May 19, 2024 by Kacey Carpenter, agenda and slides
Marty Hart-Landsberg, Chair opened the meeting at 4:06 PM.
Welcome and introductions: Marty Hart-Landsberg, Gus Frederick, Zachariah O’Keeffe, Pat Riggs-Henson, Lura Frazey, Bob Rossi, Kacey Carpenter
Marty reviewed our agenda
The Writers Corner: Gus Frederick, a native Oregonian, writer, conceptual artist, photographer, filmmaker, and animator presented an overview of the creation of a book using the Lulu Print on Demand service. You can watch the video recording here.
Meeting Minutes April 14, 2024: Approved
Meet up in Salem. Lura provided a report on the planning committee for a members in-person meeting in Salem. Bob and Elissa researched options and recommended the Marco Polo Restaurant in downtown Salem with free parking next door. Lura will send a google survey form to all members with several meeting dates to prioritize in June or July (two Saturday options and two Sunday options).
New buttons: Marty reported that we have 70 member buttons available with our new logo. We plan to distribute them to members at the Members Meeting in Oregon and mail to those not able to attend. If you need buttons sooner, please contact Marty.
T-shirts: Marty reported that NWU national is working on t-shirts with our new logo to be orderable from the website soon.
Nwu.org web redesign committee: Marty reported that the committee had created a statement of needs to scope work for a web designer to improve the experience for new and existing members.
Delegate Election and Assembly: All members should have received an email “Candidates Announced for 2024 NWU Elections!” with candidate statements here. As our Oregon Chapter Chair, Marty is automatically included in the Delegate Assembly that will take place in late summer or early fall. Thanks Marty! In addition, James Smith has submitted his candidacy for this election. Marty is in communication with James about our Oregon Chapter meetings and membership. Action to all members: Think about what important issues and concerns you want our delegates to bring to the Delegate Assembly including topics such as transparency, grassroots organization at the chapter level, etc… We will discuss it as part of our agenda at our next meeting.
Future meeting Idea: Marty proposed an idea for future members meeting to invite Jonathan Tasini (former NWU President from Oregon 1990-2003) to speak and share history of Oregon NWU.
Reports from Labor Council/Chapter Representatives:
- Pat Riggs-Henson raised her concern about the situation with a combination of the two chapters across 6 counties.
- Bob Rossi reported on efforts to create a merged Labor Chapter bringing together the Mark-Polk-Yamhill and Linn-Benton-Lincoln labor chapters. This proposed merger will create Oregon’s largest labor chapter. Three NWU members are directly involved in the merger discussions. Bob does not believe that the merger is off to a good start and attributes this to the difficulties of trying to blend different union cultures in a short time frame, tensions between horizontal and vertical unionisms, and disagreements over Oregon AFL-CIO rules and directives.
Open comments:
- Bob shared that today, May 19, is the anniversary of the Matewan Masscacre. One of the most infamous events of the West Virginia mine wars was a deadly shoot-out in the mining town of Matewan in Mingo County. The incident, which occurred on May 19, 1920,
- Bob shared that our next meeting on July 14, will be on the anniversary of the first national railroad strike that began July 14, 1877, also known as the Great Railroad Strike and Great Upheaval.
- Kacey reminded us that May 21, 2024. Election Day is Tuesday, May 21 – VOTE then help your family and neighbors!
Our next meeting will be Sunday, July 14 2024 at 4:00 PM featuring the Writers Corner with David Levine. Stay tuned for more details.
The meeting ended at 5:30 PM.