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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (March 4, 2011)
MARCH 4, 2011:NWLP 3/1/11 10:09 AM Page 11 Radical Republicans’ goal is to destroy all unions To the Editor: Working people in Wisconsin have staged a rebellion against a brutal attack on the rights of workers by a governor and Legislature dominated by socio- pathic Republicans. These plutocrats want to destroy collective bargaining for all public employees and turn Wis- consin into a right-to-work state for pri- vate employees. Gary Huck and I both grew up in Wisconsin. Gary was raised in Racine and I grew up in Manitowoc. Both towns are on the shores of Lake Michi- gan and both towns were manufactur- ing centers. Racine and Manitowoc were devastated by the Reagan reces- sion of the 1980s and are still part of the Rust Belt. I’ve lived in Madison since 1971 when I came here to finish college. Wisconsin was the birthplace of Fightin’ Bob LaFollette, the founder of the Wisconsin progressive movement. Progressivism merged into the New Deal, and Wisconsin was influential in the creation of laws and culture that re- spected working people. This is from the Wisconsin Historical Society: “Wis- consin’s workers and reformers made significant contributions to the history of labor in the United States, helping to enact legislation such as workers’ com- pensation and unemployment insurance that served as models for similar laws in other states. The study of labor his- tory itself also began in Wisconsin when University of Wisconsin econo- mist John R. Commons set out to docu- ment the history of work and labor in America at the turn of the 20th century. Commons and his associates also joined labor leaders, the business com- munity, and politicians to bring about some of Wisconsin’s groundbreaking social policies.” Wisconsin was also the birthplace of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AF- SCME), formed in 1932. They created what would later become Wisconsin State Employees Union/Council 24. The progressive pro-labor culture dominated the state until the dismal 1950s when Joe McCarthy was elected and launched the McCarthy era of bru- tal repression of working people. We are now experiencing another period of repression. The workers of Wisconsin know their history and know what is at stake. Again, robber barons are trying to destroy our traditions and the history that our forebears fought and died for. We are determined to preserve our proud history and fight against the forces of decay. IN MEMORIAM J OHN P. C RANSTON , a re- tired secretary-treasurer of Bakery, Confectionery, To- bacco Workers and Grain Millers Local 364, died of lung cancer at home with his family Feb 13, 2011. He was 82. Born Feb. 7, 1929 in Fer- managh County, Northern Ire- land, Cranston moved to New York as a teenager, where he worked various jobs. He relocated to Washington to live with his aunt and uncle. In the Pacific North- west, he entered a nursing program and became a licensed practical nurse. Cranston enlisted in the Army in 1951, serving as a medic during the Ko- rean War. On return, he joined Local 364 working at Nabisco and Frito-Lay. He eventually was elected secretary-treasurer of the union. He retired from that post in the spring of 1990. Once retired, Cranston en- joyed riding his John Deere trac- tor to mow the grass and spend time outside. His other hobbies were woodworking in his shop and reading. He is survived by his wife Angeline; two daughters, Margaret Harms and Shaun Mettler; and three grandchildren. A funeral mass was held at St. Philips Catholic Church in Woodland, Washington on Feb. 17. In the election of 2008 we thought that change was coming. But change never comes from the top down. It comes from the bottom up. Allow me to use a football metaphor. The Green Bay Packers won this year’s Super Bowl. The Packers, the smallest market city in the NFL, are named after a meat packing plant in Green Bay. They are not owned by a plutocrat, they are a non-profit owned by the commu- nity. To Wisconsin, Packer football is as much a part of our tradition as the labor movement. In the Super Bowl, the team, devastated by injuries all season, lost two of their top players to injury in the first half. The game went back and forth, and in the fourth quarter the Pack- ers found themselves in trouble. Kevin (Editor’s Note: Mike Konopacki is a labor cartoonist and author whose car- toons appear regularly in the Northwest Labor Press.) More moderate attitude could solve problems in Wisconsin, elsewhere To The Editor: The Wisconsin labor bill being pushed by the governor is just plain wrong. It will do absolutely nothing sig- nificant towards reducing Wisconsin’s deficit ... but it will reduce the work- force by a great amount because they will leave the state. I won’t go there. I won’t work for the $2-a-day, six days a week, 1920s meat- grinder attitude; while corporate hoards all the profits from their impoverished workforce. A fair and honest day’s wage for a fair and honest day’s work — nobody loses. Everyone has a good (reasonable) living and no one (corpo- rate or labor) gets screwed. Thanks to the Italian mob that infil- trated the unions back east and began extortion among its members, a bad name has been directed towards all of Apprenticeship Opening Glaziers, Architectural Medal & Glassworkers JATC will be accepting applications for APPRENTICE GLAZIER (construction) Applicants must be at least 18 years old and have a high school diploma or GED. Employers may require driver’s license and drug and alcohol screening. Applications will be taken March 21 thru April 1 Monday thru Friday, 9 to 11 a.m. and 1 to 3 p.m. Mt. Hood Community College Glaziers Training Center, Room GE 108 26000 SE Stark St., Gresham, OR Women & minorities encouraged to apply MARCH 4, 2011 Greene, outside linebackers coach, pulled linebacker Clay Matthews aside and told him that the time had come to take control of the game. “It is time!” He said. Matthews helped cause a fum- ble that led to victory. For those of us who believe in the dignity of workers, and believe in fight- ing for the least among us, IT IS TIME. Wisconsin workers are up to the chal- lenge. Mike Konopacki AFT & IWW Madison, Wisconsin NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS labor. I am glad to be associated with a union that has no such affiliations and has the brass (and the strength) to stand for its worker membership and its sig- natory corporate members. Corporate gets a well-trained, competent work force; labor gets a decent wage and rea- sonable benefits. Everyone benefits. I have worked both sides, and was treated well by only one nonunion com- pany and satisfactorily by another. All the others, I was left on my own and got the short end for all my work. I finally moved and joined my local union. The real problem is that Wisconsin, evidently like California, has been bing- ing upon an unchecked, extremely lib- eral, wild spending spree. Now they are whining, pointing errant fingers be- cause the irresponsible spending has caught up to them, hastened by a rotten economy that is in a full-blown deep re- cession that it is hard to distinguish from the 1930s Depression. Liberalist “left” and tight-wad “right” are not the ideal stance. Rather, a moderate “liberal/conservative” atti- tude is the solution. All sides will then listen and discuss. All sides will then exercise common sense and integrity. All sides will know when a circum- stance requires a liberal solution or a more conservative one to keep the budget in check, as well as keep the cit- izens (who ultimately pay the bills) pro- tected by reasonable law(s). It is well past time for America to wake up, turn on their individual brains, and ignore the rhetorical hype so fre- quently spewed by the irresponsible yellow journalism of all the media. Be observant of your governmental affairs and, if necessary, remove the greedy, self-gratifying, even corrupt leaders of federal, state, and local areas (referring categorically, not specifi- cally). Steve Dietrich IBEW 48 Gresham O PEN F ORUM Congress should rebate their Social Security rebates To the Editor: When President Obama invited the Republican Congressional leadership to the White House recently, some of the results were: continuation of the Bush tax cuts for all, cut the inheritance tax, and a one-year rebate of 2 percent of the Social Security contributions to every wage-earner who contributes to that fund — up to $106,000 of their earn- ings. The net effect of this last issue is that all members of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives will, be- cause their base pay is $174,000 annu- ally, receive the maximum rate of $2,120. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, “the champion of Social Security,” was quoted as saying to a group of progres- sive activists after listening to their plans, “You have some very good plans, now make me do them!” I urge progressives to call, write, e- mail or fax their members of Congress and ask that they, “REBATE THE RE- BATE,” and send their $2,120 to their respective state’s food bank or other so- cial relief agency. Ben Fain, Jr. ATU Local 757 Retiree Portland There’s still time to register for MDA Labor Bowl The 22nd Annual Labor Bowl Chal- lenge to benefit the Muscular Dystro- phy Association (MDA) will be held Sunday, March 13, at Hollywood Bowl, 4030 NE Halsey St., Portland. Thirty lanes have been reserved. To date, 23 teams from eight union locals have registered to bowl, so there is room for seven more teams. The goal is to have 18 unions represented. Money is raised by pledges and a silent auction. Since its inception, Port- land-area labor unions have collected $311,828.75 for MDA. Money goes to buy wheelchairs and braces for chil- dren, as well as research and summer camps. Registration starts at noon, with bowling under way at 1 p.m. For more information, call Jim Cook, president of Letter Carriers Branch 82, at 503-493-5903. To donate items to the auction, call Debbie Bur- bank at 971-404-5384. PAGE 11
