Northwest Labor Press: January 6, 2006

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January 6 , 2006 Volume 107 Number 1

News

Witt ineligible to serve
Brad Witt, secretary-treasurer of the Oregon AFL-CIO for the past 14 years, was declared ineligible to retain the position because his union, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555, doesn’t plan to sign a Solidarity Charter with the state labor federation. The seat was declared vacant by the Oregon AFL-CIO Executive Board at its quarterly meeting Dec. 16. A successor to fill the unexpired term will be named when the board meets again in March.

South Waterfront apprenticeship deal finally gets signatures
Signatures are finally on the dotted line on a “project apprenticeship agreement” for the multi-billion-dollar South Waterfront Central District development project.
DCU members ratify Portland school pact — it expired Dec. 31
Twenty months of contentious bargaining between the Portland Public School District No. 1 and the District Council of Unions (DCU) ended last month when some 300 employees narrowly ratified a contract in voting held Dec. 15-20. Now the sides get to start all over again, because the contract’s expiration date was Dec. 31, 2005.
Freightliner lays off 130 just before Christmas break
Just four days before Christmas, Portland truck maker Freightliner told 130 workers they would be out of a job — effective at the end of their shift on Dec. 22.
Terry Lansing elected to lead Bakers Local 114
Terry Lansing has been elected financial secretary-treasurer of Portland-based Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Local 114.
Iron Workers #516 faces shut down at Universal Structural
Universal Structural, Inc., a Vancouver steel bridge fabricator, laid off 50 workers in December, and has plans to lay off the remaining 110 and shutter its doors in May. Iron Workers Shopmen’s Local 516 Business Manager Mike Lappier spent 17 years working at USI and learned of the layoffs in a meeting with management in December.

Analysis

Think again
A regular column by Tim Nesbitt
Reuniting to win: How local union movement overcame split in AFL-CIO
A surprising thing happened after the defection of four major unions fractured the national AFL-CIO last summer. Back home, in state after state, our local unions held together. Or, if they began to disassemble themselves, as happened here in Oregon, they soon found a way to reassemble themselves and are now close to full strength again.