AUG. 6, 2010:NWLP
8/3/10
10:11 AM
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Trumka tells Netroots Nation
it’s time for new industrial
policy for a globalized world
By MARC LAITIN
National AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka
laid out a 21st century U.S. economic
policy July 26 before a diverse crowd of
more than 1,000 political activists at-
tending Netroots Nation.
Netroots Nation is a progressive or-
ganization that provides an online cam-
pus for exchanging ideas and learning
how to be more effective in using tech-
nology to influence public debate.
Restoring the nation’s middle class
in part means returning to a “real econ-
omy”— one in which we make things,
rather than move around complex finan-
cial products, Trumka said. Strengthen-
ing U.S. manufacturing must be part of
the process to reverse five decades of
stagnating wages.
“We have to think big and we have
to go big,” he said. “We have to let go of
this notion that we can’t compete in this
world. We can compete. Other countries
are already doing this and so can we. We
can’t get left behind.”
Speaking as part of a panel on Build-
ing a Progressive Economic Vision,
Trumka outlined the need for the nation
to invest in infrastructure, implement
fair trade policies, change U.S. tax poli-
cies, enact comprehensive immigration
reform, and reform broken labor laws.
The full panel included consumer ad-
vocate Elizabeth Warren, Florida Dem-
ocratic Rep. Alan Grayson, Center for
Community Change Executive Director
Deepak Bhargava, Green for All’s Phae-
dra Ellis-Lamkins and National People’s
Action Executive Director George
Goehl.
CORRECTIONS
In the July 16 issue of the Northwest
Labor Press, an article about the new
union contracts at Daimler’s Portland
truck plant contained several inaccura-
cies.
In the contract with members of Ma-
chinists Lodge 1005, Daimler agreed to
pay a pension surcharge that will total
75 percent by the third year of the con-
tract, or $577.39 a month — not
$769.85 as reported. The latter figure is
the company’s current pension contri-
bution.
Also, the article seemed to suggest
that retiree health care obligations are
the biggest factor in the company deci-
sion not to close the Portland plant. Ac-
tually, it’s the pension obligation that is
the overriding factor.
In the “Local Motion” feature that
lists union election activity, the Labor
Press incorrectly reported that Oregon
School Employees Association
(OSEA) lost a certification election at
First Student in St. Helens. It was
Teamsters Local 58 that was seeking to
represent that unit of school bus driv-
ers, not OSEA. The vote was 16 to 22,
and the unit remains nonunion.
AUGUST 6, 2010
Trumka pointed out how the United
States is falling behind other countries
in creating green technology. While our
nation is building 500 miles of high-
speed rail, China has begun construction
of 5,000 miles and is outspending the
United States 2:1 on green technology,
making it even more urgent for the
United States to invest in green jobs and
high-end manufacturing infrastructure
now before it falls further behind.
For those who say we can’t afford to
make these investments, Trumka ex-
plained how we can do it with a finan-
cial speculation tax that encourages cap-
ital to invest in concrete things and
discourages unproductive speculation or
paper pushing for a quick buck, all the
while raising more than $100 billion.
Trumka made it clear that lawmakers
must not reduce the federal deficit at the
expense of creating jobs.
Next up, Trumka described the need
for an integrated trade policy. The nation
can’t focus solely on increasing exports,
but must focus on net exports. “We can’t
open our markets to other countries who
won’t open theirs,” he said. “We can’t
support countries that murder trade
unionists. All we want is to compete on
a level playing field and to do that we
must have fair trade policy.”
Third, Trumka laid out what law-
makers must do to modify tax policy:
“We need a tax policy that encour-
ages people to produce and manufacture
things in this country, not reward those
who outsource and produce things
abroad,” he said. “We have to close the
loopholes that allow corporations who
have record profits to use gimmicks to
avoid paying their fair share of taxes.”
Fourth, Trumka spoke in favor of
comprehensive immigration reform and
made it clear that every AFL-CIO union
has endorsed a five-point plan for immi-
gration reform. “Current U.S. immigra-
tion policy has allowed corporations to
create a permanent underclass of work-
ers who they can take advantage of,”
Trumka said.
And finally, just as corporations have
taken advantage of immigrants, they
have skirted, exploited and violated la-
bor laws that empower workers to form
a union and bargain for a better life. The
good jobs of the past were good jobs be-
cause workers organized and fought for
fair wages and benefits, he said.
“Without labor law reform, corpora-
tions will continue to take advantage of
workers and no matter how much we in-
vest in our economy, how much we in-
crease our productivity, our wages will
remain stagnant and we will continue to
fall behind.”
After laying out this five-part plan,
Trumka concluded with a call for coor-
dinated action. “We knew this wasn’t
going to be easy. It’s going to take a con-
certed effort by a lot of us over a long
period of time to fix our broken econ-
omy. I’m up for it, and I look forward to
fighting with you.”
Giddy-up little doggie
An apprentice electrician lineman competes in the 17th annual Lineman Rodeo July 24 at PGE Lineman Station in
Gresham. More than 80 lineman from Oregon, Washington, and Idaho participated in events such as the raw egg climb
(up a 45-foot pole), hurt-man rescue, and insulator replacement. The competition is fun, but competitors are serious
about safety and keeping their skills sharp. The rodeo — considered one of the most challenging in the nation — is
sponsored by IBEW Locals 125 and 659, Pacific Power, Portland General Electric and Clark Public Utilities. All
concession profits from the event were donated to the Oregon Burn Center. This year, Pacific Power matched that
amount for a total donation of $2,305.91.
Value of minimum wage lower than in ‘56
The federal minimum wage is so low
today at $7.25 an hour, says the Let Jus-
tice Roll Living Wage Campaign, that
it’s lower than the minimum wage of
1956, which was $8.02 adjusted for in-
flation.
Oregon and Washington are ahead of
the curve, with Oregon sitting at $8.40
an hour, unchanged from 2009. Wash-
ington’s minimum wage is $8.55.
Today, four out of six occupations
employing the largest number of work-
Workers’ off-duty conduct sparks
lively discussion at LERA meeting
More and more employees are find-
ing themselves disciplined for off-duty
conduct. Seventy-five people attended a
breakfast program advertised as “When
Worlds Collide” on July 13 sponsored
by the Oregon chapter of the Labor Em-
ployment Relations Association
(LERA).
Questions came rapid-fire while two
labor law attorneys discussed various
scenarios and the discipline that could
be appropriate.
Employer-side attorney Dennis
Westlind of Stoel Rives LLP offered that
discipline, including termination, can be
in order if there is a “nexus” with the
workplace. “If it has an impact on the
business, if it has an impact on the em-
ployee’s ability to work, or if it affects
other employees’ ability to perform their
work,” an employee can be disciplined,
Westlind said.
Union attorney Sarah Drescher from
the law office of Mike Tedesco agreed.
She added that there is a presumption
that off-duty conduct is an employee’s
private business, unless it impacts in
these areas. She added that public em-
ployees are held to a higher standard
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
than private-sector employees regarding
off-duty conduct.
Much of the discussion related to
new social networking activities, such
as Facebook, which have caused more
employers to find activities that could
potentially harm their businesses. These
are often things they never would have
seen before.
Westlind said in relation to Face-
book, that people can’t count on infor-
mation staying with a few of their
“friends.”
“If it becomes public, it is a game
changer,” he said.
Drescher also spoke of the need for
employers to continue to follow due
process, and to draw the nexus back to
the employer by showing harm to the
business in order to successfully disci-
pline or terminate an employee.
LERA is an organization that brings
labor, management, neutral, and aca-
demic leaders together to improve labor-
management relations.
The next program will be Sept. 23 on
“The Art of Closing the Deal.” The pro-
gram will include experts on the do’s
and don’ts of successful negotiations.
ers nationwide — including retail sales-
persons, cashiers, and food preparation
and serving workers — have a median
wage that is lower than the minimum
wage of 1968, adjusted for inflation
(half make less than the median, half
make more), the Let Justice Roll cam-
paign noted.
It would take $10 to match the buy-
ing power of the minimum wage at its
peak in 1968.
“The minimum wage was enacted
during the Great Depression to put a
floor under workers’ wages and increase
buying power to boost business and eco-
nomic recovery,” said Let Justice Roll
Director Holly Sklar. “The fall in worker
buying power is a big reason we’re in
the worst economic crisis since the De-
pression and a big reason we’re having
so much trouble getting out of it.”
Let Justice Roll, a coalition of more
than 100 faith, community, labor, and
businesses, is calling for minimum wage
increases to make up the ground lost in
buying power.
“Income has been redistributed from
the bottom and middle to the top,” Sklar
said. “The share of national income go-
ing to the richest 1 percent has more
than doubled since 1968. We can’t build
a healthy economy with the greatest in-
come inequality since 1928 and a mini-
mum wage lower in value than 1956.”
Critics oppose minimum wage in-
creases in good times and bad, claiming
they increase unemployment. Research,
summarized in the report, “Raising the
Minimum Wage in Hard Times,” up-
dated July 24 at www.letjusticeroll.org,
shows that increasing the minimum
wage does not increase unemployment.
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