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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 3, 2006)
...SEIU boss embarks on national book tour (From Page 3) Do you think that if the Democrats win the House this year, that the Em- ployee Free Choice Act could pass the House? It’s going to put them to a very in- teresting test, because it was easy to sign on when it wasn’t going to pass. In the book you write that you feel treated like an ATM machine by the Democratic Party, and don’t neces- sarily feel respected for it. You write, “Our members rightly saw us as too wedded to the Democratic establish- ment, a political party with no united agenda on workers’ issues.” I became president in ‘96, and in my acceptance speech, I promised the delegates we were going to build a new independent political program based on one simple and profound principle, which was ‘What is in the best interest of our members and all working fami- lies.” And SEIU hadn’t done that before? No, I would say we were an ad- junct, a very Democratic organization. It takes a lot of work to get the union aligned independently. We just had a conference two weeks ago in Washing- ton of 100 leading Republican mem- bers of SEIU for the first time, includ- ing some presidents of locals. They were pro-SEIU and pro-Republican. We have to see what role they want to play in the Republican Party. We want to rate candidates on the issues, not on the parties. So it’s good to have people call you when they think you’re chang- ing the questionnaire in a way that looks at certain votes and not others. The good thing about members is they’re smart. If you involve them in the process, they can see when some- thing doesn’t meet the smell test. When you were on the Colbert Re- port, the line that got the most ap- plause was a call for universal health care. Is SEIU or Change to Win go- ing to spearhead a campaign for na- tional health care of some kind. We’re working on a number of fronts. I wrote a letter in the Wall Street Think Again • Journal about our horse-and-buggy health care system, and sent a letter to the Fortune 500 CEOs. And some of them actually called and wrote back. Steve Byrd (head of Safeway) said in a Chamber of Commerce meeting a month ago: ‘I could have written the editorial Andy Stern did.’ Lee Scott, the head of Wal-Mart, said on Charlie Rose that business and labor should work together to solve the health care crisis. So there’s a moment coming. You can see the increasing cost, the lack of coverage, the problems it’s cre- ating in our economy by putting the cost of health care in the price of a product. I think CEOs are sick of it, be- cause they can’t manage it and it’s not part of their business. The legacy costs are killing some of our biggest employ- ers, and the only way they can solve the problem is through bankruptcy, which is disgraceful for what happens to the workers. So I think we’re head- ing toward a moment. The question is, ‘Is the perfect going to the be the en- emy of the good?’ Is there going to be enough sense as Americans that this is not about Democrats or Republicans or the insurance industry or unions’ trust funds, it’s about whether our kids and grandkids are going to live in a country where we have access to the greatest medical technology in the history of the world. In the late ‘90s, your ex-wife Jane Perkins was instrumental in a failed attempt to get the AFL-CIO to en- dorse U.S. passage of the Kyoto Pro- tocols on global warming. Do you think unions are going to come around on that issue, and join with environmentalists to work on global warming? I hope so. I think Al Gore has done a phenomenal job raising popular awareness of what many people have known. Now it’s just very clear what are the disastrous consequences of con- tinuing to ignore this. Is it a union issue? Yeah, I think it is. I think the air we breathe and the water we drink and whether the world we live in is going to sustain itself is a big union issue. My ‘six pick’ predictions for Oregon’s next Legislature U nlike tomorrow’s Breeder’s Cup races, the contests for gov- ernor and the State Legislature in Oregon this year are relatively easy to handicap. The real races start after the election, when the stakes will be higher and the outcomes tougher to predict. But I’m a gambler, so I’m going to offer my “Pick Six” predic- tions for our next legislative session. When the Republican candidate for governor runs a TV ad in which he proclaims, “I’m a Republican, but…,” you can count on this being a year when Democrats will cash a lot of winning tickets. Their gains will be most telling in the State House, which Republicans have controlled since 1991. Now outnumbered 33 to 27, Democrats were optimistic of getting to 29 this year, with a plan to reach majority status in 2008. Now they’re likely to get to a 30-30 tie, with an outside possibility of reaching 31. So the most likely trifecta has Governor Ted Kulongoski on top, the Senate Ds holding on to their majority in second, and the House Ds and Rs in a dead heat for third. A 30-30 tie in the House will trig- ger a runoff of sorts, as the Democ- rats and Republicans wheel and deal to determine who becomes the next speaker. We could end up with a compromise candidate from either party or co-speakers from both. Ei- ther way, reserve a good seat in the gallery and expect to see a lot of photo finishes on the House floor. But what are we rooting for? Keep in mind the many promises we heard from candidates in both par- ties on the big “Pick Six” issues. 1) Better Schools. Neither the House nor Senate is likely to get out in front of the governor on educa- tion. His Education Enterprise will set a high bar for K-12 funding, and Zachary Zabinsky • Social Security • SSI - Disability Claims Personal Attention To Every Case Working For Disability Rights Since 1983 NO FEE WITHOUT RECOVERY 621 SW Morrison, Portland 223-8517 NOVEMBER 3, 2006 By Tim Nesbitt NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS he’ll get extra traction with a budget that provides $6 billion from exist- ing resources. That money will buy smaller class sizes, a full school year, better training for new teach- ers, up-to-date textbooks and a full curriculum, with the restoration of music, art and PE in most schools. K-12 should be the big winner in the 2007 session. 2) Affordable Health Care. Gov. Kulongoski will try to run with Washington State by aligning our to- bacco tax with theirs and using the proceeds to provide affordable health care for all children. Senators Ben Westlund and Alan Bates will go for a bigger purse with a more ambitious plan for health care for all children and most adults. Former Gov. John Kitzhaber will attempt to go the distance with a plan to reor- ganize health care for everyone with a prioritized list of cost-effective services. This is a crowded field, where the long shots will be seduc- tive. I’ll provide a more complete as- sessment in a future column. 3) Tax Fairness. This issue plays out on a biased track. Revenue-rais- ing measures must originate in the House and pass both chambers with a three-fifths vote. Very few good ideas make it to the finish line under those rules. Still, Gov. Kulongoski will bring new vigor and well- earned credibility to this effort. He had the guts to campaign on a tax fairness package that includes rais- ing the corporate minimum tax — which has been stuck at $10 since Seabiscuit was a yearling. Raising this tax is long overdue. And, dedi- cating its proceeds to Head Start and college aid for middle-class families, as Kulongoski proposes, makes it the early favorite in a tough race. 4) Open elections. Advocates of the so-called open primary and fu- sion voting will ride proposals to change the dynamics of the major- party “match races” in future elec- tions. My sympathies are with fu- sion voting, which can force the major parties to the middle of the track on winning issues like health care reform. 5) Good Government. Who asked our legislators to run free in Hawaii? We need them to get back on the track here in Oregon. The real contests in this category will in- volve campaign finance reform and restrictions on lobbying practices, like those unreported trips to Maui. There will be a lot of official win- ners in this field, but none will make a big impression. 6) Renewable Energy. When city dwellers can start filling their gas tanks with fuel grown by farm- ers in Eastern Oregon, we may fi- nally start bridging the urban-rural divide — and start winning big for working families. This is the “super horse” that could finally live up to its potential to combine a good jobs agenda with environmental payoffs (slowing global warming) and na- tional security credentials (weaning us from the Middle East). Whoever learns how to ride this horse could be a Triple Crown winner in future elections. (Full disclosure: Not only do I play the horses, but I have financial ties, in the form of consulting con- tracts, with the Kulongoski for Gov- ernor campaign and the Working Families Party.) Tim Nesbitt is a former president of the Oregon AFL-CIO. HEMORRHOIDS The Non-Surgical Treatment We specialize in the non-surgical treatment of hemorrhoids. For over 40 years people throughout the region have turned to the Sandy Blvd. Clinic for fast and effective relief. For more information, FREE consultation and/or a FREE informative booklet call: Write or call for a FREE information booklet and/or a FREE consultation. (503) 232-7609 THE SANDY BLVD. RECTAL CLINIC PORTLAND Steven G. 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