Temple retires as business manager of Cement Masons 555

Bruce Temple, a 35-year member of Portland-based Cement Masons Local 555, retired as the union’s business manager on May 31.

Temple, 57, stepped down in the middle of a three-year term. He has held the post since April 1996.

Brett Hinsley, 39, was appointed to fill the unexpired term as business manager.

“It’s time for some new blood to step in,” said Temple from his new home in Ocean View, Wash. “It’s a good time to leave. Work is good, all of our contracts are in place and the local is in good shape. We have a lot of good, young people in our local and it time for them to see what they can do.”

Temple is an Oregon native. He graduated from Centennial High School, served three years in the Army, and returned to join the Cement Masons’ apprenticeship program.

“I’ve pushed a wheelbarrow since I was 13,” said Temple, whose late father, Charles, was a 37-year member of Local 555.

Temple didn’t get active in the union until the mid-’80s. He moved his union book to Hawaii, where he worked in the trades for eight years. After returning to the Portland local he worked briefly as the apprenticeship coordinator, then as a business agent for former Business Manager Cliff Puckett.

Puckett was defeated in his race for the office in 1993 and three years later Temple successfully ran for the top post.

Temple and his wife, Sue, have been married for 40 years.

Temple said the opening of the trowel trades office building and training center in August 2000 in Northeast Portland was a top achievement, along with a national reciprocity agreement with contractors, which allows cement masons to travel for work while keeping pension and health and welfare contributions with their home locals.

Local 555 represents approximately 750 cement masons and retirees. It has 45 people in its apprenticeship program.

Brett Hinsley was appointed by the union’s Executive Board to fill the unexpired term as business manager. He has been working as a business agent at the union since May 2005.

Hinsley, also a graduate of the Cement Masons’ apprenticeship program, has been a member of the union for nearly eight years. He has served two terms on the Executive Board and as a trustee on the health and welfare and pension trusts, and has served on the joint apprenticeship training committee, the NW Conference Committee and the Construction Industry Drug-Free Workplace Program.

Prior to joining the Cement Masons, Hinsley was a member of Laborers Locals 320 and 483, where he worked at the Port of Portland. A graduate of Jefferson High School in North Portland, Hinsley is married and has four children.