August 2, 2002

Labor headlines from the August 2, 2002, edition of the Northwest Labor Press

Sizemore's anti-union initiative won't make it onto Oregon ballot

Bill Sizemore's anti-union "paycheck deception" initiative fell 675 signatures short of qualifying.

Transit Union considers accepting Romanian subway unit as affiliate

Four leaders of that union visited Portland-based ATU Local 757 for four days in mid-July.

State legislator Gary Hansen proud of his Plumbers card

Hansen, now running for his third two-year term in the Oregon House of Representatives, is one of the handful of card-carrying union members who make up the Legislature's "labor caucus."

Unions forced to organize outside toothless labor laws

Seasoned organizers say if American unions are to halt their decline in numbers and power, they will have to undertake strategically targeted large-scale organizing campaigns and work outside the legal handcuffs of U.S. labor law.

Guild over three years without contract at Eugene Register-Guard

A formerly good labor-management relationship soured after Tony Baker, grandson of the paper's founder, took the reins of the family-owned paper in the late 1980s.

More schools look at contracting out

Officials of the independent Oregon School Employees Association report that Estacada School District, Rainier School District and Douglas County School District have weighed proposals to privatize.