Open
Forum
America’s middle class is rapidly shrinking
By TOM CHAMBERLAIN
President
Oregon AFL-CIO
Portland’s Thom Hartmann writes
about it; Democratic presidential can-
didates run on it; Republicans ignore
it; American working families live it
and our children will suffer because
of it.
“It” is the knowledge that today it
will take the children of low-income
families four to five generations to
reach the middle class. It is a fright-
ening statistic, but coupled with a
shrinking middle class, we are headed
toward dark days for future genera-
tions of American workers.
How did we go from Horatio Al-
ger’s rags-to-riches America ,where if
you worked hard and played by the
rules, then anything and everything
was achievable? How did we get to
an America where workers fall farther
behind every day?
I think most folks know exactly
how we got to this moment in time:
• A shrinking union movement
• Corporate driven trade agree-
ments
• Cheaper labor markets
• Privatization
• Out-of-whack timber policy
• High cost of education
• Corporate welfare
• The development of a “me-first”
economy.
As candidates campaign in 2008
and expound on their vision for fixing
America, we as workers must dig
deeply into what they are saying. For
example, recent legislation expanded
tax breaks for renewable energy.
There are some projections that tax
credits will increase from $10 million
to over $100 million in little more than
one decade. With these tax-credit in-
centives based on the premise that
“green jobs” will create jobs like those
lost in the Oregon manufacturing or
timber sectors — it sounds like a plan.
But, what exactly are the facts?
To date, in spite of tax incentives,
attempting to move Oregon as a hub
for green industries fueled by Ore-
gon-produced green energy and the
corresponding creation of high qual-
ity green jobs — high quality green
jobs that are supposed to pay good
wages and provide good health and
retirement benefits — these jobs have
not yet been defined, nor have they
even been created.
Instead, we are creating jobs such
as solar panel installers that pay $10
an hour and pay no benefits. Part of
the problem lays in competing priori-
ties. For example: What should come
first — good jobs or protecting the
environment? Most of us believe that
you can accomplish both.
Our problem has been well-mean-
ing folks who are talking about good
jobs but are not defining what that re-
ally means. A definition of good jobs
will not occur until the unions repre-
senting the worker’s perspective be-
come included in the debate.
Unions cannot afford to sit on the
sidelines and watch. That is why over
the last two years the Oregon AFL-
CIO devoted time and effort to the
building of the Oregon Apollo Al-
liance.
The Apollo Alliance is a coalition
of unions, environmentalists and busi-
nesses whose mission is to develop
strategies that create high quality jobs
while slowing and ultimately revers-
ing climate change and achieving en-
ergy self-reliance.
Oregon AFL-CIO Secretary-Trea-
surer Barbara Byrd has focused her
time and talents through the Apollo
Alliance in developing relationships
within the environmental and busi-
ness communities, educating them on
the importance of the development of
middle-class jobs as an essential com-
ponent of Oregon’s debate on global
warming and achieving energy self-
reliance.
The development of the Gover-
nor’s Study Group on Renewable En-
ergy in 2006 is a case in point.
Unions were not invited into the
process; rather we inserted ourselves.
Thankfully, the governor immediately
made room at the table for the Oregon
AFL-CIO.
Unfortunately, because the process
had already begun, our voice was ac-
tually an after-thought at that point.
Pro-worker components are still
sorely lacking from renewable tax
credits. As strategies are formulated
to create incentives; the development
of renewable energy; conservation;
and green industries —we must also
include in those strategies an evalua-
tion of what types of jobs we are cre-
ating. Are we creating short-term en-
try-level jobs or creating long term
employment? Are we creating jobs
that pay good wages and benefits?
And if job projections are not met or
even considered, how does Oregon
recoup our investment from compa-
nies that have not met their promises?
The 2009 Legislative session must
mandate an evaluation of the impact
of tax incentives in job creation. Leg-
islators need to demand that those re-
ceiving tax incentives pay them back
if they do not fulfill their promises.
Finally, policymakers need to also
review the fact that there is no prohi-
bition on the use of state and local tax
dollars in opposing a worker’s right to
join a union and collectively bargain.
Klare’s column missed
To The Editor:
As radicals in the labor movement,
we will miss Gene Klare’s column in
the Northwest Labor Press. We thank
him for defending the constitutional
rights of all workers.
In the early 1990s, Klare supported
the Freeway Hall case. This case in-
volved the right of the Freedom Social-
ist Party to keep its membership list,
contributor list, minutes and financial
records private.
Strong support from the community
and labor activists, such as Gene,
helped defeat the McCarthyist attack on
the First Amendment. This free speech
victory protects the internal documents
of other organizations and unions. It al-
lows internal debates, comments and
names to be recorded in minutes with-
out fear they they will fall into the
hands of political enemies through
court actions.
We need more Gene Klares in the
labor movement — principled union-
ists willing to stand up for workers who
are attacked because of their political
ideology.
Glenn Kirkindall
UFCW 555
Portland
Laura Mannen
Forest Grove Education Assoc.
Forest Grove
Travis Giobi
Painters Local 10
Portland
Local Motion
February 2008
Union activity in Oregon and Southwest Washington,
according to the National Labor Relations Board
and the Oregon Employment Relations Board
Swanson Thomas & Coon is proud to announce that
Governor Ted Kulongoski has appointed Margaret F. Weddell
(Personal Injury and Workers’ Compensation Counsel
Extraordinaire) to the WORKERS’ COMPENSATION BOARD
for the STATE of OREGON.
We will miss her bright eyes and good sense.
Jim Coon
Ray Thomas
Cynthia Newton
Kimberly Tucker
Jacqueline Jacobson
Lynne McHarry
Kristin Kidd
Amanda Ulrich
Connie Dailey
Charley Gee
Victoria Swanson
Bruce Morris
SWANSON, THOMAS & COON A TTORNEYS
820 S.W. Second Avenue, Suite 200
MARCH 21, 2008
AT
Hilary Moore
Subhan Tindall
Scott Tucker
Rachel Landtroop
Tanya Colvin
Rosemary Anderson
Adam Kiedrowski
L AW
Portland, Oregon 97204
(503) 228-5222
www.stc-law.com
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Election results
Company
Date
Union
City of Gervais Police Department
1/3
Laborers Local 483
Results:
Union
Location
No
Union
Gervais
card check,
unit of 3
Representation petitions
Company
Union
Three J’s Distributing
Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers Local 114
Location
# of employees
Clackamas
22
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