September 20, 2002

Labor headlines from the September 20, 2002, edition of the Northwest Labor Press

Machinists reject pact at Boeing, but strike vote doesn't fly

Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) overwhelmingly rejected Boeing's "last, best and final" contract offer Sept. 13, but they failed to muster the 66.6 percent majority required to strike the company, union officials announced.

Union lawsuit whittles away at Sizemore's credibility

Leaders of Oregon's two biggest teachers' unions saw on Sept. 13 what they'd waited years to see: the state's most notorious anti-union activist, damaged by the testimony of a former employee, called to the witness stand in a $2.76 million civil lawsuit.

CF bankruptcy puts workers behind the 8-ball

In the wake of the spectacular blowout of the 73-year-old Vancouver, Wash., trucking giant Consolidated Freightways, 15,500 laid off or soon-to-be-laid-off workers are facing tough choices about what to do.

Retired cop Jeff Barker labor's choice in new House District 28

He has stared down the barrel of a shotgun, dodged M-80 firecrackers, been spat on and cursed at. So it's no wonder that retired Police Lt. Jeff Barker feels he can hold his own as a lawmaker in Salem.

Budget cuts could force closure of seven prisons, AFSCME warns

The union that represents most Department of Corrections employees in Oregon has announced its strong opposition to the department's plans to close seven state prisons, lay off about 1,000 employees and release almost 4,000 inmates in an effort to meet its share of the nearly half-billion-dollar state budget shortfall.

'Wobblies' resurrecting in Portland, but face employer opposition

Eight decades after a radical U.S. union was driven to the brink of extinction by vigilante violence, a handful of young workers in Portland and other cities are staging a modest resurrection.

Recession may be over, but workers still face uncertainty about recovery

Most economic data show that the 2002 recovery has been timid and could dip back into recession.