LOCAL 659 HISTORY

Local 659 was chartered in 1937, with the first members employed by the California Oregon Power Company (COPCO) , in the Medford area.

In those early days travel was slow between major towns and cities in Oregon and Northern California, making organizing slow arid difficult. Most of the time, organizing was done by small groups of union members who would spread the word about the Union to workers in their town. Eventually, units of Local 659 were established in Tillamook, Eugene, Klamath Falls, Grants Pass and Roseburg, to name a few.

The Wireman Unit was established in 1941 in the Klamath Falls area. Next came Medford, Grants Pass, Roseburg, Eugene, and Tillamook.

The first Line Construction Agreement was negotiated by the Union in 1946 with Locals 77, 125, 483, 659 and the National Electrical Contractors Association. By 1946 the Union staff had drafted a Neon Sign Agreement, but the records show that it was not signed by the employer until 1956.

From the records, it appears that in 1948 the Wiremen Unit had 31 members and 21 contractors signed to the Inside Agreement, and it was reported in 1947 that the Union had negotiated double time.

The exclusive referral was put in the Agreement in 1960 in almost the identical wording found in today's Agreement.

The Inside Agreement was first signed with the National Electrical Contractors Association in 1963. Prior to that time all signatory employers signed the Contract individually.

Through the 1970s, Local 659 grew to over 1850 members with the Inside Unit reaching a peak of 350 members with several travelers working.

The change in the White House in the early 80's resulted in a very hard depression for the construction units. Line construction was almost non-existent and there was very little work for the wiremen. In January of 1983 the Inside work hit bottom with 51 ,journeymen working. It was obvious that the nonunion contractors were having a tremendous impact on the Local's membership.

The hourly negotiated rate for wiremen of $18.72 was frozen during 1983 and dropped to $15.00 per hour in January of 1984 on commercial and industrial work with residential set at $13.0O. Even with the lower wages it became necessary to target jobs. With the lower rates we were still losing work and occasionally members to the nonunion contractors. It became obvious that if we were to continue to perform the electrical work in the Local’s jurisdiction, we would have to do what our predecessors did, "organize the unorganized."

HISTORY OF IBEW LOCAL UNIONS IN OREGON: