Inside
MEETING NO TICES
See
Page 14
V olume 108
Number 16
A ugust 17, 2007
P ortland
Enjoy Your Labor Day!
“It will be a day full of fun and ex-
Vocalist and saxophonist Patrick
citement,” said Bob Spicher Jr., pro-
Lamb, a member of Musicians Local
moter of Northwest Sports Entertain-
99, will perform at this year’s Labor
ment. (Spicher is the son of Bob Sr., a
Day picnic on Monday, Sept. 3, at
retired union representa-
Oaks Amusement Park
tive of United Food and
in Southeast Portland.
Commercial Workers
The picnic, which
Local 555.)
attracts nearly 15,000
Plenty of politicians
people, is sponsored by
will be on hand — no,
the Northwest Oregon
not to wrestle, but rather
Labor Council.
to meet union members
Lamb is a popular
and their families. The
performing and record-
politicos will take the
ing artist from Port-
stage from 1 to 2 p.m.
land. He plays rhythm
The Labor Council
and blues, soul and
will sell food scrip for 25
jazz.
cents each. Three scrip
He will perform on
will get you a hot dog
the main stage from
and chips, two scrip a
noon to 1 p.m. and
soda pop, and four scrip
again from 2 to 3 p.m.
a beer. A deluxe ride
Also featured for
bracelet costs $8.25 and
the first time this year
is good from 10 a.m. to 5
will be professional
p.m. The ride bracelet
wrestling, starring Dr.
also includes admission
Pain. Matches will be
PATRICK LAMB
to the roller skating rink.
held throughout the
Call the Labor Council at 503-235-
day, capped by a 20-man “over the top
9444 to order scrip or for more infor-
battle royale” starting around 3 p.m.
mation.
Other featured wrestlers are Cau-
The following are union-sponsored
tion, Hazard, Cowboy ‘Tex’ Thomp-
Labor Day picnics that have been con-
son, Widowmaker, Buddy Highway,
plus more.
(Turn to Page 6)
2007
Labor Day
Picnic
Schedule
Pulse of the Unions: How are workers doing?
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
What kind of shape is the local labor movement in, and how are
working people doing? Labor Day is a good time to take the pulse
of labor, so for perspectives on the subject, the Northwest Labor
Press talked to Tom Chamberlain, president of the Oregon AFL-
CIO; Bob Bussel, director of the University of Oregon’s Labor Ed-
ucation and Research Center (LERC); and Art Ayre, labor econo-
mist for the Oregon Employment Service.
Overall, says Ayre, wages for Oregon workers have been rising
faster than inflation, though most of the wage growth has been at
the high end and low end. Meanwhile, Oregon’s unemployment
rate has dropped a lot, from 8.5 percent in mid-2003, the highest in
the nation, to 5.1 percent now — about the middle among states.
But union membership, Ayre said, is flat. As of 2004, Oregon
union membership stood at 223,500. That number is almost identi-
cal to 1983, when Oregon had 223,000 union members. Thus,
unions represent a smaller share of Oregon’s workforce — from 26
percent in 1983 to 15 percent today.
And the composition of the labor movement has changed, Ayre
said, tracking the decline of manufacturing and extractive industry
employment. Today, Oregon’s public-sector union members out-
number private sector 115,000 to 109,000. Close to 46 percent of
Oregon’s public workers are union, compared to 8.1 percent of pri-
vate-sector workers.
In most occupations, union members earn more on average than
their nonunion counterparts. And the real union difference contin-
ues to be in benefits, where the defined benefit pension plan and
employer-paid full-family health coverage are still the union stan-
dard, even as they become rare in nonunion workplaces.
“The union movement is about building power for working peo-
ple,” says the AFL-CIO’s Chamberlain. “Workers join a union to
get better wages and health care. One worker standing alone can’t
do it.”
At one time, when unions represented a much bigger slice of
certain industries, and workers by custom had the right to strike,
union power was chiefly economic. Today, it’s chiefly political:
Unions have come to focus limited resources on the democratic
process to try to level the playing field when they face powerful
employers.
Professor Bussel says unions are much more political today
than they were 30 years ago. Three things have happened: The Re-
publican Party became more anti-union. The union movement be-
came more political. And finally, the Democratic Party began to
take labor movement more seriously.
“In the mid-1970s, there were easily a dozen Republican U.S.
senators who had 80 percent or better union voting records,” Bus-
(Turn to Page 12)