Delegates to the Northwest Oregon Labor Council (NOLC) elected a new president and two other executive officers by acclamation at their May 24 meeting, meaning they ran unopposed.
NOLC’s new president is Scott Zadow, a business representative for IBEW Local 48. Also elected were Laborers Local 737 political and legislative director Jodi Guetzloe Parker, to the Executive Board; and Machinists District Lodge 63 Secretary-Treasurer John Hall to a trustee position.
The three offices had been vacant since March when United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 555 disaffiliated from NOLC. Before that the presidency was held by Local 555’s now-former secretary-treasurer Jeff Anderson; the E-Board spot was held by Local 555 Business Rep. Chris Groener; and a trustee position by Local 555 Business Rep. Lucy Carrier.
Zadow, 43, said he’s honored to serve in the role, having learned a lot from NOLC leaders like Bob Petroff of the Machinists and Sam Gillespie of UFCW.
Zadow grew up solidly union, and followed both his father and his uncle into IBEW Local 48 and later to union office. His father, Mark Zadow, was an organizer and rep at Local 48; his uncle, Grant Zadow, was Local 48 business manager. Both are now retired.
Zadow’s wife, Brandy Lalland, is a teachers union member. His father-in-law is a retired union machinist from Daimler. Even Zadow’s grandmother was union, working as a Teamster at the Meier & Frank warehouse.
Zadow is a noticeable presence at 6’5”, and his childhood dream was to play college basketball. A knee injury while playing for Parkrose High School in Northeast Portland dashed those hopes. Instead, after graduating in 1995, he entered the NECA-IBEW apprenticeship and became a journeyman Sound and Communications electrician. Sound & Comm electricians work on low-voltage applications like fiber optic cables, phone and computer hook-ups, fire alarm and nurse call systems, and electric sliding doors.
In 2014, after 18 years in the field, Zadow was hired as a business representative. Following his mentor, the late Lee Duncan, he was assigned to serve the roughly 600 members of Local 48’s Sound and Communications unit. Appointed as a NOLC delegate by Building Trades leader Willy Myers to represent the trades, Zadow organized karaoke meet-ups at a local bar to build fellowship within Local 48 and among union activists across the local labor movement.
“Where my heart is for this is to make it better for the next generation,” Zadow told the Labor Press. “That’s what was instilled to me; that’s why my parents fought the labor fight.”
The newly elected officers will serve through the end of 2023, the unexpired remainder of the offices’ four-year terms.
Because NOLC’s charter bars any affiliated international union from holding more than one top officer position, retired IBEW Local 48 business manager Ed Barnes stepped down as NOLC second vice president so that Zadow could accept the office of president. Nominations to fill that vacancy will be taken at NOLC’s June delegates meeting.
