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Delegates from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — the largest delegation at the
50th convention of the Oregon AFL-CIO — did not return from a caucus when Gov. Ted Kulongoski spoke on
opening day Oct. 8. AFSCME was upset with the governor after he gave across-the-board wage increases averaging
18 percent to every manager, while rank-and-file members were in the process of voting a contract that gave them 6
percent raises over two years. “We signed off on a deal that the state said was the absolute maximum it could afford,”
said Ken Allen, executive director of Oregon AFSCME Council 75. “To turn around and do this, it’s a slap in the face.”
Allen told delegates that the wage increases for managers will cost the state $34 million that isn’t budgeted. “It will
come out of our agencies’ hides,” he said. “If agencies run out of money, it will be the rank-and-file who will be laid
off, not the managers.” On Oct. 4, members of AFSCME Local 3336 at the Department of Environmental Quality
rejected the tentative contract.
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Resolutions Committee
Delegates voted to support each of the following resolu-
tions:
• Central Labor Council General Fund: Establishes a
fund dedicated to central labor councils.
• In Support of Sustainability in Education Construc-
tion: Pursue legislation to require that all publicly-funded
construction and renovation meet LEED Silver standards.
Scheduling Oregon AFL-CIO Conventions: Consider
including weekends when scheduling conventions.
• For Progressive Solutions to the Health Care Crisis:
Affirmed its support for national health care reform that
would provide universal coverage, endorsed HR 676 (a bill
• In America, No One Should Go Without Health
Care: Commit to campaign and mobilize members to win
universal health care for all Americans.
Immigration reform sparks most debate
OCTOBER 19, 2007
• Support of the Bradwood Landing Liquefied Nat-
ural Gas Terminal: Lobby the governor, Legislature and
Congress to support the permitting and construction of an
LNG terminal at Bradwood Landing in Clatsop County.
• Support Feedlot Workers: Help get settlement and
signed contract between Beef Northwest in Boardman and
the United Farm Workers.
SEASIDE — There was surpris-
ingly little floor debate on most of the
36 resolutions that delegates considered
over three days at the 50th convention
of the Oregon AFL-CIO.
The exceptions were immigration re-
form and drug testing.
The lengthiest discussion occurred
when members of the Law and Legis-
lation Committee recommended non-
concurrence on Resolution No. 8 —
“Undocumented Workers.”
Submitted by the Oregon Machinists
Council, the resolution called for secur-
ing U.S. borders to stop the inflow of il-
legal immigrants and for the AFL-CIO
to oppose any attempts by Congress to
weaken U.S. immigration laws or grant
amnesty to undocumented workers.
“This is not anti-immigration, it’s
anti-illegal immigration. That’s the bot-
in Congress that would institute a single-payer health care
system in the U.S. by expanding the Medicare system to every
resident).
tom line,” said Bob Frazier, a delegate
from Woodworkers Local 246, speak-
ing in favor of the resolution.
Jamie Partridge, a delegate from the
National Association of Letter Carriers,
speaking in support of non-concurrence,
said the meat of the resolution runs
counter to the policy of the national
AFL-CIO. “The immigration policy is
broken,” Partridge said. “But it’s work-
ers who get hurt. It doesn’t hurt em-
ployers.”
In the end, delegates voted 125-57
for non-concurrence, thus killing the
resolution.
Resolution 18 (see Law and Legis-
lation Committee report), calling for
comprehensive immigration reform,
also was discussed at length before
passing 110-68.
A resolution to protect workers who
are taking legally-prescribed medica-
tions (including medical marijuana)
from employer-imposed discipline was
referred back to the Executive Board.
Mike Sullivan of the Steelworkers
Union said workers who are not im-
paired but are taking legally-prescribed
medications are being punished by em-
ployers.
Building trades unions opposed the
resolution. “If you drop a tool from the
fourth floor of a building, the person at
the bottom doesn’t care if it’s dropped
by someone impaired by legal or illegal
drugs,” said Keith Wright, business
manager of Bricklayers Local 1.
A resolution to stop a potential
merger by an independent union in the
construction industry with the United
Steelworkers was determined to be a ju-
risdictional dispute and withdrawn.
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
PAGE 5