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See Inside MEETING NOTICES Page 6 Volume 108 Number 3 February 2, 2007 Portland FFacingacing thethe comingcoming laborlabor shortageshortage same time require that remaining Unions say they want workers have higher-level skills. to train younger “New technologies are really changing the workplace,” said Lita workers, but often- Colligan, workforce policy adviser to times feel ignored Governor Ted Kulongoski, “and with baby boomers retiring in the next few Attorney Jim Egan of Albany leads a workshop on Oregon’s workers’compensation insurance system. By DON McINTOSH years, we don’t have a pipeline of Associate Editor skilled workers to take those jobs.” Oregon’s business community is That’s the message State Rep. Brad ANNUAL OREGON LABOR LAW CONFERENCE sounding an alarm about a looming Witt has been hearing, loudly. Witt, shortage in skilled labor, but it’s not who served 14 years as secretary-treas- clear to what extent government efforts urer of the Oregon AFL-CIO, became BLOSSOMS INTO A CROWD OF NEARLY 250 in “workforce development” will be chair of the House Workforce and Eco- What started 11 years ago as an intimate gath- panel for that discussion featured Richard Ahearn, regional able to solve the problem. Oregon nomic Development Committee at the ering of about 30 union leaders eager to learn more director of the NLRB for Region 19, and attorneys from unions, for their part, have been eager beginning of the year. His committee about state and federal labor laws has blossomed both labor and management. and willing to partner in efforts to im- held several weeks of hearings in Janu- into a conference of nearly 250 union leaders, Malbin said the goal is to keep registration affordable prove worker skills, but feel like they ary to listen to business and labor about business agents, shop stewards and organizers who while offering useful information that union staffers can uti- too often get left out of plans for work- what the Legislature could do to in- have overflowed the venue. lize at work. force training. crease family-wage jobs in Oregon. “We may be looking at moving to the conven- Demographics is the number one “Not one witness didn’t say we’re tion center next year,” said Norman Malbin, in- reason a labor shortage is expected — headed for a train wreck in 10 or 15 house attorney for Electrical Workers Local 48 and the baby boom generation becomes eli- years,” Witt said. founder of the Oregon Labor Law Conference. gible to retire in the next five to 15 The culprits most often fingered are The day-long conference was held Jan. 19 at years. That will likely mean greater culture and school: A shift in culture Local 48’s union hall and training center in North- competition for skilled workers by em- has made young people less interested east Portland. ployers throughout the economy — in technical occupations, and the K-12 This year’s confab featured a plenary session construction, high tech, health care, the school system isn’t steering students on “Employment and Labor Law Overview” pre- public sector, even manufacturing. toward skilled trades careers. sented by management attorney Rick Liebman. That last, the notion of a labor short- Some labor leaders expect to see the Twenty workshops are offered — ranging from age in manufacturing, seems to go business community clamor for more “corporate campaigns” to “union discipline” to a against conventional wisdom: Hasn’t tax dollars to pay for their workforce panel on the impacts of last year’s Kentucky River manufacturing taken a beating in Ore- training needs. That’s the chorus Bob decision by the National Labor Relations Board Shiprack, executive secretary of the that redefined the definition of a supervisor. The gon and the rest of the country, losing RICHARD AHEARN NORMAN MALBIN jobs to foreign competition and corpo- Oregon State Building and Construc- rate outsourcing? tion Trades Council, says he’s heard The short answer is, “Yes.” from business leaders. According to the Oregon Employ- “The people that complain the most ment Department, statewide manufac- about not being able to find skilled turing employment peaked in 1998 at people are the ones who don’t pay 227,000, declined in the 2000-2003 re- them what they’re worth,” Shiprack cession, and has been flat since then. said. “What drives me crazy is that State economists think it will ac- they’re doing nothing about this sup- count for 205,500 jobs in 2014, about posed labor shortage except asking the the same number as the end of 2006. taxpayer to give them subsidies to train But such numbers hide the reality of their workers.” turnover and changing skills require- Meanwhile, union training pro- ments. Even in an industry with a de- grams, which operate without tax dol- clining workforce, workers retire or lars, struggle for recognition. Oregon change jobs and need to be replaced. AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain And computerization and mechaniza- says the state workforce training sys- tion, which contribute to job loss, at the (Turn to Page 7) Let me say this about that —By Gene Klare PDC Board wants more time to amend new construction wage policy Plans to amend a two-week-old economic sanctions, but didn’t set spe- Francesconi said that bringing own- Portland Development Commission cific dollar figures. Wilhoite said any ership back into the equation is what construction wage policy were pushed fines should be pooled and earmarked caused so many problems in the first back by the PDC Board at its Jan. 24 for “diversity organizations.” place. “Ownership injects a whole lot meeting. During public testimony, attorney of confusion,” he said. “I think you’re On Jan. 10, the PDC Board adopted Jim Francesconi, speaking on behalf setting yourself up for a whole lot of a policy to pay construction workers of the Carpenters, Operating Engi- controversy.” state prevailing wage rates on private neers and Laborers, said the unions Francesconi, a former city commis- projects that receive more than $1 mil- support the wage policy in general, but sioner and mayoral candidate, said the lion in funding form the quasi-public he pointed to a couple of “loopholes” Operating Engineers also would like to agency, which serves as the develop- in the policy that “will certainly cause see demolition included in the $1 mil- ment arm of the City of Portland. controversy down the road.” lion threshold. As it stands, the wage In addition to wage rates, the new One provision states that: “when policy states that demolition and envi- policy also calls for specific hiring the total floor area of publicly-owned ronmental remediation will be consis- goals for women and minorities on a space is less than 50 percent of the to- tent with rules under the Oregon Bu- project-by-project basis. tal floor area of the combined public- reau of Labor and Industries. Fast enters Hall of Fame At the Jan. 10 meeting, Commis- private space, the policy shall not ap- Other suggestions the Board heard BILL FAST, 88, a retired port agent for the Marine Engineers Beneficial Asso- sioner Charles Wilhoite expressed ply to the construction of the for amending the construction wage ciation (MEBA), stands in the spotlight as the newest member of the Labor Hall of concern that the policy didn’t include privately-owned space unless this por- policy included adding incentives as Fame. He was given that honor by the sponsoring Northwest Oregon Labor Retirees language that gave PDC the ability to tion of the project receives $1 million well as sanctions to hiring goals; man- Council, which is affiliated with the Portland-based Northwest Oregon Labor Coun- levy economic sanctions on develop- or more in PDC resources.” dating apprenticeship training on proj- cil (NOLC) of the AFL-CIO. ers who failed to meet stated hiring The other provision says: “if proj- ects; requiring nonunion contractors Fast retired in 1988 after serving as MEBA’s Portland port agent for 22 years. He goals. After discussing the issue, the ects constructed privately include pub- and training programs to submit an- and his wife, Beverly, live in Lake Oswego in Clackamas County. Board directed PDC staff to amend the lic and private ownership portions that nual affirmative action reports (the IN HIS CAREER running the MEBA office, Fast was active in a number of or- policy to include enforcement actions can be separated for construction pur- policy instructs only affiliates of the ganizations. He served as president of and to bring it back for a vote on Jan. poses, the public portion of the project Building Trades Council to file re- the Portland Maritime Trades Council 24. shall be subject to the policy and the ports); and exempting certain trades and of the Multnomah County Labor At the Jan. 24 meeting, the revised private portion shall be exempt from from working on projects if they don’t Council, which has since become part wage policy included language for the policy.” meet affirmative action goals. of NOLC. He was president of Port- PDC Chairman Mark Rosenbaum land-based Labor’s Community Ser- asked, and the Board agreed, to delay vice Agency and was president of the a vote on amending the policy until its Willamette Democratic Society. His next meeting on Feb. 14. “I think that civic service included eight years as a Bennett Hartman after the discussion today, we need to b h bring it back,” he said. governor-appointed member of the Morris & Kaplan, llp Port of Portland Commission. Another NOTE: facet of his work was serving as a con- Attorneys at Law John Mohlis, executive sultant to the the Marine Cooks and m k secretary-treasurer of the Columbia- Stewards Union in the Portland area.

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