Members of Cement Masons Local 555 have good health care and a secure retirement, so it’s fairly common for members to reach the 50-year mark. The Portland-headquartered local has a tradition of honoring long-time members at an annual holiday banquet. But Local 555 business manager Geoff Kossak says there was one 50-year member he and other leaders of the local wanted to present honors to one-on-one: Bill Wynn.
On July 22, Bill Wynn and his wife Meg came to the union hall at 12812 NE Marx Street for a visit, and came away with a certificate and bronze sculpture of an eagle and an American flag.
Wynn, now 71, worked or many years as a cement mason, but also served as president of the local, and coordinator of its apprenticeship program, training scores of workers to become the top workers in their industry.
Noah Jones, an instructor in the union’s apprenticeship program, admits he was in awe of Wynn when he was starting out as a young apprentice. He saw Wynn as a tough grownup who set an example of seriousness and dedication to the work and to his coworkers.
Wynn joined the Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons International Union in 1973 as a member of Local 254 in New Mexico. There he volunteered to serve as the local’s recording secretary. But work was sometimes hard to come by. Oregon was Meg’s home state, so on their trips back, he would stop in at the Local 555 hall and speak with then business manager Del French. French invited him to transfer, and he did, moving the family to Oregon in 1989.
With French’s encouragement, he got involved in Local 555 too, eventually become president of the local. From 1994 to 2000, he served as full-time apprenticeship training director.
When Wynn took charge of the program, there was nothing like a written curriculum. Apprentices learned the trade doing donation work and pouring sidewalks. Wynn worked with others in the international union to create a written curriculum that’s now used throughout the country, covering everything from patching and form-setting to pouring slabs and decorative concrete.
Then from 2000 to 2006, he worked as coordinator of Job Corps Region 1, covering Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska, getting students ready for careers as plasterers and cement masons. He retired in 2006, but with kids in college, kept working in retirement, putting on a bunny suit to serve as a safety contractor at Intel’s Ronler Acres campus.
He finally clocked out for the last time last December.
Wynn left his mark on Local 555 in one other way: His personal collection of ornate antique union convention medals from around the country, acquired via EBay, now hangs in a display case at the hall, a reminder of the union’s heritage.
“I worked with my tools for 20 years, and I was in the office for the rest of the time, either as the training director or the Job Corps,” Wynn said. “It’s been a great trade.”
