July 19, 2002

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Labor headlines from the July 19, 2002, edition of the Northwest Labor Press

Portland School Board discards 300 custodial jobs

On July 8, the board voted 5-2 to fire its 300 custodians and contract out their jobs to Portland Habilitation Center.

Machinists at Boeing plants authorize strike in big way

The vote is a preliminary move designed to show solidarity in talks, which began June 25 in Wichita, Kansas.

Initiative reformers file petition to end the buying and selling of signatures

Sponsors of a labor-backed initiative to stop the buying and selling of signatures on initiative petitions filed 121,690 signatures with the secretary of state July 5, which they say should guarantee their measure a place on the November 2002 ballot.

Minimum wage initiative headed for November ballot

Oregon's lowest-paid workers moved closer to a long-overdue pay raise July 5 when the chief petitioners for the Oregon AFL-CIO-endorsed initiative to raise the state's minimum wage turned in 91,098 signatures to the secretary of state.�

Critics find massive forgery and fraud on Sizemore's I-18

The Voter Education Project has found rampant forgery and fraud on petition sheets turned in to the secretary of state for the latest version of an anti-union measure that Bill Sizemore has been pushing on Oregon voters.

Labor's own voice for the little guy plays defense at the State Capitol

Fiery and flamboyant, labor legislator Tony Corcoran is a thorn in the toe of anti-labor conservatives in Salem.

Four years after unionizing, Bi-Mart workers decertify without a contract

On June 12, a management-aided "dump the union" campaign produced a 49-31 vote to get rid of the union.