Northwest Labor Press is an independent union-supported newspaper founded in 1900. Our print version is mailed twice a month to about 45,000 members of over three dozen local unions in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Our online version has been maintained here since 1997.
Training the Next Generation
Grant from Google to support women in the trades
Oregon Tradeswomen, the nonprofit that supports women entering the building trades, received $150,000 in grant funding from Google.
Bricklayers Local 1 apprentices place in Western Region contest
Bricklayers Local 1 apprentices are some of the best in the West, according to the 2022 Western region apprenticeship contest.
Portland Sheet Metal Institute holds apprentice competition
Sheet Metal Institute in Portland was the host this month of the 2022 Northwest Regional Sheet Metal Apprentice Competition.
Apprentice competitions return
In their first competition in two years, UA Local 290 apprentices showed demonstrated their fitting, plumbing, welding and HVAC skills.
Biden cabinet official visits Portland NECA-IBEW training center
U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, a former Boston building trades union leader, wants more women in the trades.
Apprenticeship is catching on
A new union program is skilling up behavioral health workers, and even lawyers are looking at apprenticeship as an alternative to the bar.
Want diversity in construction? Hire union
Local union apprenticeship programs have had much more success than non-union getting Black, Hispanic, and women workers into construction.
Operating Engineers recruit at the rodeo
Operating Engineers Local 701 became a sponsor of the Canby Rodeo this year, and set up its popular mobile simulator at the fair.
UA Local 290’s training facility welcomes Labor Secretary Walsh
On Aug. 10, U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh (center in suit) visited the Springfield training center of United Association of Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 290. To his right are Congressman Peter DeFazio and Local 290 business manager Lou Christian.
Journeyman card counts toward college credit
Mount Hood Community College has agreements with over a dozen union apprenticeship programs to award equivalent college credits.
Maybe shoulda Googled ‘rat contractor’?
Crestline, a heavy civil general contractor headquartered in The Dalles, doesn’t have a state-approved apprenticeship program.
New labor representation on Apprenticeship Council
Laborers Local 737 political assistant Danielle Garza joins several other unionists on the Oregon Apprenticeship and Training Council.
Subsidized child care helps parents enter building trades
For parents who want in to the building trades, finding childcare has been a hurdle. Now a Labor’s Community Service Agency program is making a difference.
STARS banquet canceled, Painters still receive bonuses they earned
Part of a program to field the best-trained workforce in the industry, Local 10 members get bonuses for skill advancement and safety classes they take.
Bricklayers Local 1 apprentices compete
The annual contest in bricklaying, tilesetting, marble, and pointer/cleaner/caulker requires participants to build a project from a blueprint in five hours.
New construction tech debuts at Local 701’s Canby facility
For a week in early March, journeymen and apprentices in Operating Engineers Local 701 got hands on with a new breed of high-tech heavy equipment.
Oregon Tradeswomen is moving to Gresham
On Jan. 10, the group will move into a newly renovated 8,300-square-foot space, part of the 5.5-acre Rockwood Rising development.
Building trades sounds alarm on DOL apprenticeship proposal
In June, the U.S. Department of Labor proposed to give private organizations free rein to create new watered-down standards and self-certify subpar apprenticeship programs.
STARs of Painters/Drywall Finishers Local 10 and Floor Coverers Local 1236
After completing skill advancement and safety courses, members of Painters & Drywall Finishers Local 10 and Floor Coverers Local 1236 got cash and other bonuses at the May 31 STAR Awards banquet.
Plumbers & Fitters Local 290 apprentices test their skills at annual contest
About 100 apprentices competed, and the top finishers in each discipline will take part in the Western Regional Apprentice Contest this June in Idaho.
