Inside
MEETING NO TICES
See
Page 6
V olume 108
Number 15
A ugust 3, 2007
P ortland
AFL-CIO to host
presidential forum
Aug. 7 in Chicago
Unions for Kids comes up BIG for Doernbecher
Members of the all volunteer, non-profit Unions for Kids present a check for $30,000 to Doernbecher Children’s
Hospital July 17. The money was raised at the fifth annual Motorcycle Poker Run June 9. In addition to registration
fees, funding comes from a raffle for a new Harley-Davidson motorcycle, a silent auction, 50/50 drawing and other
raffle ticket sales. This year’s Harley winner was Rick Wardell of Vancouver, Wash. Participants and committee
members pictured from left to right are Lou Francis, June Francis (holding Vida Brooklyn), Nancy Reames of IBEW
Local 48, Dave Tully of Teamsters Joint Council 37, Amy Streifel (daughter of Kathy Streifel of IBEW Local 48), Lee
Duncan of IBEW Local 48, Mark Kenney of IBEW Local 275 in Muskegon, Michigan and Shannon Walker of Office
and Professional Employees Local 277. Accepting the check is Iris Smith of the Doernbecher Foundation. In five years,
Unions for Kids has raised approximately $71,000 for Doernbecher.
CHICAGO — Democratic presiden-
tial candidates will meet union families
Tuesday, Aug. 7, at a AFL-CIO Presi-
dential Candidates Forum in Chicago.
MSNBC and XM Radio will carry
the 90-minute forum live from Soldier
Field starting at 4 p.m. Pacific Time.
“Countdown” television host Keith Ol-
bermann will moderate, but unlike other
televised debates and forums, union
members will ask questions of the can-
didates, with the focus on issues such as
jobs, wages, health care, retirement, ed-
ucation and Iraq.
Among those attending the forum
will be Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom
Chamberlain and Oregon AFL-CIO Po-
litical Director Duke Shepard. Shepard
also will be a panelist at an AFL-CIO
Voice@Work conference in Chicago the
weekend preceding the forum.
The day after the forum, the AFL-
CIO Executive Council will decide
whether and when to call a meeting of
the national labor federation’s General
Executive Board to vote on an endorse-
ment for the 2008 presidential primary.
An endorsement requires the votes of
union leaders representing two-thirds of
the federation’s 10-million-plus mem-
bers.
The national AFL-CIO has held
seven town hall meetings with presiden-
tial candidates and it launched an inter-
active “Working Families Vote 2008”
Web site in an effort to involve more
union members in the endorsement
process.
As another part of that effort, the
AFL-CIO sent working family issues
questionnaires to all major candidates,
both Republicans and Democrats. Only
Democratic candidates have responded.
Questionnaires are posted online at
www.aflcio.org/issues/politics/question-
naires.cfm .
Candidates slated to appear at the
Democratic presidential forum are Joe
Biden, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Chris
Dodd, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich,
Barack Obama and Bill Richardson.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The AFL-CIO
originally had planned to hold the pres-
idential forum at Chicago’s McCormick
Place Convention Center, but more than
12,000 union members wanted to at-
tend, so it was moved to a larger venue.
UAW faces tough task in talks with Big Three automakers
By JAMES PARKS
National AFL-CIO
In the four years since the United Auto Workers
(UAW) signed the current contracts with the Big
Three automakers, the industry has undergone sig-
nificant changes. But throughout, UAW members’
willingness to address critical issues, such as health
care costs, has protected the wages and benefits of
active and retired members, while saving employ-
ers billions of dollars.
Now as the two sides go back to the bargaining
table — new contract negotiations covering
178,000 workers began July 20 and 23 — the
stakes are high. Negotiating under the theme
“Fighting for America’s Future: Good Jobs. Strong
Communities,” the workers are determined to con-
tinue to create a high-quality, high performance
workplace where everybody wins.
But the employers may be thinking along other
lines. The Wall Street Journal reports the car man-
ufacturers will threaten to move more production
offshore unless they get deep concessions from
workers on wages and benefits, especially on re-
tiree health care.
Ford, Chrysler and General Motors have an-
nounced plant closings and deep job cuts in recent
years, cutting more than 70,000 jobs from their
payrolls. But UAW President Ron Gettelfinger
says cutting wages and benefits is not the way to
save the auto industry. He points to studies that
show labor costs represent less than 10 percent of
the cost of a new vehicle.
So it is evident that the cost structure of the U.S.
auto industry cannot be adjusted in a meaningful
way by focusing on less than 10 percent of costs,
while ignoring the other 90 percent.
Autoworkers are among the most productive in
the world, he says, citing figures from the U.S.
Census Bureau that show each autoworker adds
value of $206 per worker per hour, far more than
the workers are paid.
Even the Alliance of Auto Manufacturers, the
carmakers’ trade association, admits autoworkers
produce a higher level of output than any other sin-
gle industry. At the same time, the U.S. auto in-
dustry directly supports more than 13 million jobs,
accounting for 25 percent of all manufacturing and
some 4 percent of the gross domestic product.
Before the automakers start pushing an agenda
to cut costs on the backs of workers, Gettelfinger
says they need to look at the other factors that have
contributed to the industry’s crisis that cannot be
solved at the bargaining table, issues such as de-
sign, engineering, marketing and auto financing.
And the employers must join with the union to
confront political leaders to make changes in trade
policies, national health care and workers’ rights
that make automakers less competitive.
To strengthen the automotive industry, the
AFL-CIO and the UAW have called for Congress
to establish a Marshall Plan to help re-tool the U.S.
auto industry to accelerate domestic production of
advanced technology and alternative fuel vehicles
and their key components.
At the table, Gettelfinger says workers will fight
to defend good wages, secure benefits and decent
pensions; maintain job and income security, along
with opportunities for lifelong training and educa-
tion; bargain for an enhanced role in ensuring
product quality and find joint ways to enhance pro-
ductivity.
Recognizing the value of the industry to the na-
tion, Gettelfinger says negotiations are important
for the entire nation.
“Last time around we talked about bargaining
for families,” he said. “This time around we’re bar-
gaining for our country as a whole. We’re proud
to stand up for what we believe is right. We believe
in America. We care about jobs. We care about
communities. We care about families and we have
values just like everybody else. We are…defend-
ing the middle class. But these negotiations are not
just about us. These negotiations are about every-
body.”