Shawn Jacobson - The Spokesman-R

Steelworker Mike Sullivan

SMWIA President
Michael Sullivan

Michael Sullivan

MIKE SULLIVAN

1727 NE 18^th St

McMinnville, OR 97128

(H) 503-472-9102

(W) 503-472-4181 ext 3351

Mike Sullivan, a retired steelworker and delegate from McMinnville, described the recent AFL-CI) Oregon convention as upbeat despite the challenges facing organized labor.

"Labor will rise again; it always does," Sullivan said. "This organization still has clout."

McMINNVILLE —Mike Sullivan is a 25-year member of Steelworkers Local 8378 and president of the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Counties Labor Council. He is a Democrat and former president of Local 8378. He retired from Cascade Steel.

Sullivan has a bachelor of arts degree in labor history from the National Labor College in Maryland and is presently working on his masters in union leadership and administration through the University of Massachusetts.

He is a veteran of the United States Navy, serving during the Vietnam War. He has been a unionist, labor and political activist with concentration on the rights and needs of farm workers, working families, business, human rights issues, education for all, and the needs and rights of children for more than 20 years.

Sullivan said his work within the community, his advocacy for both union and company, and his work within multiple committees will help him to achieve an independent voice for progress in Yamhill County.

“Citizens rightly expect a commissioner to listen and be knowledgeable to both sides of an issue and then make a sound, fair decision while at the same time staying fiscally responsible,” Sullivan said. “I can do that.”

Sullivan is a proponent of family values and he opposes any form of a sales tax.

Sullivan is married to Gerry, a registered nurse. They have three children. Two are finished with college and their youngest is a student at Patton Middle School.

President, Sheet Metal Workers

Sheet Metal Workers President Michael Sullivan was among 23 members of his union who received a bachelor’s degree from the National Labor College this summer. “If my mother were alive, I know she would be proud of me—even if it took me only 59 years to get my degree!” he says.

Reaching this goal is an important signal to his members about the necessity of education, Sullivan says. “What we learn through the Labor Studies program has application in all union work. If our locals build a stronger education base, then the entire union has to grow.

“The union movement is facing tough competition these days, and every means must be employed to improve our position on the job and politically,” he says. “Education and training will make the difference between survival and extinction.”

Sullivan says being a student after so many years gave him “a greater appreciation of the hard work being done by those students who hold down full-time jobs and work on a degree. I also enjoyed the interplay among the instructors and students. We were all on the same level, much like it was when I went through the apprentice program. It was up to each of us to get the most out of the program.”