JAN. 2 2009:NWLP
12/29/08
10:02 AM
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Senate GOP memo reveals:
Foes of Big 3 auto loan bill schemed to bust union
WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI) — An
internal memorandum from GOP Sen-
ate staffers to their bosses shows the
motive for Republican opposition to
the $14 billion “bridge loan” plan for
two of the nation’s three domestic auto
companies — GM and Chrysler —
was not to target the firms, but to bash
unions, specifically the United Auto
Workers (UAW).
The “Action Alert — Auto Bail
Out” memo, published by the online
magazine MSNBC Countdown with
Keith Olbermann, and also discussed
in the Los Angeles Times, ratifies union
President Ron Gettelfinger’s Dec. 12
statement about the Republicans’ mo-
tives, a day after the bridge loan bill
failed to pass in the Senate because of a
Republican-lead filibuster.
That Dec. 11 Senate vote left UAW
and the two automakers dependent on
the loan to tide them through into 2009,
until the new Congress and the Obama
Administration could evaluate the auto
firms’ restructuring plans — and how
many workers’ jobs would remain.
The memo was sent at 9:12 a.m.,
Dec. 10 to Senate Republicans, the day
before the 52-35 vote that killed the
bridge loans. Democrats needed 60
votes to cut off the GOP filibuster
against the bridge loans. The names of
the senders and recipients of the memo
were blacked out in the copy Count-
down obtained.
The memo calls defeating the auto
firms’ bridge loans the GOP’s “first
shot against organized labor.” The Sen-
ate GOP blocked the loans by demand-
IN MEMORIAM
Vera Larson, who for the past 25 years organized monthly outings for the In-
ternational Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 48’s Retirees Club, passed
away Dec. 14, just three weeks short of her 94th birthday.
Larson worked as a food server for a number of years, including at The Prime
Rib Restaurant in Northeast Portland. She was a member of the Culinary Workers
Union.
She was always part of the union family. Her first husband, Theodore Schlein-
ing, was a glazier and member of Glass Workers Local 740. He died in 1966. She
married John E. Larson, an electrician and member of Local 48, in 1967.
Larson also was an active member of Rose City Park United Methodist Church,
the Portland Northeast Republican Women’s Club, DolphinYacht Club, and North-
west Outboard Trailer Sailors. She has held leadership roles in each of these or-
ganizations.
Vera Larson was born Jan. 4, 1915, in Bradley, South Dakota. Her family moved
to the West when Vera was seven, stopping first in Seattle and moving five months
later to Portland. She spent two years in Alaska, living in a camper with her first
husband as he worked rebuilding Anchorage following a huge earthquake in 1964.
Larson is survived by three daughters, Marilyn Schultz of Lake Oswego;
Shirleen Lawson of Portland, and Camille Schleining of Delta Junction, Alaska;
seven grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren.
A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 4 (her birthday), at
Rose City Cemetery and Funeral Home, 5625 NE Fremont.
Remembrances can be sent to Rose City Park United Methodist Church.
ing UAW’s 150,000 members take im-
mediate pay cuts of at least 50 percent
to make their pay equal to that of
nonunion foreign-owned “transplants,”
auto plants in the South. The leaders of
the opposition were Southern Republi-
can Sens. Mitch McConnell (Ken-
tucky), Richard Shelby (Ala.), Robert
Corker (Tennessee) and Tom Coburn
(Oklahoma).
The memo’s text:
“From: Sent: Wednesday, Decem-
ber 10, 2008 9:12 AM
“To: Subject: Action Alert -- Auto
Bailout
“Today at noon, Senators Ensign,
Shelby, Coburn and DeMint will hold
a press conference in the Senate Ra-
dio/TV Gallery. They would appreciate
our support through messaging and at-
tending the press conference, if possi-
ble. The message they want us to de-
liver is:
“1. This is the democrats’ first op-
portunity to payoff organized labor af-
ter the election. This is a precursor to
card check and other items. Republi-
cans should stand firm and take their
first shot against organized labor, in-
stead of taking their first blow from it.
“2. This rush to judgment is the
same thing that happened with the
TARP. Members did not have an op-
portunity to read or digest the legisla-
tion and therefore could not understand
the consequences of it. We should not
rush to pass this because Detroit says
the sky is falling.
“The sooner you can have press re-
leases and documents like this in the
hands of members and the press, the
better. Please contact me if you need
additional information. Again, the
hardest thing for the democrats to do is
get 60 votes. If we can hold the Repub-
licans, we can beat this.”
The reference to TARP is the offi-
cial name for the $700 billion bank
bailout — the Troubled Assets Relief
Program. The lower-casing of the “d”
in Democrats and the word “payoff”
were the memo’s own punctuation and
word.
Of the 35 senators who voted to
keep the Republican filibuster against
the auto company bridge loans going
— thus killing the bill — 31 were Re-
publicans. They included the other two
mentioned in the memo: James DeMint
(S.C.) and John Ensign (Nevada).
Shelby, DeMint, Corker and Mc-
Connell, the minority leader, all have
“transplant” car plants in their states.
Of the four Democrats opposing the
bridge loans, Majority Leader Harry
Reid (Nevada) had to switch his vote to
opposition for parliamentary reasons.
The other three foes were Sens. Max
Baucus and Jon Tester (Montana) and
Blanche Lincoln (Arkansas). Twelve
senators — four Democrats and eight
Republicans — did not vote. One
Democratic-held seat, Barack
Obama’s, was vacant at the time of the
vote.
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JANUARY 2, 2009
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
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