David Bonior, a former congressman,
works for reform in U.S. labor law
David Bonior, head of the union-
backed group American Rights at
Work, visited Portland May 5 as a guest
of the City Club of Portland, an influ-
ential non-partisan civic affairs organi-
zation.
The City Club hosts weekly forums
to educate members, and Bonior was
joined by Oregon AFL-CIO President
Tom Chamberlain and Service Em-
ployees Local 503 Executive Director
Leslie Frane for a panel on “The Trou-
bles of Unions — Do They Matter?”
Unions are in trouble, the speakers
said, and that does matter — to every
worker.
Frane said former U.S. Secretary of
Labor Robert Reich was onto some-
thing when he said “Organized labor is
an aging doddering prize fighter ... but
it’s the only fighter in that corner of the
ring.” There’s no other advocate for
working people in society, Frane said.
Organized labor made it possible for
America to have a sizable middle class,
Chamberlain said. As unions have de-
clined in numbers and clout, the middle
class has begun to lose ground, and
America is polarizing economically, he
added.
Bonior, who served 13 terms as a
Democratic U.S. congressman from
Detroit, left office after losing the De-
mocratic primary for Michigan gover-
nor in 2002. A longtime ally of labor,
he became chair of American Rights at
Work when the group formed in 2003.
The group’s focus is the reform of U.S.
labor law to make it easier for workers
DAVID BONIOR
to unionize.
There’s a bill in Congress to do that
— the Employee Free Choice Act. It
would require employers to recognize a
union if a majority of workers sign au-
thorization cards. The two sides would
then have a year to bargain a first con-
tract; if they failed to agree, both sides
would make their case to an arbitrator,
who would issue a binding decision.
Lastly, the act would increase penalties
on employers who violate worker
rights.
In the House, the bill has 216 co-
sponsors — two members short of a
majority — and a companion bill in the
Senate has 43 co-sponsors. In Oregon
and Washington, all Democratic mem-
bers of Congress are co-sponsors, while
no Republican members are co-spon-
sors. Bonior said the bill is likely to pass
the House if Democrats retake that
body this November. Its fate in the Sen-
ate is less certain, because in the Sen-
ate, 40 members can often block legis-
lation. Also, President Bush would
almost certainly veto such a bill. So Bo-
nior’s group is thinking long-term — to
2008 and beyond.
The labor movement has been un-
able to win improvements to the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act, the nation’s
basic labor law, for 59 years, ever since
a Republican-dominated Congress
passed the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act
in 1947 over Democratic President
Harry Truman’s veto. Union organizers
say the law is stacked against unions,
and employers have learned how to pre-
vent workers from unionizing. A labor
attempt to rewrite the law passed the
House in the late 1970s but fell victim
to a filibuster in the Senate. Bonior, who
was in Congress at that time, says Pres-
ident Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, didn’t
fight hard enough for it. Nor, he added,
did Democratic President Bill Clinton
fight hard enough to support a bill ban-
ning striker replacements.
On the other hand, Clinton pulled
out all the stops to pass NAFTA, which
President George Bush Sr. had negoti-
ated. As House Democratic whip, Bo-
nior spent over a year fighting against
NAFTA.
In recent years, organized labor has
made reforming the labor law a top po-
litical priority.
Williams Controls plans
to lay off half its workers
and move jobs to China
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
Williams Controls — site of an 11-month strike that ended nearly three
years ago — plans to lay off half its Portland production workforce and
move work to its facility in Suzhou, China.
The company manufactures throttle controls used in heavy trucks, buses,
and off-road equipment. It sells to Freightliner, Volvo, Navistar, Caterpillar
and other companies.
About 52 members of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 492 will be
shown the door over the next 18 months, with layoffs expected to begin in
late July. Five salaried employees will also be fired.
After the layoffs, about 48 union workers will remain, plus about 80
salaried workers in engineering, finance and administrative positions.
“It’s very difficult to let employees go,” said Williams CEO Patrick W.
Cavanagh in a press statement. Cavanagh, whose salary, bonus, 401(k) con-
tribution and relocation allowance totaled $847,000 in 2005, will remain
with the publicly-traded company. “But in order to remain a viable competi-
tor in our marketplace, we must structure our operations to enhance our of-
fering to customers and improve our competitive position.”
In fact, the company’s “competitive position” is quite strong. Williams is
the leading producer worldwide of electronic throttle controls. Its product is
in high demand because of worldwide trend toward more stringent emis-
sions standards. In March, the company set a monthly sales record of over
$7.1 million. But that’s not good enough for the company owners, said Local
492 Vice President Michael Rivenes, because work can be done more
cheaply in China.
Under the current labor contract, the Portland workers make $13 to $25
an hour, plus fringe benefits that include health care insurance and pension.
“They can make it cheaper, but we still believe we can make it better,”
Rivenes said.
The company set up operations in China last year, and now is moving
manufacture of its pneumatic throttle controls to China, leaving the manu-
facture of electronic throttle controls in Portland. Rivenes said it’s mostly the
higher-skilled jobs that are going away — including 10 die cast workers, 20
machinists and four to five tool and die workers. Meanwhile, the company is
hiring for four engineering, design, and accounting positions.
Williams has been in Portland 69 years, and Rivenes said many of the
production employees have 20 to 30 years of commitment to the company.
The union is working with the State of Oregon and the AFL-CIO affili-
ated Labor’s Community Service Agency to petition the federal government
for dislocated worker benefits.
“This is happening everywhere in America,” Rivenes said. “These guys,
the managers, we used to hang out with them on the playground. But they’ve
pretty much forgotten their little brothers and turned their backs on their
country.”
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PAGE 8
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
MAY 19, 2006