The black community should know that all unions are not created equal.  The employee unions (SEUI), postal workers, transportation unions, etc., have a very stellar reputation for diversity and have often have been a showcase for inclusion. The craft construction unions give all unions a bad name when it comes to diversity and inclusion. Continue reading We have to deal with unions. →

I was out of town when I got the news that Bob Caldwell had passed. It was even sadder when I heard a few days later of the circumstances of his death.

But those circumstances did not lessen my sense of loss or diminish my respect for what Bob had tried to do for the black community. Continue reading Portland’s black community lost a friend in Bob Caldwell →

For more than a year a local contingent of the trades unions, led by The Carpenters and Operating Engineers union, have enlisted the services of a former city commissioner to fashion and sell what they call a “Community Benefits Agreement.” They are making all sorts of promises, assertions and exclusions for minorities, but their end game is to woo more public agencies to invoke exclusive union participation on all public projects. Continue reading The truth about the proposed Community Benefits Agreement in Portland →