Meeting Notices

General membership
Meets the second Tuesday, Oct. 12, at 7 p.m. at the Carpenters Hall, 2215 N. Lombard, Portland. Congressman Earl Blumenauer will speak at the November meeting.

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

Executive Board
Executive Board meets the fourth Tuesday, Oct. 26, at 7 p.m. at the Carpenters Hall, 2215 N. Lombard.

Are you registered?
Please make sure that you are registered to vote. Check your voter registration and make sure that it’s updated. If you have moved or if anyone in your house has turned 18, they need to register to vote. It is our patriotic duty to vote. We need to choose the candidate(s) who share our views on the issues of family wage jobs, right to organize, responsible bidding rules and health care for all. Thank you for your time!

Working with the non-union

By Joe Whitney
Delegate Local 247

For the last few months I’ve been working out in Hillsboro on a parking structure that is being built by a general contractor that is non-union, from out of the area, and typical of all the horror stories that you and I have heard about over the years. It makes me very happy that I work Union, and quite honestly it should you too. Let me give you a few examples of what I have observed. When we had recent hot spell (three weeks of weather near or above 90 degrees) the non-union workers were refused water by the general contractor and instead were provided water bottles and told to find their own water. We had the poor guys drinking out of our containers to the point where our laborers were refilling them constantly and also providing the ice, but the company that I work for (Ceco) looking after our own (union) guys kept up with the pace and never complained. Also, how would you like to work mandatory 10-hour days, six and or seven days a week? And by mandatory I mean Mandatory, no show, no more work, and I’m not sure of their sick or injured policy as I very rarely saw any of their guys missing as I’m sure they are afraid of losing their jobs. The rate of pay varied also, from ten dollars per hour for most and up to sixteen dollars per hour for the most skilled (foreman), the general foreman making less money than our laborers. The overtime pay started after 40 hours per week not after eight hours per day like ours and I’ll be the first to tell you that these guys hated to see us go home at 2:30 when they always had to stay for two more hours every day. I remember on one of the few occasions that we would have to work overtime to get ready for a pour, how my partner John Strand and I might get a little ribbing from these guys because we were working late also. I told them that we didn’t mind much because the money was quite good after eight hours and with that they asked how much we made for overtime. Well we told them and produced a check stub and you could hear a pin drop in what is usually a very noisy workplace. The first question was “That much?” after eight hours? Holy !@#$.

Have you ever had a foreman yell at you? Not too common an occurrence for us in the union, by an everyday happening in their world and training such as fall protection or hazardous materials or simply even training on danger tape. One minor miracle: We haven’t had any serious injuries by these guys and fortunately none at all for us because of their complete lack of training in even the fundamental skills that everyone in the field should be aware of. Sometimes they are fairly lax in wearing hard hats, eye protection, appropriate clothing or foot protection, something we are very much involved in because it is important to us to go home every night with 10 fingers and toes, two eyes and the rest of our body intact. Training in safety isn’t the only thing either. They have a crew about three times the size of ours and they are now working seven days a week, 10 hours per day just to keep up with our crew. Oh! Have you ever seen a good carpenter come out of Labor Ready? I never have, and not to be too critical, those are not the type of people who should be shooting in grid lines or elevations, but they are, no wonder the columns are all (and I do mean all) out of plumb or out of square, causing us to spend extra time fixing their mistakes. I could go on and on but I am sure I need to leave more room for other articles.

Well we’ve talked about wages, overtime, yelling, safety, water, training, and Labor Ready, then throw in no benefits, no pension, no vacation, no job steward, bad working conditions, and it makes me wonder how anyone could work under these conditions. It happens everyday, brothers and sisters, and here’s the kicker, we have had as many as seven union carpenters working under these conditions, not as salts, but working for a living (if you can call it that) on this job and only with the continued effort of brothers John Strand, Larry Hogg, Curt Kohnert and myself, along with the many visits and talks by the business agent, Ken Stroup, (literally threatening health packages and pension plans) have we been able to convince them otherwise and to my knowledge only one remained as of Friday this week (he turned our to be a pilebuck). Who refused to identify himself to the business agent. Imagine his surprise if he shows up Monday morning for work thinking his identity was safe only to find two business agents waiting for him with one of them out of his own local. As you read this (if anyone reads this) depending on the time of day or night, or as I’m writing this article, or even if your are enjoying a round of golf or a Sunday drive with our family or friends, thank yourselves, thank your Local, thank the men and woman before your who gave us this 40-hour week, our benefits, pension, and overtime pay because right now those poor guys and others like them all over this wonderful country are working hard under adverse conditions and for half the pay you would be earning at straight time.

Labor Council and Building Trades back Francesconi

The Northwest Oregon Labor Council and Columbia Pacific Building Trades Council have endorsed Jim Francesconi for Mayor of the City of Portland.

Jim Francesconi will be a strong voice for working people and their families serving as Mayor of the City of Portland. Jim Francesconi is there for organized labor:

• Instrumental in working with the Northwest Oregon Labor Council on the adoption of a “Support for Union Organizing and Collective Bargaining” resolution (unanimously passed by the Portland City Council.
• Committed to having a “union” liaison in the Mayor’s Office.
• Committed to organized labor having a seat on the Portland Development Commission.
• Instrumental in the passage of the “Responsible Contracting Policy.” He has worked with the Building and Construction Trades since 1999 on their issues.
• He led the passage of the living wage ordinance for the City of Portland.

We believe that only one candidate for Mayor of the City of Portland will always support the benefits that are important to Portland’s working people and their families: Jim Francesconi.

Sincerely, Judy O’Connor
Executive Secretary-Treasurer
Northwest Oregon Labor Council
AFL-CIO

Wally Mehrens
Executive Secretary
Columbia-Pacific Building Trades Council
AFL-CIO

Rainy day fun at our picnic

By Joe Whitney
Delegate Local 247

How many of us worked on Sunday morning, August 22, and hoped the sun would peek out from among those dark and gloomy rain clouds? And how many of us same folks simply rolled over and said forget it? Apparently about 700 of us did the latter because about 400 energetic, happy and completely oblivious to rain brothers and sisters along with their families attended a rather wet, but otherwise incredible picnic, held rain or shine and believe me, it did both.

One inch of rain in less than 20 minutes: Did that do anything to diminish the enthusiasm? No, not really. The smart ones went in and play bingo, while others crowded under trees, tents and umbrellas. My wife, Laura, sent me to the local Fred Meyer to buy two umbrellas, which I could have sold for much more than I paid, but had I sold them I would have been deep in the doghouse, with no possible escape, at least in my lifetime.

But the sun came out, the food came out, the DJ was playing happy sunny songs and the kids played like there was no tomorrow. Why? Because this was the one picnic that is really for the family, the kids from one to 64, so the wet was no big deal. After all, don’t we live in Oregon? Don’t we live in Washington? Sure we do, it’s just another day. I mean just because it’s the middle of August, did you really expect the sun to shine? Of course your did and so did I, but oh well, enjoy the one day a year that the kids can have all the fun they want, eat all the hot dogs and hamburgers they want and just be a kid, and for the grown-up kids there were so many things going on from bingo to pineapple-eating contests, coconut-eating contests, nail-driving contests, tug of war, and just all around good fun with old friends and new friends and friends you were just about to meet. Oh and for those of you that didn’t come, boy did you miss out on some good food and it was all you can eat, seconds, thirds, it didn’t matter, there was plenty to go around and then some. Now while the children played and ate snow cones or cotton candy, there was an exited hush that fell over the crowd, it was time for the raffle, and the prizes this year were incredible, from CD players, coats, hats, luggage to flat-screen TVs, and with only about a third of the RSVPs showing up, the odds were incredibly good that you could win something, and a lot of people did just that, win something, with some people winning three even four times. I even won something and it was very timely, a new coat and a very nice one, which I almost got to try on except that my wife was still a little wet and decided that since I work in the rain, well you can guess the res. All in all though, it was a truly wonderful time, and any time you can spend the day with family and friends can and will make you feel warm and fuzzy, even if it does rain an inch in 20 minutes.

P.S. The next time you see Dawn or Sherrie or Pete, be sure to thank them for the wonderful time provided by their incredibly hard work putting on the “Picnic Of The Year” and my thanks again to the volunteers who helped make this all possible.