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Marce Edwards is the business editor. She has been at The News Tribune for seven years and has written about technology and big businesses in the South Sound including Weyerhaeuser and Russell. Before moving to Tacoma, she worked at The Idaho Statesman in Boise. She is a Northwest native who likes to garden and refuses to use an umbrella. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and two kids.
C.R. Roberts is a Tacoma native. Before joining The News Tribune, he worked as a freelance writer and part-time cowhand on a cattle ranch in Northern Idaho. He writes about small business, personal finance and other business issues.
John Gillie writes about the aerospace and airline industries, commercial development and consumer issues. During his 30-year-tenure at The News Tribune he has covered issues as diverse as the Native American fishing rights disputes, crime and the courts, the wood products industry and energy. He lived in Tacoma with his family for 25 years, but now lives in Kent because his wife heads a five-state non-profit foundation headquartered in Ballard, and it only seemed a sensible compromise to make considering their workplaces are 40 miles apart.
Kelly Kearsley has been a business reporter at The News Tribune since 2005. She covers the Port of Tacoma and international trade. Being born and raised in Spokane she’s used to living in cities with inferiority complexes and, in fact, prefers it. Prior to working at The News Tribune, she spent three years as a reporter for The Bulletin in Bend, Oregon and another year working stints for The Associated Press and Seattle Times. She graduated from Pacific Lutheran University. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and miniature schnauzer.
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A strike by the Sprinkler Fitters Union Local 699 this week is shutting down construction sites around the Puget Sound including Franciscan's St. Anthony's Hospital in Gig Harbor.
The union, which represents workers who install fire protection sprinkler systems in commercial buildings, went on strike Tuesday at 12 a.m.
after the workers and the companies that employ them couldn't agree on a new contract.
Workers are picketing today outside construction sites where they would be working if they had a contract such as the new Nordstrom at the Tacoma Mall and St. Anthony's.
Members of other labor unions have also stopped working in support of the strike, shutting down construction sites in Western Washington.
The union and the companies that employ its members - represented by the local office of the National Fire Sprinklers Association – have been negotiating over a pay increase and contract language, said Gordon Sansaver, who is on the contract negotiating committee and a member of the executive board of the union.
"We are one of the hardest working crafts in any industry. We are proud of that," he said.
The employers – a group of construction and sprinkler companies – offered $14 an hour over four years, said Jeff Bennett with The McKinstry Co. construction company and a member of the bargaining team.
A full time union member can make $100,000 a year, he said. Union members say that includes over time work.
Bennet said the employers presented their final offer on Monday, which was rejected by the union. They are waiting for the union to call for further negotiations.
The union represents more than 500 workers in seven Western Washington counties including Pierce and King.
