[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 7766-7767]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       COLUMBIA PACIFIC BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION TRADES COUNCIL

 Mr. SMITH. Mr. President, today I wish to congratulate the 
Columbia Pacific Building and Construction Trades Council on their 
100th anniversary. The Columbia Pacific Building and Construction 
Trades Council represents 25 different crafts across the entire 
construction spectrum, including: asbestos workers, boilermakers, brick 
and stone masons, cement masons, carpenters, electricians, elevator 
constructors, glaziers, ironworkers, laborers, linoleum and carpet 
layers, millwrights, operating engineers, painters and tapers, pile 
bucks, plasterers, plumbers, pipe fitters and steamfitters, roofers, 
sheet metal workers, sprinkler fitters and teamsters. The men and women 
who fill these jobs are some of the most impressive workers I have 
seen, devoted not only to their job, but to the safety of their 
coworkers.
  The Columbia Pacific Building and Construction Trades Council is 
committed to the highest level of professionalism. These building 
experts have honed their skills through years of practice, starting 
with an extensive apprenticeship and journey level program. The 
Columbia Pacific Building and Construction Trades Council is known for 
its apprenticeship program, recognized as one of the best in the 
country. It is this professionalism that the men and women of the 
building and construction trades learn early on and continue to 
demonstrate throughout their careers.

[[Page 7767]]

  This Nation will continue to grow and prosper because of our 
unrivaled workforce. However, workers of this caliber can only be 
produced in the proper work environment. The Columbia Pacific Building 
and Construction Trades Council ensures that workers have a voice. They 
stress the importance of providing a fair wage to those in the building 
and construction trades. Further, the council advocates for safe 
working conditions and ensuring Americans are trained workers to meet 
our country's 21st century needs.
  I am very proud to stand on the Senate floor today and commemorate 
the men and women of the Columbia Pacific Building and Construction 
Trades Council. Those of us from frontier states are born with the 
knowledge that we stand on the edge of wilderness. Since the time of 
the Oregon Trail, we have known civilization to rest on the shoulders 
of skilled craftsmen like the Columbia Pacific Building and 
Construction Trades. And now, like then, we owe them our debt of 
gratitude.

                          ____________________