HIGH and LOW hands.
Vendor Appreciation drawing and 50/50 tickets for sale!
Chili cookoff between the trades. Hot dogs and sodas available for sale.

All proceeds benefit Doernbecher Children’s Hospital
For additional information, call Holly Wheeler at 360-907-3289, Lee Duncan at 503-260-5905 or Kathy Streifel at 503-658-7412.

Labor history timeline
Compiled by Tom Day & Gene Lawhorn

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 is amended to prohibit child labor for the first time in U.S. history. The Congress of Industrial Organizations begins to expel unions with communist leadership. The AFL and CIO merge, electing George Meany as its first president. Meany rose out of the New York Plumbers union to become great stereotypical cigar-chomping union boss the media loves to hate. The AFL-CIO expels the Teamsters and Laundry Workers unions for corruption. The United Brotherhood of Carpenters reaches its peak of 850,000 members.

1959 The Landrum-Griffin Act, also known as The Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, becomes law. Another stab at the heart of labor, restricts certain types of picketing, and tightens restrictions on secondary boycotts. Equal Pay Act becomes law — prohibits wage differences based on sex.

1964 Civil Rights Act outlaws discrimination in workplace based on sex, color, religion, and national origin. The Age Discrimination Act becomes law. Rise of new and improved open shop drive by big business. Anti-union activity increases. The ABC and other open shop contractors gain work with double-breasted shops; lowers safety and wage standards. Coalition of Labor Union Women founded in Chicago. Labor’s Community Service founded to meet the needs of down-and-out union members. The University of Oregon establishes the Labor Education and Research Center.

1980’s Ronald Raygun and the ‘New Right’ with its anti-union sector, gain economic and political power. BE&K, PCL, Fluor Daniel, Brown & Root, etc. Reagan breaks the air traffic controllers’ union, kicking off a large-scale attack on labor unions from business all over the nation. Joyce Miller becomes the first woman appointed to the AFL-CIO Executive Board. Oregon public employees strike for and win pay equity for women workers.!

— To be continued

Carpenters take lead in Portland’s May Day march and rally

On May 1, 2004, members of Carpenters Local 247 helped to lead a May Day march and rally in Portland, which was months in the planning. The event, which commemorates the struggle for the eight-hour work day, is celebrated worldwide by trade unionists. Upper left, Dennis Kucinich, an Ohio Congressman and candidate for the Democratic nomination for U.S. President, rouses participants at a pause in the downtown Portland march. Above, Local 247 member John Svob gives an interview explaining what May Day is all about. Left, Carpenters political lobbyist Ed Glad speaks at a rally before the march gets under way. The rally and march, organized as a family event, had participation from many other unions and community groups, including members of other construction trades.