NW Oregon Labor Council's Ron Fortune will retire May 1

PORTLAND, OR -- Ron Fortune announced that he will retire as executive secretary-treasurer of the Portland-based Northwest Oregon Labor Council (NOLC) effective May 1.

Actually, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber spilled Fortune's impending retirement plans at a labor breakfast last month, at which time the governor also announced that he would run for re-election.

Fortune, 62 next month, was elected to the post in 1985. Prior to that he was a business representative of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1092 (now Local 555). He grew up in Chicago where his father was a coal miner, street sweeper, truck driver, carpenter "and a good union man." When he was 12 his family moved to Newberg and his father went into the restaurant business. As a youngster Fortune worked at the family restaurant and also held many odd jobs. He found work at a grocery store in 1956. "It was a temporary job that turned out to be a career," he said.

Fortune joined UFCW Local 1092 and became a "very involved" union member. He was hired as a business representative in 1969 to fill an unexpired term and was elected to the position after that.

When Lon Imel (also a member of UFCW Local 555) retired as executive secretary-treasurer of the labor council in July1985, Fortune (and four others) ran for the job. After winning the election Fortune oversaw the mergers of the Columbia County and Clackamas County labor councils into NOLC.

"It felt like a job I had been training for all my life," he said. "Working with professionals on both sides; making labor peace whenever possible."

Fortune became a widely-known and influential "peacemaker" in the labor movement, always listening to both sides of an issue before taking action, and always with an open door to hear about problems and concerns.

He said the proverbial pendulum that supposedly swings in seven-year cycles -- three or four years favoring management, then three or four years favoring labor -- "has never swung favorably in the workers' direction, at least from what I've seen."

His open-door policy was so flexible that whenever an issue or cause was in need of temporary space he was always first in line offering a desk, chair, telephone and corner space at the council's office at 1125 SE Madison St., Portland.

Fortune said his philosophy has always been to support the good ideas of affiliates and then give them the leeway to "run with it."

That latitude and support has helped establish the council's Labor History Committee, Retirees Council, Labor in the Schools program, Saturn/Labor Community Service Agency partnership, the Business, Union and Legislative Leaders (BULL) Session Golf Tournament, Labor Bowl Challenge for muscular dystrophy, Labor Day picnics at Blue Lake and Oaks Park and the labor liaison program for members of Congress. Some of the politicians who hired union members to their staffs included former Congressman Les AuCoin, U.S.Representative Elizabeth Furse, Senator Ron Wyden, senatorial candidate Tom Bruggere and now congressional candidate Brian Baird of Washington.

Fortune also built a reputation as a joke-teller at meetings and to open the many breakfasts that he arranged with labor officials and politicians -- from former Republican U.S. Senators Mark Hatfield and Bob Packwood to Democratic Senator Wyden and Governor Kitzhaber.

Fortune has served on numerous councils and commissions, "too many to remember," he said. He is one of the senior members of the Oregon AFL-CIO Executive Board. He served by appointment of Governor Neil Goldschmidt on the Oregon Economic Development Commission. He was appointed to the Portland Leadership Roundtable by Mayor Bud Clark, he has been on the Executive Board of United Way of the Columbia-Willamette and chairs the board of Labor's Community Service Agency, which is a United Way agency, to name a few posts he's held. "I'm probably the luckiest guy I know. I've been able to do the things I've wanted to do," he said. "I'm proud of what has been accomplished over the last 13 years, but I can't take credit for any of it."

Fortune said he will always cherish the relationships he has made working with "a lot of people who wanted to make the labor movement better -- from private sector to public sector, building trades and service trades, 'old' school and 'new' school."

He said his his intent is "to get out of everything," but minutes later says he'll be available if needed. He lives with his wife, Kathleen, in Gresham. He has seven adult children and 12 grandchildren (with the 13th on the way).

Fortune's term of office expires at the end of 1999. The position will be declared open March 9, with nominations for his successor to be held at NOLC meetings March 23 and April 13. The election to fill the unexpired term is slated for April 27.

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