Northwest labor press., March 04, 2011, Page 12, Image 12

MARCH 4, 2011:NWLP
3/1/11
10:09 AM
Page 12
...Wisconsin battle is not about the budget
(From Page 10)
people rally in Madison, the largest
protests there since the Vietnam War.
The message, “We are all Wisconsin”
goes nationwide as an estimated
50,000 people take part in solidarity
rallies in 66 cities across the country
— including all 50 state capitals. [See
Page 1 for details of the Portland and
Salem rallies.]
Sunday, Feb. 27: Dozens of priests,
rabbis, and ministers join the capitol
Danner Boot
lays off 90
Danner Boots laid off 90 employees
— 70 last week, and 20 at the end of
January, after a contract to manufacture
combat hiker boots for the U.S. military
was not renewed.
Most of those let go were members
of United Food and Commercial Work-
ers Local 555, although some came
from the ranks of management.
Workers met with union leaders,
management, and a rapid response team
from Labor’s Community Service
Agency Feb. 25 to get assistance deal-
ing with the job loss.
Last year, Danner, whose parent
company is LaCrosse Footwear, Inc.,
employed roughtly 210 union workers
at its facility on Airport Way in North-
east Portland. It is now down to 130.
protests, pledging to risk arrest if the
building is closed to the public. Dis-
regarding an announcement that the
building is closed, 600 spend the
night. In Washington, D.C., hundreds
of unionists march outside the hotel
where Walker is expected to chair a
panel at the National Governors As-
sociation meeting; he is a no-show.
Monday, Feb. 28: Walker and Senate
Republicans direct that the capitol’s
windows be welded shut to prevent
supporters from passing food to
demonstrators inside.
When this issue went to press, the
protests continued in Madison. State
Senate Democrats remained outside
Wisconsin. The fate of Walker’s bill
is still uncertain. But several conclu-
sions have emerged as the Wisconsin
struggle developed.
Number one: The Wisconsin bat-
tle is not about a state budget crisis.
Other governors are asking public
sector unions for economic conces-
sions without trying to eliminate bar-
gaining rights. The only parts of
Walker’s bill that have an immediate
budget impact are its requirements
that public employees’ salaries be cut
in order to increase their contribution
to pension and health care. Walker
says he has to take away bargaining
rights because unions won’t agree to
those concessions, but AFSCME and
other unions have since said they
would accept those changes. Walker
A crowd estimated at 500 rallied at Directors Park in downtown Portland
Feb. 25 objecting to Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to cut collective bargaining
rights and benefits for public workers in Wisconsin.
has shown no willingness to meet
with them, or to accept the conces-
sion.
What happens in Wisconsin will
have not just practical but also sym-
bolic importance. Wisconsin was the
first state to give public workers the
right to collective bargaining. Madi-
son is the birthplace of AFSCME, the
largest union of state employees. Van
Jones, writing in the Huffington Post,
said the idealism and fighting spirit on
display in America’s heartland is a
rare, second chance for the movement
for “hope and change.”
Both sides agree that if Walker
wins passage of the bill, other gover-
nors will be emboldened to try it. The
bill’s defeat, on the other hand, could
give heart to other workers’ struggles
for justice around the country.
Above all, the strategy of Walker
and his backers is to divide American
workers and redirect their anger away
from the true culprits responsible for
their economic distress. Walker refers
to public employees as the “haves”
and private sector employees as the
“have nots.” His bill exempts police
and firefighters from the union bust-
ing. Parents are to be turned against
teachers, workers turned against their
unions, private sector workers against
public sector workers, even public
sector workers from other public sec-
tor workers.
It follows that the way to defeat the
Walker bill and others of its kind is for
workers and people from all walks of
life to unify, and to direct their atten-
tion to the real perpetrators of the cri-
sis.
The National AFL-CIO is calling
on union members to connect to the
campaign at www.aflcio.org. The Wis-
consin AFL-CIO has set up a Worker
Defense Fund; contributions can be
made online at www.wisaflcio.org.
ATU’s ‘dogged’ determination
Retired ATU Local 757 member Al Thomas pets Jersey during an
informational picket in downtown Portland Feb. 23 prior to a TriMet board
of directors meeting. Also pictured are Jersey’s owner, Jeff Hunt, and TriMet
mechanic Andy Heesacker. Transit workers and their allies have been
picketing board meetings for several months now trying to persuade the
governor-appointees to direct TriMet General Manager Neil McFarlane to
rescind his unilateral implementation of higher health insurance co-payments.
The union says those are mandatory subjects of collective bargaining and thus
his action is illegal. State law prohibits transit workers from striking. Contract
disputes are settled by binding arbitration. ATU has filed two unfair labor
practice complaints, which won’t be heard until mid-May. Binding arbitration
won’t take place until the ULPs are settled. “As I have said time and time
again, we are ready to drop the ULPs and move immediately to binding
arbitration once TriMet rescinds its unlawful implementation,” said ATU
Local 757 President Jon Hunt. TriMet has yet to do so.
PAGE 12
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
MARCH 4, 2011