nwlaborpress.org | January 16, 2009

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January 16, 2009 Volume 110 Number 2

Union jobs cut at Daimler (Freightliner)
Daimler Trucks North America (formerly Freightliner) opened the new year by announcing it will lay off 192 union workers at its Portland plant at the end of January and cut 2,137 production line workers from operations in Cleveland, Mount Holly, and Gastonia, North Carolina by the end of March.
Boeing to lay off 4,500 workers
Boeing Co. said Jan. 9 that it will lay off 4,500 workers at its Commercial Airplanes unit. In Gresham, where Boeing employs some 1,200 members of Machinists Lodge 63, it was unknown how many jobs would be eliminated.
Vancouver Fire Fighters give up wage hikes to help cash-strapped city coffers
Union firefighters have voted to give up a pay raise so that the City of Vancouver can afford to staff a new fire station. Members of Fire Fighters Local 452 voted by a 91 percent margin to approve a one-year contract extension that contains scheduled step increases, but no cost-of-living allowance. The 164 members of the union had been scheduled for a 4 percent increase.
Government solar projects skirt prevailing wage laws
Solar panels are going up on the rooftops of four Multnomah County government buildings. Union members familiar with government construction projects might think the installers would earn the prevailing wage, under the state’s “little Davis-Bacon” law. But that’s not happening with the Multnomah County project or any of over a dozen similar government solar projects around the state.
SEIU demands ‘McJustice’
Around the United States, members and staff of Service Employees International Union went to McDonald’s Dec. 18 — to protest the company’s opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill in Congress that would make it easier for workers to form a union and win a first contract.
Endicott re-elected business manager of UA Local 290
John Endicott has been re-elected business manager of Plumbers and Fitters Local 290. He defeated two challengers — Al Shropshire and Frank Harju, capturing over 48 percent of the votes.