Dear Brothers and Sisters of Boilermakers Local 104:
Firstly, the staff at Local 104 want to wish you and your families and happy and healthy holiday season. It is our hope that this year, as have the last couple of years, have felt as steps forward for the labor movement you are all a part of and an overall strengthening of the membership solidarity in your Union. We urge you all to take a moment to wish your fellow deck plate Union siblings Happy Holidays.
This year has largely been successful in relation to the bargained contractual pay increases secured for members by your Local leadership. Nearly each and every contract that was opened during the 2025 year has realized historical and record-breaking increases overall as well as many contracts being reformed in one way or another to best benefit you, the member. It is of the highest priority to the leadership here at Local 104 to find new and creative ways to get the most out of these bargaining cycles to enhance not just your workplace experience but the quality of life for our members have overall.
Effective December 1st, 2025, there will be an increase to the contribution rate of the Health and Welfare Trust of $0.55 for 104 members that are currently contributing $7.15 for a new total contribution of $ 7.70. In tandem, the members in Oregon currently paying the $7.40 rate will see an increase of $0.50 for a new total contribution of $7.90. I understand that these are much more significant increases than you or I would like to have seen this year, but these calculations were made after meticulously going over the current costs of the plan as well as looking over the projected costs for the future. The hard fact of the matter is, health care costs have skyrocketed nationwide and I, as your Business Manager, refuse to cut benefits in an effort to save costs. Each and every one of you deserves prompt, quality, health, dental and vision care, even if that means a significant allocation for the 2025 year. My goal is still to bring equity to all members of Local 104 regardless of location while simultaneously maintaining the best benefits possible. This is why the currently lesser allocation of $7.15 has seen an additional $0.05 increase in an effort to continue to close the delta in costs between Oregon and Washington members with the ultimate goal being all membership paying the same rate.
In addition to the health and welfare allocation increase, there will be an additional $0.10 training allocation increase for members working under the Vigor contract. This is being made in order to cover the extra costs of hiring a full-time Apprenticeship Coordinator in Oregon. With this new position, the Local has been successful with creating training standards in the State of Oregon for the first time ever. This is a very significant step towards further solidifying our Union footprint in Oregon and allowing for many more opportunities going forward for training current membership as well as increasing our membership by organizing new employers. Also, this full-time position will allow for consistent access to the training facility at the Portland Local as well as help provide on the job training opportunities to help further your skills which will qualify you for better pay.
The Union continues to pursue new organizing opportunities as they arise and need support from our membership to be successful. The Local asks that if you can, please get involved with these efforts so that the members of this fine organization can have other opportunities for employment under a signatory Union contract with respectable pay, benefits, job security and respect on the job. Have hard conversations with your non-union peers about what a Union difference can mean for them and encourage them to contact either myself, Brian Richart for Oregon, or Rob Hodge for Washington for help organizing their job sites.
Due in part to our current lack of success in expanding our membership through organizing and other methods, the leadership staff at Local 104 have opted to completely defer our annual wage increase due to the current financial constraints of the Local. In order to effectively do this, I strongly encourage Oregon members to attend your Union meeting on December 17th, 2025 so that we can make quorum for the meeting and pass a motion to request a special dispensation from International to forgo our annual increase per our Local By-laws. Without this motion, we will have no choice but to follow the current By-laws, so again, please, come to your Union meeting in December to help us avoid incurring this additional cost on the Local as well as voting to finalize the By-laws amendments we’ve put forth to help continue to limit the annual pay increases to leadership staff going forward.
Once again, after confirming with International, your typical monthly membership dues are not going to increase this year again. However, please be aware that you may potentially be moved up to the next dues tier if your total compensation increases warrant such, please refer to your steward or the Local website to view the current dues tiers page. I.E: if your wage and fringe were to be under $40.00 prior to the wage increase and then after the increase is raised passed the $40.00 threshold, that would qualify you for the next tier which would increase your monthly working dues by $5. In addition, there will be no mandatory minimal contribution rate for your pension this year. This means that the typical 2% increase that has occurred for years will not occur this year and will remain part of your paycheck wage.
I thank you all for your time and understanding with these topics and invite you all to contact me if you have any further questions or concerns about anything at all. I make it a high priority to inform you of any and all topics that have an effect on you as members of the Boilermakers Local 104. Thank you all and I hope to see you soon either at your place of employment or at a Union meeting. Stay safe and Happy Holidays!
Always in Solidarity,
Richie Browning
Business Manager/Secretary Treasurer
Boilermakers Local 104