Carpenters Local 156 — which was formed in January 2011 out of the merger of six general carpenter locals in Oregon and Southwest Washington — was split up into two new locals effective Sept. 1.
Newly chartered Carpenters Local 1503 (named for one of Northwest Oregon’s two telephone area codes) will represent about 2,400 general carpenter members in the Portland metropolitan area and Southwest Washington. It will keep the Oregon City offices of the former Local 156, which are shared with Local 146, the statewide drywall hangers local.
All union general carpenters in the rest of Oregon — about 1,200 members — will belong to newly chartered Carpenters Local 271, with offices in Eugene.
Ben Basom, spokesperson for the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters, said the split will help solve the challenge of a far-flung membership: It was tough for members in Medford, for example, to attend Tuesday evening union meetings at the local headquarters in Oregon City.
To head Local 1503, United Brotherhood of Carpenters General President Doug McCarron appointed all those who’d recently won union officer elections in Local 156. Those are: President Shaun Cushman, Vice President Cliff Puckett; Financial Secretary Krista Farmer; Recording Secretary Ben Basom; Treasurer Don Ball; Conductor Pete Savage; Warden Christy Kern; and Trustees Bill Lewis, Larry Heckathorne, and Joe Figueroa.
Officers of Local 271 will be: President James Jones, Vice President Tyson Stuber, Financial Secretary Jeff Harms, Recording Secretary Jennifer Van Datta, Treasurer Ken Daletas, Conductor Boyd Martin, Warden Tim Keck, and Trustees Jim Wilson, David Mork, and Cory Rogers.
Both locals work under the terms of region-wide master agreements with Associated General Contractors (AGC) and the General and Concrete Contractors Association (GCCA).
United Brotherhood of Carpenters is not affiliated with the AFL-CIO, but has a partnership with AFL-CIO-affiliated International Union of Operating Engineers known as the National Construction Alliance II.
