Inside one labor union s fight to help workers in a struggling live entertainment industry.
By
Gabriel Granillo
5/13/2021 at 12:30am
Header image: Inside the Moda Center on May 7, the first Trail Blazers home game with fans since March 2020. Photo by Gabriel Granillo.
At last Fridayâs game against the Los Angeles Lakers, the first Trail Blazers home game at the Moda Center with a crowd, fans posed in front of the âRip Cityâ sculpture in front of the Essential Forces Fountain. They hovered over the âIâ in âCityâ while someone else captured the moment on their cellphone. Television crews aimed their cameras at the oval building, and reporters talked about the historic nature of the night. Fans came equipped with signs, flags, and an energy thatâs been lying dormant since the NBA canceled last yearâs season, an energy that perhaps pushed the Blazers to a crucial win that overtook the Lakers for sixth seed.
Every other Saturday, two or three dozen out-of-work stagehands in IATSE Local 28 come together outside the union’s office at the Oregon Labor Center in Southeast Portland to receive donated food and household supplies. On Feb. 27, the array ranging from fresh produce to Hershey’s Kisses is overseen by Local 28 Good and Welfare Committee member Laura Fraley, above. Fraley was working at the prop shop of the Portland Opera when the pandemic hit; her last day of work was March 13, 2020. Local 28 member Liz Spottswood says the event doesn’t just help members stretch their grocery budgets; it’s also a chance to catch up with coworkers at a time of isolation.
Members of IATSE Local 28 are holding solidarity actions at Portland Trailblazer home games at the Moda Center because union crews that typically work those games have been replaced with non-union workers. The Moda Center is part of The Rose Quarter, which is owned by an affiliate of the Portland Trail Blazers and managed by Rip City Management. It also includes Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
IATSE Local 28 members have worked Blazer games since the Rose Quarter opened in 1995, and even before that when they played at Memorial Coliseum. They run sound boards, lighting, score boards, time clocks, and other technical equipment. [Other game day employees including food service workers, ticket takers, and parking attendants belong to different unions.]