Union groups gather at Longview, WA Civic Center in solidarity as local contracts near

Union groups gather at Longview, WA Civic Center in solidarity as local contracts near
Workers Rally From Different Unions To Fight The Attacks
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Bill Wagner / The Daily News
Steve Hawkins of Washington State Nurses Association Peace Health southwest local unit came up from Vancouver to voice support for local nurses in their contract negotiations.
June 21, 2014 11:46 pm • By Brooks Johnson(27) Comments
Area union workers lifted their voices Saturday to practice a little workplace democracy in the sun.

About 200 local union members and supporters gathered on Longview’s Civic Center facing the post office on the first day of summer for two hours of solidarity in stories and songs.

A dozen speakers representing as many unions took to the stage and told of successes and struggles in organized labor’s long local history.

“The working class is under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” retired Portland letter carrier Jamie Partridge said to applause.

The rally was put on by the Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Central Labor Council and emceed by its president, Kyle Mackey. He said the majority of Cowlitz County union members are nearing contract negotiations and wanted all unions to have each other’s backs.

Weyerhauser, KapStone and PeaceHealth will be in talks this summer with their respective unions — the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers and Washington State Nurses Association, respectively — and if the rally had a theme, it was that there will be no backing down.

“Especially with the young guys they’ve hired in the past several years, they need to understand that you don’t give up anything because they’ll never get it back,” said Brian Lovingfoss, a 20-year Weyerhauser veteran in a red shirt matching other Weyerhauser there. “(The company) is making way too much money to make us make concessions.”

His 21-year-old son Evan came to the rally in orange, KapStone’s solidarity shirts with “Our values: Keep our Kaiser / Wages / 401K / Safety” written on the back.

Though much of the crowd was close to retirement, plenty of younger workers did their part in the park.

“It’s about a living wage,” said Kyle Darby 33. “I tried to support a family on $9 an hour and it got me nowhere.”

Seattle longshoreman Leith Kahl picked his banjo and extended his mighty vocal timber after every few speakers, and the folksy labor songs kept many from wandering off, though the crowd did dwindle after an hour.

A brief exodus happened early, when the post office called tow trucks to clear some of the attendees’ vehicles from an unmarked area, but a crisis seemed to be averted.

Toward the end, a union member from Los Angeles, in town on unrelated business, taught the crowd a new rally cry.

“Si, se peude!” Vivian Malauulu said, a saying started by Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers that translates to “Yes, we can do it.”

To end the day’s calls to action, the crowd marched a block on Broadway to 15th Avenue and back to call attention to labor’s cause.

“Rallies like this aren’t just about individual unions, it’s community.” said Jim Anderson, the southern Washington representative for AWPPW. “We work hard, have our kids play baseball together,” and when it comes time to fight “massive” corporate greed, he said, they stand together.

Brooks Johnson covers Longview city government, Cowlitz PUD and Lower Columbia College for The Daily News. Reach him at 360-577-7828 or bjohnson@tdn.com.