July 16, 2010:NWLP
7/13/10
9:58 AM
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Wyden talks
jobs with
labor folks
More than 70 union members met
with U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore-
gon) July 7 at a breakfast event spon-
sored by the Northwest Oregon Labor
Council.
“It’s all about the economy — get-
ting people back to work,” said
Wyden, who is running for a third full
term in the Senate.
Oregon’s senior senator said he is
working on legislation that will strip
tax breaks for businesses that move
jobs overseas and shift the incentive to
help businesses that manufacture (and
create jobs) in the United States. He
promoted Build America Bonds, a
program he helped establish that en-
ables municipalities to attract new in-
vestors and finance critical infrastruc-
ture projects, and he voiced optimism
for an Eastside Forestry bill that he
said will create jobs, save old-growth
trees, and provide logs and other
forestry material to local mills.
“One of the things we do best (in
Oregon) is we grow things,” he said.
“We ought to grow ‘em, we ought to
add value to ‘em, and we ought to
ship ‘em somewhere — and that
means jobs for your members,” he
said.
Wyden was concerned, though,
that labor and Democrats “aren’t
pumped” and might sit out the No-
vember election. There is no secret
that union members are frustrated
with the Democratic-controlled Con-
gress and the Obama Administration:
for not passing its top bill — the Em-
ployee Free Choice Act — when it
had a 60-vote supermajority; and for
its inertia on a “jobs agenda” that pro-
tects and creates work in the public
and private sectors and helps the long-
term unemployed get through the
Great Recession.
“People are very, very frustrated,”
Wyden said. “They thought more was
going to get done more quickly. There
are a lot of things, looking back, that
Summer School offers union
members opportunity to learn
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (left) has an animated conversation with Scott Lucy
(right), a business representative of Machinists District Lodge 24, and
Musicians Local 99 President Bruce Fife.
should have been done differently. I
don’t dispute that for a second.”
Though there is plenty of blame to
go around, Wyden said there simply
aren’t enough votes to move a pro-
gressive agenda quickly, noting Re-
publican abuses in Senate procedures,
including the filibuster.
“The single biggest concern I
have,” Wyden said, “is that big abuses
can be done in secret. It’s one thing to
have the guts to stand up on the floor
and to say ‘I don’t want so-and-so,’
and have a vote. It’s another thing to
do it in secret.” Wyden is pursuing a
bill that would bar anyone from doing
public business in secret. “They ought
to have to go out on the floor and
identify themselves,” he said.
Wyden worried that if union mem-
bers don’t vote in November, the Bush
agenda will resurface.
“Are we going to have even close
to the numbers that we need for pro-
gressive legislation after this elec-
tion?” he asked. “One of the things
this election is going to be about, is
not turning back the clock.”
EUGENE — The 2010 Oregon
AFL-CIO Summer School, which will
occur Friday through Sunday, Aug. 6-
8, at the University of Oregon campus,
is an opportunity for union activists and
member leaders to network with fellow
unionists, improve their skills, and re-
new their commitment to building a
stronger and more effective union
movement.
Coordinated by the Labor Education
and Research Center, the school will
feature a Friday night talk by AFL-CIO
President Tom Chamberlain on “Jobs
for All” and a series of classes and
workshops on Saturday and Sunday
morning. Topics to be covered include
political action efforts by unions, effec-
tive communications for union leaders,
developing strategies to make local
unions stronger and more effective or-
ganizations, bridging generational dif-
ferences among union members, and
building more inclusive unions.
Participants will also have the op-
portunity to mingle with legislators dur-
ing Saturday’s “Solidarity Picnic,” view
labor-related films, or kick up their
heels during the “Dancing with Your
Union All-Stars” event on Saturday
evening. The event will climax with a
ceremony honoring graduates of
LERC’s U-LEAD program on Sunday
morning.
“Summer School is a great opportu-
nity for both newer activists and veteran
leaders to learn from each other and
gain insights from the top-notch in-
structors who teach our classes and
workshops,” said LERC Director Bob
Bussel. “We guarantee participants a
memorable experience that will better
prepare them to meet the challenges of
leadership during hard times.”
For more information, contact
LERC at 541 346-5054 or visit the
LERC web site at http://darkwing.
uoregon.edu/~lerc/.
Building Trades to
host labor night with
Portland Beavers
served for union members and their
families. Gates open at 6 p.m. with the
first pitch at 7:05 p.m.
The Beavers are hosting Round
Rock Express.
To order your tickets, contact Brian
Pollard at 503-553-5441 or bpol-
lard@pgepark.com and be sure to men-
tion you are with the building trades
event. Deadline to order tickets is
Wednesday, Aug. 18 at 5 p.m.
Building Trades Night with the Port-
land Beavers will be held Thursday,
Aug. 19, at PGE Park.
Infield reserve tickets are only $12.
A block of 100 tickets have been re-
(International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X)
Established in 1900 at Portland, Oregon
as a voice of the labor movement.
4275 NE Halsey St., P.O. Box 13150,
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Telephone: (503) 288-3311
Editor: Michael Gutwig
Staff: Don McIntosh, Cheri Rice
Published on a semi-monthly basis on the first and third Fridays of
each month by the Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non-
profit corporation owned by 20 unions and councils including the
Oregon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in Ore-
gon and SW Washington. Subscriptions $13.75 per year for union
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Group rates available to trade union organizations.
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NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
JULY 16, 2010