NEWSLETTERApril 2009 |
Past Newsletters |
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When you come to meetings,
please remember |
General membership
General membership meets the second Tuesday, March 10, at 6 p.m. at the
Carpenters Hall, 2215 N. Lombard, Portland. Election for Local 247 president
and regional council delegate will be held at this meeting.
Retirees
Retirees meet for lunch the second Monday, March 9, at 11 a.m. at Hometown
Buffet, 10452A SE Washington St., Portland.
Executive Board
Executive Board meets the fourth Tuesday, March 24, at 6:30 p.m. at the
Carpenters Hall, 2215 N. Lombard, Portland.
Newsletter committee
Newsletter committee meets the second Thursday, March 12, at 6:30 p.m., first
floor, Small Conference Room, Carpenters Hall, 2215 N. Lombard, Portland.
By Pete Savage
Wall and Ceiling
Talks with the Wall and Ceiling Association started officially on March 16, but
we have had several informal non-binding discussions over the last two months
that have led to some tentative agreements on language including:
All these points are tentatively agreed, which is to say, either side can
withdraw them if the overall agreement including wages is not acceptable in the
final document.
So far the discussion has been about a contract with duration out to June 1,
2013.
Monetarily speaking, we are trying to achieve parity with the GCCA contract,
which has four yearly raises left on it equaling $6.60 and expires in June 2013.
It breaks down as follows:
June 1, 2009 - $1.60; June 1, 2010 - $1.60; June 1, 2011 - $1.67; June 1, 2012 -
$1.73.
The EIS contract is currently $0.45 ahead of the GCCA, so parity would mean $6.15 over four years.
The current offer from the employers is a two-year wage freeze with only cost of living increases based on the consumer price index.
We meet with the Wall and Ceiling Association again on April 8.
Our first session with the AGC is set for April 10.
They have been talking to the Wall and Ceiling Association, and I think we
can expect the same type of starting offer. Any monetary advantage gained by the
AGC would be sought by GCCA.
The environment we find ourselves bargaining in is unprecedented to say the
least, with the tightening of credit to the developers and owners we work for,
to the turmoil in the stock market. This is a challenging time to be a
Carpenter.
Our pension plan has suffered losses of 24 percent since June 2008. Now while that leaves us in better condition than many of the other building trades, add in that hours are falling from the historic highs of the last couple of years, and clearly some action on the part of the trustees will be needed to shore up our plan.
We will be in “red” status per the Department of Labor by July 2010, at which time they will tell us how to start fixing it if we haven’t already began to do so.
There are many ways for our plan to get back to fully-funded status. One, of course, is to hope the market rebounds quickly and that would be nice but is beyond our control. Reality is that it will take years maybe even decades to recoup our losses.
There are steps that the trustees can take to start fixing the problem.
Of all these options that come to mind, it is the opinion of the labor trustees that adding a contribution that does not accrue would be the best arrangement. Someday in the future, when our plan gets back to fully funded status, we can look at starting to accrue benefit on any extra amount added.
By Christie Kern
Local 247 Delegate’
It was comical. As I set up the PowerPoint presentation, the projector and
the laptop were out of sync. So while I was re-starting the computer and waiting
for it to go through its cycle, I decided to start the coffee. I checked to
ensure that there was sufficient water in the water bottle connected to the
coffee maker and there was. Actually it was a full bottle. No need to worry.
I got the computer and projector in sync. I put up a poster, turned on the radio
and went back to the kitchen. Not only was the coffee pot full, but water was
circulating from the water bottle through the coffee maker and coffee was
flowing out of the pot onto the counter and down on to the floor. It required
unplugging the coffee maker to stop the flood of coffee. I then cleaned up the
counter and floor.
Participants were: Gene Picariello, Tom Sowa, Scott Swartout, Jim Jones, Francis Boyle and Stormie Ray.
This was my first time facilitating this workshop. Six journey-level workers attended. Ages ranged from late 20s to late 50s.
The group included two participants from EIS, two from Job Corp, two from Tradeshow, one finish carpenter and one foreman. There was a total of 170 years of experience with an average of 24 years construction experience. All of them had at least one experience discussing the generational differences material. It was the consensus of the participants that it may be necessary to inform apprentices and new members that normally there isn’t a lot of feedback given in the construction workplace; examples of positive feedback were discussed and that when mistakes needed to be pointed out to a worker positive points could be mentioned when mistakes are addressed.
Due to the size of the group, most activities and discussions were done with the group as a whole. Feedback on the content and presentation was positive; specifically, individuals enjoyed the role-playing and thought it the more valuable and that the PowerPoint seemed to be unnecessary. (I used very few slides, actually less than five). I have plans to take quotes from personal experience, workshop attendees and my file of famous and inspirational quotes and photos and put them into a PowerPoint to stimulate discussion and use as examples.
Some music specific to the images and quotes would be great. I need to master some technology skills to accomplish all of this. At no time did I have to prod anyone to participate, nor was there much time spent on job issues outside of the workshop.
To my surprise at one break, a spontaneous game of catch and conversation broke out, instigated by Scott Swartout. It was pointed out in the evaluations that I could have stated the objectives and what would be covered in the workshop better at the start of the day. Everyone appeared to genuinely enjoy themselves, including me.
You will be receiving a notice from the Fund Office which will provide detailed information regarding the impact of recent legislation on your COBRA privilege under the Health & Welfare Plan. If you became involuntarily unemployed on or after Sept. 1, 2008 and lost your Health and Welfare Coverage on or after Sept.1, 2008, you may be entitled to assistance in paying COBRA premiums which would reduce your cost to 35 percent of the normal COBRA cost for up to nine months. If you are entitled to the assistance but did not elect COBRA coverage (or elected COBRA but did not have the coverage as of Feb. 17, 2009 due to failure to pay the required premium), you may be entitled to another opportunity to elect COBRA coverage. If your involuntary termination of employment and loss of coverage took place on or after Sept. 1, 2008, you should contact the Fund Office to determine whether or not you may be eligible for assistance.
CALL William Earhart Co. at 503-282-5581 or 1-800-547-1314 to check your eligibility.
The following members are celebrating their birthday this month. We would
like to wish them all “Happy Birthday”!! We hope you enjoy your special day!
Mark Andries, Daniel Bagwell, Will H Barlow, William B Barlow, Sinan Baskent,
Neil Bates, Joshua Beadling, George Benes, Jeffrey Benson, Kurt Bledsoe, Jane
Bond, Cherita Browder, William Brubaker, Randy Burns, Brian Carnes, John
Carroll, Charlie Carson, William Cartner, Ronald Chedester, Joshua Coleman,
Richard Combs, James Conway, Stephan Crabtree, Donald Craig, Terry Cronkrite,
Carlos Deleon, Jamie Doering, Edward Doty, Kenneth Drews, Ronald Eekhoff, Donald
Ellis, Andre Elswick, Joseph Fisher, Ervin Flick, Rick Forayter, Chris Fox, Jr.,
Dwayne Fuller, Jason Fulton, Jason Gandy, Harold Gaskin, Robert Gerstlauer,
Leonard Gilbert, Gavin Glasson, Gary Goins, Geoffrey Gray, Earle Grier, Marvin
Hall, Robert Hamilton, Eric Hammond, John Hancock, Tom Hayden, Scott Henson,
Stephen Hite, Larry Hogg, Jr., Billy Hoppis, Taino Houston, Don Hughes, Lisa
Hummel, John Irons, David Jewell, Jared Johnson, Scott Johnson, Gary Kirsch,
Gerald Krahn, timothy Kranz, Danny Lange, Steven Little, Milton Lockett II, Loyd
Long, Max Lovato, Andrew Lukesh, Jorge Martinez-Cruz, Robert McAbee, Paul
McDonald, Austin McDowell, Jeff McKinley, Darrell Messinger, Eric Miller,
Jeffrey Miller, Michael Molloy, Thaddeus Montgomery, Patrick Muri, Michael
Niemeyer, Michael Noonan, Kyle Nordwell, Daniel Palinkas, Lonnie Paxton, Donald
Prenevost, Kevin Pullins, Sherlon Reynolds, Ken Riesterer, Rawanda Rogers,
Robert Roman, Michael Schulte, Charles Siebenthaler, Randall Spencer, Michael
Steubs, Jerry Suarez, Patrick Swan, Richard Taylor, Thomas Tegner Jr., Edosa
Tewodros, Jerrid Tompkins, Robert Tupper, Christopher Turner, Steven VanHoosen,
Tim Warren, David Webb, John Weiner, Rodney Weltch, Tim Wilson, Joseph Wise,
Mark Wright.
Fellow Members:
We are looking for members to volunteer their time and skills for one day! On Saturday, April 25, 2009, we will be assisting individuals in our community with various home repairs through Rebuilding Together with Christmas in April.
Rebuilding Together with Christmas in April is the leading local volunteer
organization that, in partnership with the community, rehabilitates the homes of
low-income homeowners, particularly the elderly, disabled, and families with
children so that they can continue to live in warmth, safety, and independence.
If you are interested, please contact the office and Dawn or Sherrie will be
happy to sign you up and send you the information to complete. Thanks so much
for your help!
We need your help, so please volunteer! Mark your calendars for April 25!
Please note: This is an opportunity for everyone! Even if you know someone who don’t have any construction skills, there is cleaning and landscaping and lots of other miscellaneous tasks to be completed. Please bring the family! Anyone can help!
March 16, 2009
This update is provided to the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign’s member organizations. Call 503-736-9777 for more info.
Legislative Update
The Panama FTA: The office of the U.S. Trade Representative has expressed its intention to move forward with the Panama Free Trade Agreement “relatively quickly,” which most interpret as within this calendar year. The Panama FTA is a Bush administration-negotiated trade deal that repeats most of the problems found in NAFTA and CAFTA. We need to express our opposition to members of Congress before they and/or President Obama come out publicly in support of this deal, and thus feel boxed into defending it. One special point of attack on the Panama FTA is that Panama is an international tax haven that has failed to sign banking transparency treaties advocated by our government.ORFTC delivered postcards to Rep. Schrader opposing the Panama FTA earlier this year, and met with staff from other members of the delegation in February to explain why the FTA should be opposed. We’re asking member organizations to get out early in opposing the Panama FTA so that it does not gather steam behind it.
LEADERSHIP ACTION: Organizational officers and staff should urge members of the U.S. House and Senate to oppose the Panama FTA. See resources below for more details. The overall message on the Panama FTA is that voters have demanded and expect change on trade. Continuing with the Bush administration’s trade agenda is not an appropriate starting point for new trade negotiations. The NAFTA model of trade should be abandoned in favor of new models like the TRADE Act.
MEMBERSHIP ACTION: Members can contact their elected officials to express opposition to the Panama FTA through our website at www.oregonfairtrade.org . (Contact orftc@citizenstrade.org for a template newsletter article, if useful.)The TRADE Act: ORFTC met with staff of Oregon’s Congressional delegation on February 23 in Washington, DC. (For confidential lobby reports, please e-mail orftc@citizenstrade.org .) We discussed pending trade issues, delivered the “New Day on Trade” letter signed by 350 organizations, and a petition urging support of the TRADE Act. During those and other meetings we learned that Congressman Wu is very close to adding his name as an original cosponsor of the 2009 TRADE Act. His office has submitted new human rights language to the bill’s sponsor earlier in the year. The TRADE Act is expected to be reintroduced soon, so now is the time to make sure he supports it.
LEADERSHIP ACTION: Organizational officers and staff should put final calls into Rep. Wu to urge him to cosponsor the TRADE Act. Calls can be directed to Stephen Marx in the district office at 503-326-2901 or Chief of Staff Julie Tippens in the DC office at 202-225-0855. Please report any responses to ORFTC.
Trans-Pacific Partnership: On March 10, Congressman Blumenauer and other Members of Congress sent a letter to President Obama urging him to continue with the Bush administration’s negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP is a regional free trade agreement between various Pacific rim countries. It is reportedly very similar to CAFTA, except that it contains worse financial market deregulation. Member organizations communicating with Rep. Blumenauer’s office should let him know they do not appreciate him signing that letter.
NAFTA Renegotiation: While the president’s promised “NAFTA renegotiation” is unlikely to be completed soon, it was repeated during his February visit to Canada and is very much still on the table. ORFTC has partnered with the Cross Border Labor Organizing Council to organize a delegation to Mexico focused on questions of NAFTA renegotiation. Stay tuned for details on “report back” events, and please call Arthur Stamoulis at 503-736-9777 if you’re interested in learning more.
Misc
“Buy American” Resolutions: ORFTC is helping to circulate a template resolution developed by the United Steelworkers calling on city and county governments to pledge to spend stimulus dollars on American-made goods and services wherever possible. If you are able to help present the resolution to local elected officials in your area, please contact Arthur Stamoulis at 503-736-9777 or Gaylan Prescott at gprescott@usw.org.Seattle Legacy Project Meeting: ORFTC will be holding a public meeting to discuss plans for commemorating the 10-year anniversary of the successful WTO protests in Seattle. The meeting will take place on Thursday, April 23 at 6:30 p.m. at the Sierra Club office at 1821 SE Ankeny in Portland. Call 503-736-9777 for details.
