By DON McINTOSH
Delegates to the Northwest Oregon Labor Council (NOLC) approved a slate of mostly incumbent officers at the organization’s Nov. 27 meeting. All ran unopposed and were declared elected by acclamation. They serve four-year terms.
Chartered by the national AFL-CIO, NOLC is Oregon’s only independent local labor council. It’s meant to coordinate the efforts of affiliated unions and provide a mechanism for the local labor movement to speak with one voice.
The newly elected slate is headed by Executive Secretary-treasurer Laurie Wimmer, a longtime teachers union lobbyist who’s now a member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555. Wimmer was first elected in February to replace Thomas Mosher, who left in November 2022 after just six months in the position. Executive secretary-treasurer is the council’s only full-time elected position; all other officers serve as volunteers.
Since Wimmer’s arrival, meeting attendance has increased, and she’s welcomed three new affiliates totaling about 1,500 members: Boilermakers Local 104, which represents workers at the Portland shipyard; PROTEC17, which represents engineers and technical employees at the City of Portland; and AFT Local 6802, also known as the Portland State University chapter of American Association of University Professors, which represents full-time faculty at PSU. The new affiliates bring total membership to over 54,000. Several other unions are also in discussions about affiliating. Wimmer is also working to assemble a big-tent labor and community coalition that will back slates of candidates in local elections next year.
Besides Wimmer, the other officers are:
- President Scott Zadow, IBEW Local 48
- First Vice President Rob Martineau, AFSCME Local 189
- Second Vice President Tracey Powers, OPEIU Local 11
- Executive Board Will Tucker, Laborers Local 483; Taylor Almond, Bakers Local 114; Jaime Rodriguez, AFT; Ryan Nielsen, Laborers Local 737; Sarah Curtis, AFSCME Local 328; Carol Krohn, Machinists; Ed Barnes, IBEW Local 48
- Sergeants-at-arms Scott Mills, Painters Local 1094; and Lori Vaughn, OPEIU
- Reading clerks Mont Chris Hubbard, Musicians Local 99; and Joann Gilmer, AFSCME Local 189
