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May 16, 2008 Volume 109 Number 9
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ILWU
shuts ports on May Day to protest war
On May Day 2008, thousands of longshore workers shut down 29 West
Coast ports to protest the war in Iraq. The action may have been
the first ever walk-out by a U.S. union to oppose a war. The current
Iraq war has lasted five years, and over 4,000 U.S. soldiers and
hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed and countless wounded
and maimed. |
Initiatives
dogged by suspicions
Get ready for déjà vu. A boatload of initiatives may
be headed for the November ballot. At least 10 of the initiative campaigns
are sponsored by the same chief petitioners who have filled ballots
in previous years. They have the same millionaire funders, and the
same for-profit company is gathering the signatures. Worst of all,
the measures are headed for the ballot despite suspicions that the
law was broken to get them there.
How
time flies: Building trades council turns 100
Three generations of construction workers helped celebrate the 100th
anniversary of the Columbia Pacific Building and Construction Trades
Council May 10 at the Oregon Convention Center. Among the nearly 700
people attending the event were U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer,
Portland Mayor Tom Potter, Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian, and Portland
City Councilor (and mayoral candidate) Sam Adams.
Union
members don’t just vote — they run for office
In Oregon, union members don’t just vote in elections; they
run in them. The Northwest Labor Press was able to identify almost
two dozen union members running for public office in the May primary.
Machinists,
Boeing open contract talks
Negotiations between the Machinists and Boeing Company opened May
9 for more than 26,000 employees in the Seattle area, Portland, Oregon,
and Wichita, Kansas. The current labor agreement expires Sept. 4.
The Machinists motto this year is: “It's our time this time!" Boeing
has rebounded, and members want bigger increases than they got in
the last two rounds of contract bargaining.
Steelworkers’
tentative deal at Cascade Steel Rolling Mills may unravel
Members of the bargaining team for United Steelworkers Local 8378
thought they had a deal April 30 with Schnitzer Steel Industries,
owner of Cascade Steel Rolling Mills in McMinnville. But it appeared to have unraveled.
Bend
newspaper spurns union ad supporting bus drivers
Amalgamated
Transit Union Local 757 wanted to tell its side of the story. The
40 or so bus drivers and support staff of Bend Area Transit voted
15 months ago to join ATU, but they still don’t have a union
contract. To appeal to the community, ATU decided to place a large
ad in the April 15 issue of the Bend Bulletin.
Alliance for Retired Americans keeps retirees current
Union involvement doesn’t have to end when pension checks start
to arrive. Millions of union members stay connected in union retiree
groups, and in the Alliance for Retired Americans — an umbrella
group aimed at union retirees.
Labor
agency suspends ‘Helping Hands’ program
Labor’s Community Service Agency has temporarily suspended
its emergency assistance program due to lack of cash.
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