Jan. 7, 2011:NWLP
1/4/11
9:59 AM
(From Page 1)
to a new group of in-home care givers,
authorizing $140 million in bonds for
renovation and new construction, and
reforming the Business Energy Tax
Credit.
• Walmart was at the top of a list
compiled by the Oregon Department of
Human Services of employers whose
workers received food stamps and/or
state-subsidized medical coverage. Wal-
mart, which in 2009 rang up profits of
$14.4 billion on sales of $405 billion,
had 468 Oregon employees getting one
or both forms of public assistance in
2009, and 875 in 2008. McDonalds,
Taco Bell, Burger King, and Subway
also made the top 10. Other names near
the top of the 50-employer list included
Harry & David, Dollar Tree, Target,
Goodwill and temp agency Labor
Ready.
• On March 25, Congress passed his-
toric health insurance reform after a
year of debate, multiple versions, hun-
dreds of town halls and months of pro-
cedural hurdles. It’s a complicated law,
2,310 pages long. The core element, be-
ginning in 2014, is a de facto require-
ment that uninsured adults under 65
purchase health insurance in govern-
ment- regulated state-by-state ex-
changes, aided by subsidies, and en-
forced by tax penalties. The state
exchanges, administered by govern-
ment agencies or non-profits, will serve
as clearinghouses for private insurance
plans, which will be available at five
benefit levels. Subsidies, available on a
sliding scale, will limit premiums to 2
percent of income for those at 133 per-
cent of the poverty level ($14,404 for
individuals/$29,326 for a family of
four) — rising to 9.5 percent of income
for those at 400 percent of the poverty
level ($43,320 for individuals/$88,200
for a family of four).
• In May, Oregon’s new Worker
Freedom Act survived its first legal
challenge by business groups. The na-
tionally watched legislation, which took
effect Jan. 1, 2010, gives private-sector
workers the right not to attend work-
place anti-union meetings. Those
mandatory-attendance meetings —
which follow scripts provided by anti-
union consultants — are employers’
most effective tactic in squelching
union campaigns. So the U.S. Chamber
of Commerce and Associated Oregon
Industries sued in federal court to stop
the law. The judge didn’t rule on
whether the law illegally pre-empts the
National Labor Relations Act, as the
business groups argued, but instead dis-
missed the suit because the business
groups had jumped the gun, suing be-
fore any business had suffered real im-
pact from the law.
• For hard-hit local construction
workers, the one notable bright spot of
the year was the Oct. 19 announcement
that Intel will spend close to $4 billion
in new facilities in Hillsboro, starting
in 2011. With commercial and indus-
trial construction still in a bust, and un-
employment up to 30 percent in some
crafts, Intel’s announcement is “a really
good shot in the arm,” said Paul Riggs,
executive secretary of the Columbia-
JANUARY 7, 2011
Page 3
... YEAR IN REVIEW:
Top labor stories of 2010
Pacific Building Trades Council.
• In August, we reported on efforts
by International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers Local 125 to save
PGE’s Boardman Power Plant from
closure. Later that month, the investor-
owned utility proposed to close the
coal-fired electric plant in 2020 rather
than spend $500 million to comply with
the Clean Air Act. In December, the
Oregon Environmental Quality Com-
mission approved the proposal, which
commits the company to install $60
million worth of technology in 2011
and 2014 that will reduce nitrogen ox-
ide emissions by 50 percent and sulfur
dioxide emissions by 75 percent. PGE
would then close the plant by the end of
2020.
• The Labor Press continued to re-
port the aftermath of a June 2009 mass
firing of 17 pro-union workers by Bru-
cePac. Workers at BrucePac, a cooked
meat processor with plants in Silverton
and Woodburn, Oregon, wanted to join
Laborers Local 296, but nearly every
worker who attended an early-stage
union meeting was fired several weeks
later. Local 296 filed charges with the
National Labor Relations Board
(NLRB). As is often the case, the
NLRB chose not to pursue charges in
13 of those firings, since there was no
“smoking gun” employer admission
that workers were fired because of their
union sympathies. But four cases did go
to trial, in February 2010; in April, a
judge dropped one worker’s case, but
ordered BrucePac to reinstate three
other workers, with back pay. One had
found a better job by then, but two
workers were reinstated Aug. 31, 2010.
They are continuing to work at Bru-
cePac. But their supervisor was fired.
His slip-up — telling a friend that he
selected pro-union workers for termina-
tion — lost BrucePac the case. Workers
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have also filed charges with the Bureau
of Labor and Industries (BOLI). Seven
complaints against BrucePac have been
filed with BOLI since July 2009, alleg-
ing sexual harassment, sex discrimina-
tion, age discrimination, and other
abuses. Investigators dismissed two
charges for lack of evidence; two are
still being investigated; one was trans-
ferred to the Equal Employment Op-
portunity Commission for investigation;
and two are moving forward with hear-
ings after investigators found substan-
tial evidence that violations occurred.
Meanwhile, the workers’ union cam-
paign continues, with pro-union work-
ers meeting regularly to discuss plans,
said Local 296 dispatcher Dagoberto
Aranda.
• National AFL-CIO President
Richard Trumka rallied with Portland
union activists Aug. 23-24, encouraging
them to stay politically active. Trumka
sat alongside Oregon gubernatorial can-
didate John Kitzhaber answering union
members’ questions at an indoor rally
that drew 500 people to the Interna-
tional Longshore and Warehouse Union
Local 8 hall in Portland.
• The Northwest Labor Press cele-
brated its 110th anniversary with a spe-
cial 32-page Labor Day edition Sept. 3.
Portland unions started the Labor Press
in 1900 because of the lack of coverage
of labor activities by the commercial
press. Over the years the newspaper’s
name has changed from Portland Labor
Press, to Oregon Labor Press, to Ore-
gon/Washington Labor Press, to North-
west Labor Press. But it’s mission has
remained the same, to report on stories
about organized labor that the commer-
cial press ignores.
sonal anti-union campaign waged by
the private school’s principal, Elimane
Mbengue. Patricia Raclot, a teacher
who was fired because she supported a
campaign to join American Federa-
tion of Teachers (AFT-Oregon),
turned down an offer of two years
salary to settle her case against the
school. Even though her work visa ex-
pired, Raclot has remained in Portland,
hoping for vindication. AFT-Oregon lo-
cals are passing the hat at meetings to
give her support. AFT awaits a judge’s
decision in the case; final arguments
were submitted Nov. 10. Meanwhile,
bargaining began Dec. 20 for a group of
Portland French School assistants at the
school who did vote “Union, Oui!” The
teachers, however, failed to show ma-
jority support for the union after an in-
tensive anti-union campaign that in-
volved illegal threats and intimidation.
If the government rules that the school
broke the law in that campaign, it could
order a re-run election.
• The heat is on at TriMet among
members of Amalgamated Transit
Union Local 757, over employer pro-
posals to reduce cost-of-living increases
and weaken the employer commitment
to full family health benefits. The old
contract, covering 2,000 active mem-
bers plus retirees, expired November
2009. Bargaining reached an impasse in
July 2010, after which the contract is
supposed to go to an arbitrator for a fi-
nal decision. But TriMet decided to im-
pose some of its terms in the meantime,
and some unfair labor practice charges
filed by the union must first be adjudi-
cated before the arbitrator can consider
which side’s offer is more reasonable.
Since September, anger over TriMet’s
imposition of terms has spilled out in a
series of protests at TriMet board meet-
ings and outside the house of general
manager Neil McFarlane.
• Seven-union, 1,800-member Dis-
trict Council of Trade Unions ratified
a new contract in October with the City
of Portland, with improved protections
against contracting out, and cost-of-liv-
ing raises in future years.
• In the November general election,
support from Oregon labor helped elect
John Kitzhaber governor, Tom Hughes
as Metro president, and helped four in-
cumbent Democrats return to Congress.
It also brought a divided Oregon House
of Representatives for the first time in
history, with 30 Republicans and 30
Democrats. In Southwest Washington,
labor-backed Denny Heck lost a race
for Congress. Washington voters agreed
with unions in rejecting a ballot meas-
ure to privatize the state’s workers’
compensation system.
• Portland Jobs With Justice named
Portland French School “Scrooge of
the Year” for the outrageous and per-
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NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
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