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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (July 21, 2006)
Let me say this about that —By Gene Klare Condemned to poverty REPUBLICANS, WHO CONTROL the United States Senate and House of Representatives, in addition to the White House, keep stepping on the hands of low-paid American workers to keep them from climbing higher on the federal minimum wage ladder. Recently, senators voted by 52 to 46 to pass a Democratic effort to raise the federal minimum wage. But a simple majority was not enough because Re- publican leaders had decreed that 60 votes were needed on the legislation. The Associated Press news service said: “The federal minimum wage has been fixed at $5.15 an hour since 1997. Since that year, Democrats have proposed, and Republicans have blocked, minimum wage increases nine times.” SENATE REPUBLICANS set the 60-vote rule to thwart an amendment proposed by Sen. Edward (Ted) Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts. His amendment to a budget bill would have raised the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour over the next two years. The USA Today newspaper said: “The nine years since Congress last raised the minimum wage is one of the longest gaps on record. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank, the minimum wage, adjusted for inflation, is the lowest in more than 50 years.’’ BOB HERBERT, a New York Times columnist, reported that the pur- chasing power of the the minimum wage “has deteriorated by 20 percent” since 1997, the last time it was raised. Herbert also wrote: “If you’re making the minimum wage, you’re hurting. If Congress and the president don’t raise the minimum wage by Dec. 2, it will have remained unchanged for the longest stretch since it was established in 1938. The longest period previ- ously was from January 1981 to April 1990 — a span that saw the entire Rea- gan Administration come and go.” Herbert quoted a 2005 study by the Economic Policy Institute in writing that “an average (corporate) chief executive officer was paid 821 times as much as a minimum wage-earner.” LOOKING BACK in history, when the Fair Labor Standards Act was enacted in 1938, the federal minimum wage was set at 25 cents an hour. De- mocratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Congressionally- passed measure into law. That was in the era of the Great Depression. SEN. KENNEDY has noted that a full-time worker paid the federal min- imum of $5.15 an hour would earn $10,700 a year. He pointed out that $10,700 is “almost $6,000 below the poverty line for a family of three.” He declared: “Americans believe that no one who works hard for a living should have to live in poverty. A job should lift you out of poverty, not keep you in it.” Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson Sr. said the Republican opposition to rais- ing the federal minimum wage condemns poor workers to poverty. The Rev. Jackson, founder and president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, often ap- pears on picket lines and labor rallies in support of struggling workers. MEMBERS OF CONGRESS — the House and Senate — have voted to raise their own salaries by $31,000 in the nine years since the federal mini- mum was raised, USA Today reported. The nationally-circulated newspaper said lawmakers’ annual pay is slated to go up next year to $168,500. The pa- per also said: “At $165,200 this year, members of Congress earn roughly four times the salary of the average American.” Machinists strike Cummins NW Approximately 100 Machinist Union members at four Cummins NW shops in Oregon and Washington are engaged in an unfair labor practice strike against their employer. Twenty-three service mechanics — members of Machin- ists Lodge 1005 — hit the picket line on July 7 at the Cum- mins NW’s facility on Swan Island. The labor dispute started after Don Pugh, the authorized distributor of Cummins NW Inc., sold his majority owner- ship to a Florida man. Cummins NW Inc. operated service and parts facilities in Portland, Coburg, Medford and Pendle- ton, Ore., Renton, Spokane, Yakima and Chehalis, Wash., and in Anchorage, Alaska and Missoula, Montana. Following the sale on April 1, 2006, the new owner — Rod Stohler, whose family had ties to a Cummins distribu- torship in Florida — voided contracts the Machinists and Teamsters unions had in Portland, Pendleton, Renton and Spokane. The other facilities operate nonunion. “They voided the contracts and made all the employees reapply for their jobs,” said Scott Lucy, a business represen- tative of Machinists District Lodge 24 in Portland. The new owner said he would recognize the unions, but not the existing contracts. However, following the sale, the company quit paying into the IAM’s defined benefit automo- tive pension plan. At the bargaining table in Portland, man- agement is trying to implement a 401(k) savings plan. Each union bargains its own contract. Other unions involved are IAM District Lodge 751 in Kent; IAM District Lodge 160 in Spokane, and Teamsters Locals 763 and 690 in Washington. “Bargaining has been problematic, to say the least,” Lucy said. It came to a head on July 7, prompting the Machinists to file unfair labor practice complaints with the National Labor Relations Board. The charges allege that Cummins NW LLC has failed to provide timely information during negotiations; that it is making unilateral changes in the terms and condi- tions of work, such as health and welfare and retirement plans; and that it is interrogating employees and trying to bar- gain with them individually. Cummins NW Inc. has had a checkered past with the Ma- Joe Greber, a 32-year member of Machinists Lodge 1005, is on strike at Cummins NW in Northeast Portland. In the photo above, Greber gets a kick out of the Laborers Union’s inflatable rat that appeared at a rally on July 13. chinists Union, so workers are preparing for a lengthy strike. Lodge 1005 members struck the parts distribution center for 115 days in 1999. During that strike, union members were permanently replaced, and the department eventually went nonunion. One Machinist member committed suicide after learning he had no job to return to. In the late ‘90s, employ- ees decertified the Machinists Union in Medford and Coburg. Pickets are up Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Negotiations are scheduled July 21 in Portland. PROTECTING UNION MEMBERS’ SMILES AND WALLETS. 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Milwaukie 17186 SE McLoughlin Blvd. Milwaukie, OR 97267 503-659-2525 THE FAILURE of Congress to raise the federal minimum wage has caused states and cities to raise their minimum wage levels above the $5.15 federal figure. USA Today said that 21 states have minimum hourly rates that are higher than the federal minimum. The national newspaper reported that Oregon and Washington are the states with the highest minimums — $7.63 for the Evergreen State and $7.50 for the Beaver State. In both Pacific North- Portland 3580 SE 82nd Ave. Portland, OR 97266 503-777-0761 Northwest Dental Associates, P.C. Chau Ngo, D.D.S., M.S. Phong Bui, D.M.D. Charles Stirewalt, D.D.S. Stirewalt, P.C. Fisher’s Landing 3250 SE 164th Ave. Vancouver, WA 98683 360-891-1999 Peter Vu, D.M.D. Chau Ngo, D.D.S. Charles Stirewalt, D.D.S. Stirewalt, P.C. 1-888-BRIGHT NOW www.brightnow.com Serving unions for over 25 years (Turn to Page 11) PAGE 2 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS JULY 21, 2006
