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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 19, 2008)
DEC-Holiday-2008:Holiday Issue 12/16/08 10:05 AM Page 18 Labor’s top priority Employee Free Choice Act faces roadblocks Passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, to help level the playing field between workers and employers in union organizing and in bargaining or first contracts, will be labor’s top priority in the new Congress, top AFL-CIO officials said. But roadblocks remain for the leg- islation. One big problem will be the U.S. Senate, where Democrats did not get the filibuster-proof 60-vote majority they were shooting for. Earlier this year, Senate Republi- cans, led by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kent.), filibustered an Employee Free Choice Act bill that had passed by a wide margin in the House. It takes 60 votes in the Senate to end a filibuster. Democrats picked up seven seats in the Senate on Nov. 4, including Oregon’s Jeff Merkley, who cam- paigned in favor of EFCA. But Mc- Connell, who is married to lame duck Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, was re- elected and will be back to lead an- other filibuster. b h m k “Corporations are scared to death of this,” Dave Gregory, western re- gional political director for the na- tional AFL-CIO, told the Oregon Act.” Gregory said all you have to do is look at who is behind the attacks on EFCA. “It’s the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Retail Industry Lead- ‘Do you think they did that (spent millions of dollars) because they want to preserve ‘democracy’ in the workplace? The idea that business groups think anybody will believe they’re fighting for democracy in the workplace is laughable. Let’s be very clear. They don’t want workers to have a free choice to bargain for better wages and benefits and rebuild the middle class. They want to keep things the way they are, with corporations having all the power.’ N ATIONAL AFL-CIO AFL-CIO Executive Board at its quarterly meeting last month. “Dur- ing the election, corporations went af- ter every Senate candidate that sup- ported the Employee Free Choice Bennett Hartman Morris & Kaplan, llp Attorneys at Law Oregon’s Full Service Union Law Firm Representing Workers Since 1960 Serious Injury and Death Cases • Construction Injuries • Automobile Accidents • Medical, Dental, and Legal Malpractice • Bicycle and Motorcycle Accidents • Pedestrian Accidents • Premises Liability (injuries on premises) • Workers’ Compensation Injuries • Social Security Claims We Work Hard for Hard-Working People! 111 SW Fifth Avenue, Suite 1650 Portland, Oregon 97204 (503) 227-4600 www.bennetthartman.com ers Association, the National Right to Work Committee, and Associated Builders and Contractors. That tells you something right there.” Business groups pooled an esti- mated $60 million to attack politi- cians who supported EFCA. For the most part, they lost. In a handout to Executive Board members, the AFL-CIO wrote: “Do you think they did that (spent millions of dollars) because they want to preserve ‘democracy’ in the work- place? The idea that business groups think anybody will believe they’re fighting for democracy in the work- place is laughable. Let’s be very clear. They don’t want workers to have a free choice to bargain for better wages and benefits and rebuild the middle class. They want to keep things the way they are, with corpora- tions having all the power.” Gregory said that organized labor Could a REVERSE MORTGAGE Work for You? Imagine a Payment Free, Financially-Secure Retirement. • Supplement Your Retirement Income. • No Debt Passes to Your Heirs. • You Maintain Ownership and Title. Free Choice Act, workers can choose to hold a secret ballot election if they wish. But it will be their choice, not the employers. There is no doubt that a majority of Congress supports the Employee Free Choice Act. So does President- elect Barack Obama and Vice Presi- dent-elect Joe Biden. National AFL-CIO Secretary- Treasurer Richard Trumka said that every possible way to get the legisla- tion through Congress will be on the table. “There are an infinite number of strategies to get it passed and each one of them will have our complete attention,” he said. Gregory reminded the Oregon AFL-CIO Executive Board that “we still have a lot of work to do” to get EFCA passed. The AFL-CIO is asking union members to call their U.S. Senators and representatives and encourage them to support and co-sponsor the Employee Free Choice Act. (Editor’s Note: Press Associates Inc. contributed to this report.) 13th annual Labor Law Conference scheduled Feb. 27 The 13th annual Oregon Labor Law Conference will be held Friday, Feb. 27, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the IBEW Local 48 union hall, 15937 NE Airport Way. The event is sponsored by Local 48, the Oregon AFL-CIO, the Oregon State and Columbia-Pacific Building Trades Councils, and the Northwest Oregon Labor Council. The conference organizer is Norm Malbin, in-house attorney for Local 48. The conference is for business man- agers, business agents and officers. The goal is to provide information that will help them do their job better and to help avoid legal liability. The number of participants is lim- ited to 230. Registration is $85 and in- cludes lunch and all materials. The deadline to register is Jan. 30. For more information, call Kristi Straight at 503-889-3660 or Malbin at 503-889-3669. T URN Y OUR H OME E QUITY I NTO C ASH , L INE OF C REDIT , M ONTHLY I NCOME OR A C OMBINATION OF P LANS . Talk with Lynn or Julie, the Reverse Mortgage Specialists at: Rain Forest Boots Made in America! Lynn Russell OR ML-4194WA 510-MB-30380 Our Legal Staff are Proud Members of UFCW Local 555 completed Step 1 “by electing people who support us and who support working people. He said Step 2 will entail passing a law that helps shore up the nation’s working and middle class. “ Unions are the best route to the middle class and rebuilding Amer- ica’s economy,” he said. “The Em- ployee Free Choice Act is the way to make that happen.” The labor movement’s goal is to pass a bill that establishes stronger penalties for violation of employee rights when workers seek to form a union and during first-contract negoti- ations; provides mediation and arbi- tration for first-contract disputes; and allows employees to form unions by signing cards authorizing union repre- sentation. Big corporations have targeted their attacks on the card-check por- tion of the Act because that’s what has resonated with focus groups. It’s also an issue that can easily confuse workers. But card-check recognition has been part of labor law for the past 45 years. As it’s written, however, suc recognition only occurs if the em- ployer agrees, and employers rarely do, thus opening the way for often- times nasty anti-union campaigns be- fore a secret ballot vote ever takes place. Government statistics found that companies violated the rights of 26,824 workers in 2006 alone (and those are just the documented cases). And even when workers win a union election, many companies make ex- cuses to delay bargaining. According to a study by the Massachusetts Insti- tute of Technology, 44 percent of workers who form a new union never reach a first contract. 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