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When you come to meetings,
please remember
to bring donations for the food bank.
NEWSLETTERJune 2007 |
Past Newsletters |
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When you come to meetings,
please remember |
General membership
General membership meets the second Tuesday, June 12, at 6 p.m. at the
Carpenters Hall, 2215 N. Lombard, Portland. Members will elect a trustee and
vote on a proposed dues increase at this meeting. If you have any questions,
please feel free to contact the office at 503-289-9632.
Retirees
Retirees meet for lunch the second Monday, June 11, at 11 a.m. at JJ North’s,
10520 NE Halsey, Portland.
Executive Board
Executive Board meets the fourth Tuesday, June 26, at 6:30 p.m. at the
Carpenters Hall, 2215 N. Lombard, Portland.
Carpenters Local 247 May 2007 Meeting Report
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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 24, 2007. Please call or drop by the office for any questions or more information.
At the general June membership meeting, members will elect the candidates who are nominated at the May Special Called Meeting, and vote on the proposed dues structure. The meeting will be held in conjunction with the Regular Membership Meeting at Carpenters Local 247 in the Upper Hall. The meetings will begin at 6 p.m.
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. The third quarter payment will pay for your dues for the months of July, August and September. If you are not currently taking advantage of this option and wish to do so, please send your payment to 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, Tradeshow - $48.
In addition, please don’t forget to include the Annual Sick & Injured Assessment of $15 that will be applied to member’s accounts on June 1.
You won the award challenge … you get to come to Carpenters Local 247 picnic!
Mark your calendars! The Carpenters Local 247 annual picnic will be Sunday,
August 12,2007, at Camp Withycombe in Oregon City.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.
By Joe Baron,
Chair Metro-Wide Endorsement Committee
To make sure we keep up with the legislatures in session, it is imperative that we be able to get ahold of you. Go to the Regional Council’s Web site at www.nwcarpenters.org , Members Site. In the very bottom right hand corner is the "Get Active" section. Sign up today so you can stay informed, speak out and make a difference. In addition, they will send you a form letter by e-mail that you can forward to your state representative or senator when there is an important matter pending. Just to let you know, the letter you received with the Special Called Meeting notice paid off. Two important votes in Portland were passed that we supported: "No on 26-91" and "Yes on 26-92". In addition, Kevin Spellman, who works for Emerick Construction Co., was elected to the MESD. Thanks for your continued support.
Barbara Dudley AFT Local 3571 member and Co-Chair of the Oregon Working Families Party
Fusion is a simple reform that gives candidates for elected office the freedom to run with the endorsement of more than one political party. It also gives minor political parties the option of running a "fusion candidate" with a major party, or running a stand-alone candidate. There is currently a bill in the Oregon State Legislature, HB 3040, which would reintroduce fusion voting in Oregon.
Throughout the 19th and into the early 20th century, fusion was legal in nearly every state of the union, including Oregon. Here, it united rural farmers and urban workers in a Populist alliance that built real political power for working people of all backgrounds. Today, fusion remains technically legal in seven states. It is part of common electoral practice in New York, and is enjoying a revival in Connecticut and South Carolina and is currently under consideration in Washington State, New Mexico, Maine and Montana.
The mechanics are simple. Candidates appear on the ballot once for each party that nominates them, and voters may choose to vote for their candidate of choice on any one of those party lines. Votes for each party are tallied separately, but all of a candidate’s votes are added together to determine the winner of the election.
How Fusion Strengthens Democracy
Fusion gives a greater voice to citizens who feel alienated from the political process. Many voters are well informed but don’t vote because they don’t feel well represented by either of the major parties. Fusion allows voters to vote for a candidate who has a real chance of winning, while voting for a Party which represents the issues of greatest importance to that voter.
Fusion gives you a way to support a candidate who can actually win, while supporting your own party and the issues that party prioritizes. You can vote for a minor party without "wasting" your vote on a candidate that has no chance, and if your party provides the margin of victory, you can hold that candidate accountable on the issue that matter most to your party.
Fusion solves the "spoiler" problem facing minor parties and their supporters under the system that most states currently have in place. Under the current (non-fusion) system, minor parties are often relegated to the role of "spoiler," allowing a candidate to win even when they’re opposed by the majority of the electorate. Fusion solves this problem.
Fusion and the Working Families Party
There is a serious political strategy driving the revival of fusion voting in Oregon. Many unions have already come together under the umbrella of the newly formed Oregon Working Families Party ( www.oregonwfp.org ) so that working people can have our own independent political party that stays focused on bread-and-butter economic issues to push forward an agenda of good jobs, universal health care, and good public schools. With fusion in place, working people will be able to run our own candidates when they are viable, but also to build coalitions with major-party politicians who agree to prioritize our issues.
The value of this reform is that when we do "fuse" with major-party candidates, they will know exactly how many votes we delivered to them (in New York the Working Families Party has provided the margin of victory to dozens of political candidates), and they will therefore be much more likely to deliver on the issues we care about most.
That’s why we’re asking you to join us in supporting the fusion voting bill, HB 3040. Call or email your state legislators today and urge them to support HB 3040. If you don't know who your State Representative or State Senator is, you can find them on the State Legislature's website, http://www.leg.state.or.us/findlegsltr/ .