See Inside MEETING NOTICES Page 6 Volume 107 Number 15 August 4, 2006 Portland Oregon AFL-CIO backs Kulongoski for re-election The Oregon AFL-CIO wasted little SCME Council 75. It was Allen who time endorsing Gov. Ted Kulongoski moved to endorse Kulongoski. for re-election at its meeting July 25 in “Job creation. Capital construction. Portland. Minimum wage. Organizing. Health During President Tom Chamber- care. He’s with us right down the line,” lain’s report to the Committee On Po- said AFL-CIO President Tom Cham- litical Education (COPE), he was inter- berlain, who formerly served as the rupted and a motion was made to governor’s labor liaison. endorse the Democratic incumbent. A “He just gets it,” added Bob Petroff, vote was taken and Kulongoski won directing business representative of Ma- unanimous support, with two unions chinists District Lodge 24. “He knows — the Oregon Nurses Association and what’s right for workers...he’s one of Springfield Fire Fighters — abstaining. us.” A political endorsement requires a Kulongoski, a former member of the two-thirds majority vote. Teamsters and Steelworkers unions, Support by the AFL-CIO is a huge refers to himself in speeches as a “labor relief for Kulongoski, who failed to get Democrat.” He was one of the first gov- its backing in the May primary when he ernors in the nation to sign the pledge faced two labor-friendly Democratic for the Employee Free Choice Act, a opponents. At the time, public em- legislative proposal pending in Con- ployee unions were still upset with Ku- gress that calls for card-check elections longoski because of his work in the and employer neutrality during organ- 2005 Legislature to scale back public izing campaigns. employees’ pensions through massive During his first term, Kulongoski reforms. signed executive orders designating AF- Machinists strike at Cummins NW continues Kulongoski won the primary. He SCME Council 75 as the exclusive Steve Capsey, Ward Andring and Rick Brandt, members of Machinists Lodge 1005, walk picket line July 31 now faces a well-financed anti-union representative for some 5,000 registered at Cummins NW on Swan Island in Portland. The unfair labor practice strike, which is getting virtually no conservative Republican. child care providers throughout the attention by the Portland media, started July 7 after the company’s new owner voided contracts with Machinists “I think Ted Kulongoski is the best state, and the Service Employees Inter- and Teamsters unions at facilities in Portland, Pendleton, Renton, Wash. and Spokane, Wash., and quit paying labor governor in the United States in national Union as the exclusive agent into the pension fund. The sides are negotiating on new contracts with a federal mediator, but talks are moving terms of what he says and what he does. for approximately 6,000 state-listed slowly. The new owner wants open shop language in any new pacts. “We’re in for the long haul, said Andring, His actions follow his talk,” said Ken family child care providers. who has been with Cummins NW for 31 years. More than 100 workers are on strike, including 23 in Portland. Allen, executive director of Oregon AF- (Turn to Page 3) The ULP strike is sanctioned by the Northwest Oregon Labor Council and Teamsters Joint Council 37. Former Labor Press editor ‘Jimbo’ Goodsell dies at 86 James Warren Goodsell, editor of the Oregon was temporal arteritis. At that time they were living in were mostly judged by Nieman Fellows at Harvard University. Labor Press in the 1950s and ’60s, died in his Italy where he was the director of the United States Those are professional journalists studying at Harvard while on a sleep on July 15, 2006 at his home in Twisp, Trade Center in Milan. Dee Goodsell died at their school year’s sabbatical from their jobs. Washington, at the age of 86, his family re- Twisp home in 2003 at age 86. A highlight of Goodsell’s tenure at the Labor Press was attend- ported. Twisp, which is not far from the Cana- Jim, also known as Jimbo, became the editor and ing and covering the historic 1955 national merger of the American dian border, is situated in the Methow Valley in manager of the then-weekly Oregon Labor Press on Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations at the North Cascade Mountains. June 1, 1951 and held the job until Oct. 8, 1965. (This a convention in New York City. The next year he attended and cov- In 1982, Goodsell and his second wife, labor-owned non-profit newspaper was started as the ered the AFL-CIO state-level merger convention in Portland. Dorothy (Dee) Compton Goodsell, moved to Portland Labor Press on Labor Day 1900, became the The circulation of the Labor Press was 18,900 when Goodsell Twisp, which they had earlier selected as their Oregon Labor Press in 1914 and changed its name to became its editor and manager in 1951. He increased it to 40,000 retirement site because of its proximity to moun- Northwest Labor Press in 1987 to reflect its expanded over a period of years. tains, which they both enjoyed climbing. He scope.) Under Goodsell’s editorship the Labor Press Goodsell’s reporting on the long, bitter November 1959 to April took early retirement from a federal executive won 24 national awards in the annual journalism com- 1965 strike against the Oregonian and Oregon Journal and his sup- post because she had suddenly gone nearly blind petition sponsored by the International Labor Press As- port for the striking unions and their members earned him a special in 1981. Doctors said the cause of her sight loss JAMES GOODSELL sociation. In those years the ILPA journalism contests (Turn to Page 2) Let me say this about that —By Gene Klare Labor, greens come together By DON McINTOSH some labor groups have yet to endorse. Washington to meet demand. Bio- Associate Editor Instead, it sticks to a unifying agenda all diesel is diesel fuel produced from re- If unions could join forces politically sides can agree with: energy independ- newable resources, including recycled with environmental groups, what could ence, energy efficiency, clean energy, cooking oils, animal fats, and soybean they achieve together? Maybe good jobs and good jobs. and canola oils. and a clean environment? Rich Feldman, Apollo coordinator Thanks to the demand created by the Neither camp has close ties to the for the state of Washington, says people law, Seattle-based Imperium Renew- majority party in Congress right now, who are concerned about global warm- ables expects to break ground in early but state by state, such an alliance has ing are already on board with Apollo’s September in Grays Harbor on one of potential, leaders in both movements proposals, while those who aren’t still the largest biofuels plants in America. say. see the value of weaning the U.S. from The work will be done by a union-sig- In June, the 850,000-member union dependence on foreign fuel supplies. natory general contractor, JH Kelly, and United Steelworkers and the 750,000- Apollo takes its name from the construction will take about a year. The member environmental group Sierra Apollo project, the challenge laid down $40 million plant is slated to create 250 Club announced the formation of a by John F. Kennedy that America could to 350 jobs during construction and 50 “Blue-Green Alliance” to work on a send a manned vessel to the moon permanent jobs once it’s running. The joint political agenda. within a decade if it put its mind to the plant will manufacture biodiesel using “Good jobs and a clean environment task. Similarly, say Apollo Alliance palm oil from Malaysia and soybean oil are important to American workers,” founders, America can found a new era from the United States. ...Goodsell’s career said Steelworkers President Leo Gerard of high efficiency and renewable energy The Portland City Council passed a (From Page 1) in a statement accompanying the an- if it’s willing to invest in it. Apollo says local ordinance July 12, without any nouncement. “We cannot have one with- developing bio-fuels, wind, solar and prompting from the Apollo Alliance or award from the ILPA. He published a number of special editions of the Labor out the other.” other new technologies could create 3 other groups. Commissioner Randy Press devoted entirely to the strike and printed hundreds of thousands of copies The Steelworkers have a history of million new jobs in the agricultural Leonard, a former Fire Fighters Union which were delivered door-to-door by teams of strikers. This helped the striking working with environmentalists dating economy, construction and industry. leader, authored the ordinance. The or- unions to persuade tens of thousands of people to cancel their subscriptions to the back to the 1970 passage of the Clean In Washington, an active Apollo dinance requires that within a year all struck-but-still-publishing newspapers which were produced by strikebreakers. Air Act, and are a part of several other chapter helped pass legislation this gas stations within the city limits offer JIM SERVED as an ILPA vice president and executive council member from such alliances. March to require that diesel and gaso- gasoline that includes 10 percent 1958 to 1965. He was One that shows potential is the line sold in the state contain minimum ethanol. In addition, all diesel sold will a member of Portland Apollo Alliance, founded in 2003, percentages of biodiesel and ethanol. have to include 5 percent biodiesel. Newspaper Guild Lo- which has been endorsed by 20 environ- The bill was fought hard by petroleum The Apollo Alliance is looking to cal 165 and Portland mental groups, 19 international unions, companies, but passed with bipartisan build momentum in Oregon, and is as- Machinists Lodge 63.