Farrell Richartz was sworn in June 21 as the new full-time business manager for Laborers Local 483. Local 483 — part of LiUNA’s public sector division — represents about 1,000 workers at the City of Portland, Oregon Zoo, and several other public employers.
Richartz, 52, is a longtime City of Portland employee. He first worked at the Parks Bureau, then for the Bureau of Maintenance as a street cleaner and dump truck driver. Over the years he served as a union steward, newsletter editor, and recording secretary, and was elected secretary-treasurer, a full-time position, in June 2015.
He becomes business manager because Local 483 is temporarily combining the jobs of business manager and secretary-treasurer until the next scheduled officer election.
Richartz will serve out the remainder of former business manager Erica Askin’s term, which runs through June 2017, and said he expects to run for re-election. Askin left in March to become in-house attorney for Service Employees Local 49. The Local 483 Executive Board appointed Local 483 president Wesley Buchholz as a part-time interim replacement. Buchholz nows return to his full-time job as a storekeeper for Portland Parks.
