Meeting Notices

General membership
Meets the second Tuesday, March 9, at 7 p.m. at the Carpenters Hall, 2215 N. Lombard, Portland. Representatives of the Portland Police Department

Retirees
Retirees meet for lunch the second Monday, March 8, at 11 a.m. at JJ North’s, 10520 NE Halsey, Portland.

Executive Board
Executive Board meets the fourth Tuesday, March 23, at 7 p.m. at the Carpenters Hall, 2215 N. Lombard.

Sick and Injured Fund

This story could be about a nursery rhyme — “Everybody thinks the other member will do my share" — or it could be about the bullet proof 20-year old. But it is not.

The Sick and Injured Fund has relied on volunteers, too numerous to name, selling raffle tickets. Those members had a friendly competition amongst themselves to sell the most tickets. It was great to see those volunteers put their heart and soul into something like that hoping that they would be "just do-gooders" rather than recipients.

These two raffles generated approximately $13,300. The first year approximately 2,050 tickets were sold out of 2,500. The second year approximately 840 tickets were sold out of 1,500. As you can see ticket sales were down, and the fund is now depleted. Over the past two years, 15 members have been helped by the fund. The average assistance to a member has been $900.

The Executive Board and the Sick and Injured Committee will try to fund this worthy cause with a yearly assessment. This will be decided by a special vote of the members in May. The assessment for the remainder of the year 2004 would be $15 per member. Any changes to the fund or financing of the fund would require a membership vote.

None of us can predict when we will become injured or sick enough to require help from this fund. It could be any one of us, at any time. Please help by voting for this worthy cause at the May meeting.

Please remember to vote. It’s important to be there. Your vote counts!! Please remember to attend the May and June meetings.

Unionists to Bush administration: We want our jobs back!

Members of several Carpenters locals, including Local 247, were there with other unionists to “greet” three Bush administration cabinet officials visiting Portland Community College Feb. 18 as part of a so-called “jobs and growth bus tour. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, Secretary of the Treasury John Snow and Secretary of Commerce Donald Evanscame to Oregon to take part in a series of closed-door media events, in which they staged fake town halls with carefully screened invited guests.

Organized labor was not invited to the meetings. Nor were any of the nearly 127,000 unemployed Oregonians. But that didn’t stop us from attending.

When the Bush Team’s luxury bus rolled onto Portland Community College on the morning of Feb. 18, protesters were waiting at the entrance holding signs saying, “We Want our Jobs Back!”

At the same the time the protest was going on outside, Oregon AFL-CIO and Jobs With Justice co-sponsored a Workers Town Hall on the PCC campus. Secretaries Chao, Snow and Evans were invited, but they didn’t show. Their chairs sat empty.

Oregon workers like Bobby McNeely testified at the Workers’ Town Hall. He is one of the 24,000 manufacturing workers in Oregon to lose his job over the past three years. He used to work at the now-closed Reynolds Aluminum plant in Troutdale. Even after going through a retraining program, he is earning $5 to $6 less per hour in wages and benefits.

Later in the day, protesters greeted the Bush Team when they arrived in Eugene.

All in all, the day was a huge success. We know we got the word out that Bush’s economic policies don’t work for Oregon. The Workers’ Town Hall and the protests were widely covered by the local and national media and news outlets around the country ran pictures of the protesters.

Opening Day: Carpenters Local 247 members Andy Wagner and Joe Baron, with two community policing volunteers. Local 247 president lunches next to Sergeant Michael Barkley, whose efforts to recruit volunteers were singled out for praise at the Feb. 27 Kenton Community Policing Office opening. Volunteers from the community and various building trades were thanked with a buffet, served by Brian Pressel, below, a member of Hotel Employees Restaurant Employees Local 9.

Carpenters help build new North Portland police office On Friday, Feb. 27, Mayor Vera Katz, city commissioners Dan Salzman and Jim Francesconi, Police Chief Derrick Foxworth and community leaders gathered to formally open the Kenton Community Policing Office.  In July 2003, Kenton Masonic Lodge No. 145 contributed 1,000 square feet of office space for 10 years at no cost to the city. Remodeling of the office began in September with all materials and labor donated by 48 community organizations and businesses, including Carpenters Local 247.  Total contributions exceeded $200,000, with no expense being paid by the city or Police Bureau. Local 247’s participation began with a visit from Sergeant Michael Barkley. A number of volunteers stepped forward, with Andy Wagner and Joe Baron donating especially large amounts of their time. The office, located at 8134 N. Denver Avenue, will be used by police officers and community volunteers. Officers will be able to use the facility to write reports, access computers, interact with the community, eat meals and be available at a central location outside of the precincts. A Community Volunteer Program at the office will provide the community with general referral and assistance, crime prevention material and programs, citizen crime reports, traffic accident reports, Neighborhood/Block Watch contact, and coordination with Sunshine Division and the Police Activities League (PAL).   “The Kenton Community Policing Office is a perfect example of community policing,” said Police Chief Foxworth.  “It demonstrates that the community is willing to step up and fund a facility that will be used by both the police and the community to reduce crime and the fear of crime, improve neighborhood livability and improve the police and community partnership.”

Labor history timeline
Compiled by Tom Day & Gene Lawhorn

1906 Dec. 24 in Calumet, Michigan, 62 children and 11 adults are crushed in a narrow staircase when Mahon-Wadell detectives gave a false fire alarm during a Christmas party for the children of striking copper miners. This is forever known as “The Christmas Massacre of 1913.” Striking coal miners in Ludlow Colorado are attacked by the Colorado National Guard on Easter Sunday as they perform a daily ritual of raising the American flag. These miners were housed in a colony of tents provided by the United Mine Workers. Pits were dug under the tents to keep women and children from getting hit from the bullets randomly fired by the National Guard and the Baldwin Felts guards. One day after the attack the bodies of 11 children and two pregnant women are discovered in the pit under a burned mattress. The Ludlow Massacre will forever be remembered as one of the most heinous crimes committed against the working class in America’s history. Nov. 5 in Everett, Washington, a boatload of Industrial Workers of the World members attempt to disembark from the Veronia, to participate in a free speech fight in Everett. They were fired on by drunken sheriff’s deputies in an ambush. Five men were killed, and another six disappeared in the turbulent waters, never to be seen again. William Hutchenson is elected General President of the UBC. He becomes one of the most forceful personalities in the labor movement. He doggedly protects the multi-dimensional jurisdiction of the working carpenter from all other trades. The Adamson Act creates an eight-hour workday for all railroad workers. IWW troubadour Joe Hill is executed by the State of Utah in a framed up murder charge. It’s a year of great violence against workers. In Elaine, Arkansas on Sept. 30, between 100 and 500 striking cotton pickers were massacred by state troops and vigilantes composed of the town’s leading citizens. Boston Police go on strike over low pay and terrible working conditions. Four organizers for the UBC are murdered by thugs working for The Great Southern Lumber Company, owned by the Goodyear Corporation, known as the Bogalusa Massacre. In the Matewan Battle, seven coal company thugs, two miners, and the town mayor are killed as company thugs attempt to evict striking coal miners form their homes with city limits. Matewan town marshall Sid Hatfield and deputy Ed Chambers were executed by Baldwin Felts. The murder of these heroes of the union coal miners precipitated the largest post-civil war rebellion in U.S. history, the Battle of Blair Mountain. Between 10 to 20 thousand miners from the surrounding states march on the anti-union stronghold of Logan County and its sheriff, Dan Chafin. U.S. troops are again called out to quell the uprising.

Landis Decision Judge Kenesaw Landis slashes wages beyond contractors proposals and weakens the closed shop for five years.

The International Longshoreman’s Association strike for Union recognition at the Port of Portland. The pickets are attacked by police and over 500 are arrested. The Palmer Red Raids hit Portland and every known member of the IWW are arrested.

Stock market crashes sending the economy in a downward tailspin.

1930 Mother Mary Harris Jones dies at the age of 100.

The Davis-Bacon Act becomes law requiring employers to pay prevailing wages to workers of contractors and subcontractors on all public construction projects. This is one of the most important laws dealing with the construction industry and is under constant attack by big business.

Wisconsin enacts the first unemployment insurance act in the Nation.

President Roosevelt installs Francis Perkins as Secretary of Labor. She is the first woman to ever serve in a US cabinet position

1935 The National Labor Relations, or Wagner act becomes law. This is the first National law to protect a workers right to organize and bargain collectively.

1935 The Committee for Industrial Organization if formed within the American Federation of Labor. They would later become the Congress of Industrial Organizations.

Rubber workers for Goodyear, and auto workers for GM find they have more

Power by sitting down on the job within factory gates than they do on the picket line. So they conduct sit down strikes and win union recognition, higher wages and better benefits.

The Byrnes Act becomes law also known as the anti-strikebreaker act. This law prevented the aid to transport of strikebreakers in interstate or foreign trade.

The Walsh-Healey Act, or the Public Contract Act also becomes law, which establishes a minimum wage, overtime pay, child and convict labor provisions, and safety regulations on all federal contracts.

GM recognizes the UAW. US steel recognizes the United Steel Workers. 10 workers killed, and over 60 wounded by Chicago Police as they peaceably march on the Republic steel works. This was the last mass execution of striking workers by authorities protecting the interest of big business. Why? Because the Movie Tone News Cameras was their to catch every detail.

CIO expelled from the AFL.

The National Apprenticeship Act Becomes law. This establishes a bureau of apprentship within the Bureau of Labor.

The Fair Labor Standards Act creates a .25 cent minimum wage and time and
Half for overtime.

The Ford Motor Company recognizes the United Autoworkers of America after decades of bitter struggle. Henry Ford hired his own private security known as Ford Service Men. Their job was to beat, intimidate, and harass union organizers, and sympathizers.

Japan attacks Pearl Harbor and thus the US enters World War II. Trade Union membership increases. Women enter the workforce in large numbers.

On labor day the Liberty Ship SS Peter J. McGuire is launched at Richmond Yards in San Francisco. Liberty ships would supply US troops, and allies with supplies to fight the war. President Roosevelt gives an executive order creating a committee on fair employment to eliminate discrimination in the war industries.

The SS Santiago Iglesias is launched in Baltimore, Maryland. Named after a Puerto Rican Senator and Union Carpenter.

Union membership reaches it historic peak of over 18,000,000 workers.

World War II ends starting the post war boom brining the standard of living up for most all Americans. Especially with Union membership.

CIO, Congress of Industrial Organizations affiliates with the World Federation of Trade Unions.

Largest Strike wave in the history of the U.S.

The Taft-Hartley Act becomes law despite a veto from President Truman. Also Known as the Labor Management Relations Act. This law would have a chilling effect on labor organizing, and labor relations. It gave States the right to outlaw the close shop. Secondary boycotts became illegal, and labor organizations have to file financial reports with the bureau of labor. United Mine Workers President John L. Lewis called the Taft-Hartley act ‘the first ugly savage thrust of fascism in America.’

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 is amended to prohibit child labor for the first time in US history.

The Congress of Industrial Organizations begin to expel union with communist leadership.

The AFL-CIO merge electing George Meany as it first President Meany rose out of the New York Plumber’s union to become great stereotypical cigar chopping 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 is 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 it’s 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 form business all over the Nation.

Joyce Miller become the first woman appointed to the AFL-CIO executive Board.

Oregon Public Employees strike for and win pay equity for women workers.

1989 The UBC starts an intensive National training, and organizational programs.

1990s Portland Jobs with Justice is founded. Labor supported drives to raise minimum wages is successful making Oregon the highest level in the Nation.

Labor defeats a series of legislative attacks form anti ñ union forces lead by Bill Sizemore and his puppet masters of the Oregon Business Roundtable.

September 11 Terrorist attack the Pentagon, and the World Trade Centers killing over 3000 people. 17 of those murdered were union carpenters working in their daily jobs. Several escaped then returned to help with rescue efforts.

2004 IT’S ON YOU NOW! Go make history. Educate, agitate, and organize!