April 3, 2009:NWLP
3/31/09
Inside
9:46 AM
Page 1
MEETING NOTICES
See
Page 4
Volume 110
Number 7
April 3, 2009
Portland
Corporate excess runs amok
Labor takes to the
streets of major
cities, including
Portland, to protest
-
s
s
d
n
d
e
5
-
-
s
Corporate excess was the target
of two downtown Portland labor
protests March 19.
First, two busloads of local
Service Employees International
Union (SEIU) staff joined mem-
bers of other labor organizations
for a short demonstration at down-
town Portland’s World Trade Cen-
ter, site of U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley’s
office. SEIU said similar demon-
strations were held in 35 states.
Protesters expressed outrage
against bonuses paid to insurance
company executives at American
International Group (AIG) after tax
dollars were used to rescue the
company from bankruptcy. As the
official demonstration flier put it:
“Banks get billion-dollar bailouts,
CEOs get millions in pay and
bonuses, and working families get
foreclosures, layoffs, stagnant pay,
and unaffordable healthcare.” Pro-
testers called for passage of the Em-
ployee Free Choice Act, health care
for all, and banking reform.
Merkley was in Washington,
D.C., and had no official response
to the protest, but his deputy state
director, former SEIU staff person
Maribeth Healey, greeted demon-
strators. Merkley spokesman Marc
Siegel said the senator would likely
agree with the protest message.
Next, a sub-group of demonstra-
tors marched to a nearby Key Bank
branch [above], where staff from
Portland Jobs With Justice closed
the group’s bank account. Key
Bank, a recipient of bailout funds,
has been targeted by labor for its
role as lender to Oak Harbor Freight
Lines, a trucking company that ap-
pears bent on busting the Teamsters.
About 600 Teamsters struck for 157
days, and are no closer to a union
contract now that they’re back to
work. Oak Harbor suspended 13
union supporters, stopped contribut-
ing to the union-trusteed pension
plan, and enrolled workers in a sub-
standard company health care plan.
Schism is wide between
labor, Washington Dems
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
OLYMPIA —The once strong work-
ing relationship between organized la-
bor and three top state Democrats has
chilled so much, it’s hard to say if Wash-
ington Gov. Chris Gregoire, House
Speaker Frank Chopp and Senate Ma-
jority Leader Lisa Brown can any longer
be called “friends of labor.”
Back in 2008, all three politicians
told the Washington State Labor Coun-
cil (WSLC) on video that they would
help pass its top priority legislation — a
bill called the Worker Privacy Act. Ma-
chinists District Lodge 751 Political Di-
rector Larry Brown still has a voice-mail
from the governor with that promise.
The bill would bar employers from dis-
ciplining workers who refuse to attend
workplace meetings called for the sake
of bashing unions.
But after Boeing came out in a big
way against the relatively modest labor
rights reform, the three Democratic
leaders announced March 11 they had
decided to kill the bill — and call the po-
lice about a WSLC e-mail that threat-
ened to halt campaign contributions for
Democrats. Gregoire, Chopp and
Brown said the e-mail crossed a line by
linking campaign contributions to action
on a particular bill. The e-mail, from
WSLC special assistant Jeff Johnson,
was a summary of a strategy conference
call about the Worker Privacy Act. One
bullet point said union leaders would
In Salem on April 28
Governor to dedicate new Fallen Workers Memorial
SALEM —The Oregon AFL-CIO will hold a me-
morial service at the new Fallen Workers Memorial at
noon Tuesday, April 28 — Workers Memorial Day.
Gov. Ted Kulongoski will speak and dedicate the
permanent memorial located near the main entrance
of the Labor and Industries Building, 350 Winter St.
NE, Salem.
The memorial service will include the reading of
the names of the 61 Oregon workers killed on the job
in 2008, as well as Oregon soldiers killed in military
service last year. The Oregon AFL-CIO also is asking
union members to make arrangements with their em-
ployers to observe a moment of silence that day.
Workers Memorial Day was enacted by the AFL-
CIO in 1989 to remember workers killed or injured
on the job. April 28 was chosen because it is the an-
niversary of the creation of the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration and the day of a similar re-
membrance in Canada.
The Oregon AFL-CIO’s Safety and Health Com-
mittee has been working for four years (finding a lo-
cation, securing permits, and raising cash) to erect a
memorial in Oregon. The idea started in 2005 with a
resolution passed at the state labor federation’s con-
vention. Labor unions have played a role in helping
construct more than 100 permanent memorials nation-
wide.
Ground finally was broken in Salem the week of
Feb. 23. The memorial consists of a large boulder
within a landscaped sitting area in front of the L&I
building. The boulder has a union-made bronze plaque
attached to it with the inscription:
“In memory of Oregon’s working men and
women who suffered injury or loss of life on the job.
MOURN FOR THE DEAD,
FIGHT FOR THE LIVING
Workers Memorial Day, April 28.
Donated to the State of Oregon by the working
men and women of the Oregon AFL-CIO”
To date, $37,500 of the $49,765 cost has been col-
lected for the Fallen Workers Memorial. Donations
can be sent to: Oregon AFL-CIO, Worker Memorial
Fund 2110 State St. Salem, OR 97301.
“send the message, ‘not another dime
from labor’ until the governor signs the
Worker Privacy Act.”
On March 17, the Washington State
Patrol issued a statement announcing the
result of its investigation: “Detectives
were quickly able to determine the e-
mail did not violate criminal statutes.”
Cleared of wrongdoing, WSLC Pres-
ident Rick Bender issued his own offi-
cial statement: “Referring the matter for
possible criminal prosecution was a
gross overreaction and never should
have happened.”
“An honest mistake occurred in
copying this e-mail to some legislators
who already supported our legislation,
so to characterize this internal e-mail as
some kind of threat to legislative lead-
ers — or a possible crime — is absurd,”
Bender said. “It was very obviously in-
tended to be an internal labor e-mail,
one that began with the salutation
‘Brothers and Sisters,’ which is never
how we would address a state legisla-
tor.”
Meanwhile, another e-mail surfaced
following a public records request from
Associated Press correspondent Curt
Woodward. Dated March 6, it is from
Boeing lobbyist Trent House to Bill Mc-
Sherry, Gregoire’s special liaison to
Boeing. House said he’d counted votes:
Most legislators would side with labor
if the Worker Privacy Act came up for a
vote.
“This bill must not come up for a
vote, or it will pass with a large margin,”
House wrote to the governor’s aide. “I
don’t believe that Senate and House
leadership can make this call on their
own. I think they need and expect the
governor to share the responsibility.”
It would appear the three Democratic
leaders stuck to the Boeing lobbyist’s
script. Except that — instead of candidly
saying they would renege on their
pledge to organized labor in order to
please the politically powerful aerospace
giant — the three Democratic leaders
hid behind a found e-mail. None of
them contacted the labor council for an
explanation of the e-mail before refer-
ring the matter to the Washington State
Patrol.
As Everett Herald columnist Jerry
Cornfield put it, Chopp, Brown and Gre-
goire “needed a way out because [they]
(Turn to Page 3)