FREIGHTLINER TRUCKS by DON Mcintosh Components to Mexico for Final As- Associate Editor Sembly
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See Inside MEETING NOTICES Page 6 Volume 108 Number 7 April 6, 2007 Portland END OF THE LINE FOR FREIGHTLINER TRUCKS By DON McINTOSH components to Mexico for final as- Associate Editor sembly. Meanwhile, Daimler-Chrysler he last Freightliner commercial bought Canadian Western Star truck Ttruck to be manufactured in Port- brand in 2000, and closed the land was driven off the assembly line Kelowna, British Columbia produc- at 8:15 p.m. March 29, taking with it tion plant, shifting Western Star pro- 802 union jobs. duction to the Portland plant. It was a bittersweet moment, pride In 2001, Freightliner closed its mixed with pain, and was witnessed parts manufacturing plant in Portland. only by a few plant managers and Several years later, the steel frame about three dozen swing-shift factory rails that begin the Portland truck pro- workers, most of whom would be laid duction line started arriving stamped off the next day. The company brass “Hecho en Mexico,” with a Mexican who made the decision chose not to be eagle insignia. They used to be made there. in the United States. Freightliner corporate headquarters “Seeing that was one of my biggest will remain in Portland, for now, but disappointments when I came back no longer will Freightliner’s signature from layoff,” said quality assurance in- over-the-highway trucks be made in spector Zack Beard, 32, who was re- Portland, the brand’s birthplace. called in 2004 after three years of un- Instead, assembly will shift to Mex- deremployment. ico — the latest defection in the long The Columbia model truck was the march of manufacturing jobs out of first to shift assembly to Mexico. The the United States. mid-range Century Class left later. The Freightliner was the brainchild of high-end Coronado was the last to go. Portland shipping tycoon Leland “Freightliner was making money (PHOTO ABOVE) As swing shift James, founder of Consolidated here,” said Machinists Business Rep workers look on, a Freightliner Freightways. To lighten up the heavy Joe Kear, “but they want to make even manager hands Ron Bennett the steel trucks of his era, James wanted to more money in Mexico.” keys to the last Portland-made try using aluminum components, and Half the Portland workforce will commercial Freightliner truck. decided to build the truck himself stay on to manufacture Freightliner Bennett, a Freightliner retiree, when he couldn’t find a truckmaker military trucks and specialty commer- drove the first Freightliner truck willing to experiment. He hired engi- cial trucks under the Western Star out of the Swan Island plant when it neers and in the late 1930s started pro- brand. The other half will trade opened in 1969. duction. Though sidelined a few years $21.55-an-hour jobs for something by wartime shortages, James’ Freight- (PHOTO LEFT) Freightliner else — a couple years of school, an- liner Corporation returned to truck welder and Machinist steward other job, or unemployment. production in 1947 with a new plant in Morris Price points out custom At a March 28 job fair for Freight- Portland. Since then, generations of features of the final truck — liner workers, just 30 employers Portlanders have made Freightliner signatures, on the unfinished inside showed up, one-third of what had been trucks. door panels, of the workers who expected. Mexican-owned Bimbo In 1981, Consolidated Freightways made it. Bakeries, which bought Orowheat in sold Freightliner to German-owned 2002, was there to recruit for 16 sum- Daimler-Benz. With aggressive mar- mer positions making hot dog buns at keting and new designs, the company Bakers Union scale: $13 to start, rising increased market share, and Freight- to $19. Tri-Met, another union em- liner became the leading long-haul ployer, was seeking applicants for 200 truck brand in North America by 1992. part-time bus operator jobs, at a wage But then, piece by piece, Freight- that starts at $12.34 and rises to liner production began leaving Port- $22.43. land. At the same time Freightliner is In 1998, Daimler-Benz merged laying off workers in Portland, it’s hir- with Chrysler; two years later, a plant ing workers in Santiago Tianguis- in Santiago Tianguistenco, Mexico tenco, about 90 minutes outside Mex- that had produced Daimler-Benz ico City. Top pay for a day-shift switched to exclusive production of mechanic there is 465 pesos a day, Freightliner trucks. about $5 an hour — roughly a quarter The plant in Portland’s Swan Is- land industrial area began shipping (Turn to Page 11) Let me say this about that —By Gene Klare Union wants to put stop to college shift to part-time, lower-paid faculty By DON McINTOSH salary and benefits as full-timers — to manent faculty members, testified Bill Associate Editor eliminate schools’ economic incentive Scheuerman, chair of the AFT Higher Backed by their union, college to favor part-time instructors. HB 2578 Ed Policy Council. Today, the figure is teaching faculty are pushing a political would also give existing part-time 54 percent. And as part-time instruc- fix that they hope will halt decades of teachers first crack at permanent full- tors shuttle from school to school to downward mobility. time positions when they open up. cobble together a full-time job, stu- Members of American Federation And it would make staffing levels a dents can lose out, Scheuerman said: It of Teachers (AFT) Higher Education mandatory subject of collective bar- becomes harder for students to meet Division say the the ivory tower of gaining. with instructors or get a letter of rec- popular legend is turning into an aca- AFT-Oregon lobbyist Rob Wagner ommendation, or find out what classes demic factory that exploits its work- acknowledges the union is shooting favorite teachers will teach the next force. To cope with tight budgets, pub- for the moon the first time out, but if term in a timely way. lic colleges and universities around the even part of HB 2578 passes, it will Sociology instructor Stephanie country have shifted much of their make a difference for members. Blackman is one such “road scholar,” class load to lower-paid part-time fac- Some parts of the bill were con- teaching six classes at four Portland- ulty who work without benefits on tained in a bill introduced by then- area colleges. Blackman told lawmak- Cusma in Hall of Fame term-by-term, credit-by-credit con- State Rep. Dan Gardner, (D-Portland), ers she’s too busy flying down free- tracts. in the late 1990s, but his union-backed ways to attend faculty meetings or THE NORTHWEST Oregon Labor Retirees Council welcomes Frank Cusma To turn that around, AFT, an affili- bill didn’t go far in Republican-con- mentor students. And, Blackman said, into its Labor Hall of Fame. Cusma served as the apprenticeship coordinator of ate of the AFL-CIO, has launched a trolled House. it’s not fair that people teaching the Portland-based Iron Workers Local 29 and held other offices and assignments in the campaign called FACE — Faculty and This time, the bill was introduced same class get less pay and benefits. union. He retired at age 61 in 2005. College Excellence — which is pro- by Rep. Peter Buckley, (D-Ashland), It’s not clear what chance HB 2578 Frank Cusma was born on Sept. 14, 1944 in Trieste, Italy. His father was killed moting a bill in 10 state legislatures assigned to the House Education Sub- has of passage this year. while serving in the Italian Army in World War II. Later, Frank and his mother, this year. committee on Higher Education and The independent Oregon Education Lidia, migrated to the United States and settled The Oregon version is House Bill got a public hearing March 28. Association, the other large teachers in Brooklyn in New York. In 1963, at age 18, 2578. HB 2578 would require that at At the hearing, college teachers and union in Oregon, supports it. But col- Frank enlisted in the U. S.Navy. After boot camp least 75 percent of classes be taught by union leaders told lawmakers what’s lege administrators oppose it, saying it at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, he full-time tenure-track faculty, and that been happening. In 1970, 80 percent would tie their hands and limit their trained in San Diego as a diver and was sent to part-timers be paid the same prorated of classes were taught by full time per- flexibility in meeting students’ needs. Vietnam where he was attached to a Marine At the very least, Wagner said, Corps Division. Cusma served two tours of duty AFT’s campaign is energizing AFT in Vietnam as a diver with the Marines. members — and raising awareness AFTER HIS WAR SERVICE and return to among lawmakers. a West Coast base for his honorable discharge as a petty officer second class, Cusma decided to b h Bennett Hartman check out Portland as a place to live. He applied Morris & Kaplan, llp NOLC endorses for and was accepted for the three-year appren- ticeship program in Iron Workers Local 29. He Attorneys at Law board candidates FRANK CUSMA first received training at Beech School and later m k at Benson High. Along the way, he encountered for 2 Fire Districts two former Marines with whom he’d served in The Northwest Oregon Labor Vietnam. Oregon’s Full Service Union Law Firm Council, at the request of Tualatin Fire While working construction in Local 29, Cusma helped erect a number of high- Fighters Local 1660, has endorsed rise structures, including the First Interstate Bank, the Georgia-Pacific Building, Representing Workers Since 1960 Sandi Jabs for Tualatin Valley Fire and the Federal Building, the Benjamin Franklin Building and others; the names listed Rescue Board of Directors, Position 4; are those given the buildings when they were built.