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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 2011)
JAN, 21, 2011:NWLP 1/18/11 10:35 AM Open Forum Republicans ban word ‘labor’ from House committee By Mike Hall National AFL-CIO Petty. Petty. Petty. With major issues like jobs and the economy straining for attention, House Republican leaders took a big step to solving the nation’s problems when they boldly acted — drum roll, please — to change the name of the Education and Labor Committee to the Education and Work- force Committee. Give me a bleedin’ break. They so hate the word “labor” because after all, it’s often followed by the word “union.” OMG! The Education and Labor Commit- tee was founded in 1867 and retained that name — except for a brief time when it was split into separate Educa- tion and Labor committees — through both Democratic and Republican ma- jorities for 122 years. In 1995, the last time a group of swaggering, loud-mouthed extremists — remember Newt and his cohorts, the tea party forebears? — hit Capitol Hill, they stripped the word “labor” from the committee door. In 2006, figuring 122 years of con- gressional history should be honored, the new Democratic majority restored the word “labor.” So here’s another symbolic bird-flip from Republicans to working people over a concept that’s clearly unfamiliar to them: Labor. Page 10 Disciplined unity gets results To the Editor: I agree with Brother Schell: “rioting in the streets” does not help build the la- bor movement in this country (“Rioting in the streets won’t help cause,” Jan. 7, 2011). However, disciplined unity in ac- tion does get results and increases our strength. When Oregon AFL-CIO Pres- ident Tom Chamberlain called for “tak- ing to the streets,” I’m sure he was not advocating for the type of vandalism a few youth have exhibited on the streets of Europe in the past year. I’m sure he was referring to the type of marches, rallies, strikes, blockades and sit-ins that millions of European workers employed — led by the union movement — to push back against em- ployer-led attacks on their standard of living. These are the same tactics used by our own labor movement in the 1930s — which led to a huge increase the size of our movement and won us some of our most fundamental rights: to strike, to collectively bargain, to un- employment insurance, to a minimum wage, to social security. Brother Chamberlain is suggesting that we are facing tough times where some of those fundamental rights are threatened. Tough times require tough tactics. Jamie Partridge Letter Carriers 82 Portland House GOP cuts jobs, funding to highway and transit programs (From the Building and Construc- tion Trades Department, AFL-CIO.) The 112th Congress has convened, and the first order of business by the Re- publican majority in the House of Rep- resentatives was, incredibly, to cut jobs and funding to highway and transit pro- grams. Specifically, House Republicans changed a number of longstanding rules, including one that historically ensured that money raised solely for highway and transit projects through the federal gas tax be spent on those projects. The new rule change by the Repub- lican majority in the House will hence- forth allow highway and transit funds that have already been raised to sit idle in a bank account, reducing investment in highways and transit, and subse- quently destroying jobs. Despite the best efforts of moderate Republicans like Steve LaTourette of Ohio to reduce the negative impact of this rule change, Republican leadership refused to modify their new rule. Ap- parently, they are more interested in perpetuating a shell game where high- way and transit funds are held back in order to make it appear that the deficit has been reduced in the short-term, thus allowing Congress to continue to spend money on pet projects and cutting one of the best job-creation programs in the history of the country. Last November, the American peo- ple demanded that Congress make eco- nomic growth and job creation their top priority. For the millions of unemployed in the construction industry, cutting funding that would put them to work re- pairing or replacing our crumbling bridges, highways and transit systems is not a solution; it’s a slap in the face. We thank Congressman LaTourette for his efforts to prevent this rule from taking effect. We will need more voices like his, if Congress plans on getting se- rious about fixing the real problem fac- ing our country; which is JOBS. E E FR BARGAIN COUNTER Free classified ads to subscribers DEADLINE: Friday prior to publication Published 1st and 3rd Fridays Now accepting e-mails Send to: Michael492@comcast.net Mail to: NWLP, PO Box 13150, Portland OR 97213 (Please include union affiliation) • 15-20 words • No commercial or business ads • 1 ad per issue • All lower case (NO CAPITAL LETTERS, PLEASE) • Ads MUST include area code or they will not be published A UTOMOTIVE M ISCELLANEOUS ’97 FORD EXPEDITION XLT, 3rd, leather, 189K, new Michelins, brakes, well main- tained, runs great, $3,000. 360-606-6682. ’77 MERCEDES 450SL roadster convert- ible, light blue ext, dark blue int,134k mi, al- ways garaged, $9,900 obo 360-687-9416. ’03 WINNEBAGO ADVENTURER, 33’, 30k miles, Triton V10, 2 slides, excellent condition, $70,000. 503-285-8691 LEER CANOPY, black, fits ’04 and up, longbox, three sliding windows, like new. 503-761-1133 ’95 CHEVY TAHOE, 155k, white w/gray leather interior, runs and looks excellent, $4,495. 503-653-1289 (Don). 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His plan was to put pressure on Congress to shift its priorities from war and mil- itary spending to housing, health care, jobs and education, focusing especially on the people who were losing jobs be- cause of automation of industry and outsourcing. It was a two-pronged approach. One was that there were these people who were being thrown out of the economy to starve, and something had to be done about that. But secondly, the priorities of the country are all wrong. Honey: At various times he says he is not opposed to people having wealth, he’s opposed to people having wealth at the expense of other people not hav- Q: What do you think King would say about the current economic crisis, its effects on working people and the PAGE 10 attack on public employee unions? Honey: In his speech to the AFL- CIO in 1961, King talked about the de- veloping right-wing coalition that would threaten the labor movement and the civil rights movement. The quote is “the alliance between big mil- itary and big business or the coalition of Dixiecrats and militant reactionaries — whatever the form — these menaces now threaten everything decent and fair in American life. Labor today faces the greatest crisis. In the next 10 to 20 years, automation will grind jobs into dust. This period is made to order for those who would drive labor into im- potency by viciously attacking it at every point of weakness.” His idea [to fight this developing NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS MOTORCYCLES running or not, parts, cash paid. 503-880-8183 JUNK CARS, removal of unwanted cars and pickups. 503-314-8600 COLLECTOR PAYS cash for older toys, oil paintings, art pottery, taxco silver and unique items. 503-703-5952 OLD WOODWORKING tools, planes, lev- els, chisels, handsaws, slicks, adzes, wrenches, folding rulers, leather tools, tool chests. 503-659-0009 SILVER COINS, US and Canadian, union brother collector pays top money for all small amounts. 503-806-6287 APPRENTICESHIP Masonry Trades Union Tile, Terrazzo, Brick & CPC Finisher Must be at least 18 years old. At time of application Dr. King’s Legacy: Fighting for economic justice In his latest book, “All Labor Has Dignity,” historian Michael Honey brings together 16 of Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches on economic jus- tice, many of them unpublished until now. Honey, a professor at the Univer- sity of Washington Tacoma, edited the speeches and wrote an introduction for the book. AFL-CIO Now senior writer James Parks interviewed Honey about King and his legacy of economic jus- tice. Q: In All Labor Has Dignity, you say King’s dream called for “eco- nomic equality.” What does that mean and how do we achieve it? W ANTED right-wing coalition] is to develop a mass coalition of labor, civil rights churches, anti-war, students — any- body who’s moving in the same direc- tion. Q: What is King’s legacy today and how can we best honor it? Honey: King was a holistic thinker, and he said the problem is not just in- dividuals; the problem is the system. The real evil is systematic. The three great evils are racism, militarism and materialism. Our country is under the control of those three evils, and we have to change the whole setup of the country to change that. If you look at him in that way, he’s timely and time- less. Applications will be taken the 2nd and 4th Thursday each month for 2011 from 7:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. Location: 12812 NE Marx St. Portland, Ore. 97230 ʻAmerican Madeʼ in the Northwest Mon-Fri 9:30-7:30 Sat 9:30-5:30 Sun 12-6 JANUARY 21, 2011
