April 18, 2003

Labor headlines from the April 18, 2003, edition of the Northwest Labor Press

At Oregon Legislature 'Jobs in the woods' bill gaining momentum

If the proposal passes, state agencies that contract with private companies to do natural resource protection will experiment with a new way of doing business: bundling different kinds of work together to transform what is now low-paid seasonal work into skilled year-round employment.

AFSCME marks 35th anniversary of MLK assassination

AFSCME marked the 35th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. with an April 5 rally in downtown Portland's Pioneer Courthouse Square. The union has a special reason to remember King because the civil rights leader was in Memphis, Tenn., helping an AFSCME organizing campaign among sanitation workers when he was slain on April 4, 1968.

Seventy-five workers killed on the job in Oregon in 2002

The list of their names and occupations, along with the names of all Oregon workers killed on the job since 1989, are read each Workers Memorial Day - April 28 - on the capitol steps in Salem.

Labor provides input in new hazardous noise booklet

A new safety publication, "Guide for Controlling Hazardous Noise on Construction Jobsites," has been released by the Oregon-Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The guide includes a booklet, construction noise control "sound cards" for equipment operators and construction workers, and a compact disc that demonstrates the effects of hearing loss.