...Gordon Smith votes ‘wrong’ on many unionization bills
(From Page 1)
Top Republicans voting in agree-
ment with the AFL-CIO were Frank
LoBiondo, Frank Pallone and Michael
Ferguson, all of New Jersey, at 25-8,
24-9 and 23-9-1, respectively.
Democratic presidential hopeful
Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio came
in at 23-4, with six absences, and Re-
publican candidates Ron Paul of Texas
and Duncan Hunter of California
scored 4-23-6 and 3-27-3, respec-
tively.
(Editor’s Note: Officially, Rep. Pe-
ter DeFazio has the best lifetime AFL-
CIO COPE voting record in the Pacific
Northwest at 94 percent (221-15). He
is followed by Earl Blumenauer at 92
percent (110-10); David Wu at 90 per-
cent (89-10); Brian Baird at 89 percent
(85-11), and Darlene Hooley at 86 per-
cent (100-16). Greg Walden leads Re-
publicans from the Pacific Northwest at
20 percent (20-78).
U.S. S ENATE
Five Senate Democrats, including
one presidential hopeful, scored 100
percent, as did one Independent law-
maker. Sixteen other Democrats
missed just one vote among the 34 se-
b h
m k
lected by the AFL-CIO.
In the Pacific Northwest, Democ-
rats Ron Wyden of Oregon and Patty
Murray of Washington led the way at
31-2 and 32-2 — or 94 percent, re-
spectively. Washington Democrat
Maria Cantwell scored 85 percent (28-
5-1), and Oregon Republican Gordon
Smith tallied 51.5 percent (17-16-1).
Smith is up for re-election this year.
The top two GOP senators support-
ing labor issues — Sens. Susan
Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine
— each voted in agreement with the
AFL-CIO on 22 of the 34 votes it tal-
lied (65 percent). Sen. Arlen Specter
(R-Pa.) was just behind with a 20-14
mark.
It should be noted that many of
Smith’s “wrong” votes dealt with col-
lective bargaining rights for workers.
The most egregious to labor was his
opposition to the Employee Free
Choice Act. Labor’s top priority legis-
lation, the bill would have allowed for
certification of a union when a major-
ity of workers signed cards designat-
ing the union as their bargaining rep-
resentative (“card check”).
The legislation passed overwhelm-
ingly in the House, and it had enough
votes to pass in the Senate, but a Re-
Bennett Hartman
Morris & Kaplan, llp
Attorneys at Law
Oregon’s Full Service Union Law Firm
Representing Workers Since 1960
publican filibuster meant backers
would need 60 votes to shut it down
and move to a vote on the bill. Smith
was among the Republicans voting
against cloture. He also would have
voted against the bill.
Smith also voted against labor on
several amendments giving airport
screeners greater collective bargaining
rights and whistleblower protections.
In one key vote used in the interim
scorecard, Smith and his fellow Re-
publicans — under pressure from the
Bush Administration — tried to kill a
9/11 Commission recommendation
that simply restored the right of airport
screeners to unionize. Republicans
lost on a party-line vote in the Democ-
ratically-controlled Senate.
Smith again voted opposite labor
on another Republican-led filibuster,
this one blocking an increase in the
federal minimum wage. The so-called
“clean increase” again had enough
votes to pass in the Senate, but it failed
to get the 60 votes needed to end the
filibuster.
Wyden, Murray and Cantwell
(along with 30 other Democrats)
picked up “wrong” votes on a cloture
vote on an immigration reform bill.
The AFL-CIO opposed S. 1639 be-
cause amendments had made it “too
anti-worker.” A Republican-led fili-
buster had the final bill bottled up on
the Senate floor when a motion was
made to invoke cloture (limit the de-
bate). Thirty-three Democrats, includ-
ing Wyden, Murray and Cantwell,
voted “yes” to end the filibuster and
vote on the final immigration reform
bill. The vote failed, the filibuster
continued and the bill was effectively
killed for the session.
Smith, Wyden and Cantwell also
voted against the AFL-CIO’s position
on an amendment to the immigration
reform bill that eliminated a new Y-
visa guest worker program. The AFL-
CIO wanted the Y visa out of the bill
because it opened the door for em-
ployers to import up to 400,000 temp
workers annually to perform perma-
nent jobs throughout the United
States. The amendment was rejected
31-64.
Smith and Cantwell added to their
“wrong” votes by voting against an-
other amendment to the immigration
bill, this one seeking a sunset of the
temporary guest worker visa program
after five years. That amendment was
rejected 48-49.
Front-runner presidential candi-
dates Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill) and
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), voted
23-1-10 and 27-1-6, respectively, with
labor. They both missed a large num-
ber of votes because they were out
campaigning. The immigration cloture
vote was their only blemish with the
AFL-CIO.
Republican presidential hopeful
Sen. John McCain of Arizona was 3-
14-17. All of McCain’s “right” votes
had to do with the minimum wage
hike.
The lowest-scoring “Democrat”
was Joseph Lieberman of Connecti-
cut. He voted in agreement with the
federation on 25 of the 34 votes.
The lowest-scoring Republican
was Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hamp-
shire, who voted in agreement with
the AFL-CIO on only three of the 34
votes. Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho was
next, with four “right” votes.
(Editor’s Note: Officially, Sen. Patty
Murray has the best lifetime AFL-CIO
COPE voting record in the Pacific
Northwest at 89 percent (132-17).
Maria Cantwell is next at 88 percent
(73-10), followed by Ron Wyden at 87
percent (106-16) and Gordon Smith at
20 percent (23-90). Press Associates
Inc. contributed to this report.)
Minimum Hourly Wage
Rates as of Jan. 1, 2008
Oregon’s minimum wage rate be-
came $7.95 per hour on Jan. 1, 2008.
This is the fourth-highest state mini-
mum wage rate in the nation. The na-
tional minimum wage rate rose to
$5.85 per hour on July 24, 2007 and
will rise to $6.55 per hour on July 24,
2008.
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