APRIL 1, 2011:NWLP
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3/29/11
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MEETING NOTICES
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Volume 112
Number 7
April 1, 2011
Portland, Oregon
GOP mounting attacks on unions nationwide
Remember the union picket line slogan, “Take one of us on,
take all of us on?” This year, statehouse Republicans across the
country are giving new meaning to that: They appear to have re-
solved to “take all of us on.” Around the country, bills are being
pushed to strip collective bargaining rights from public employ-
ees, eliminate the prevailing wage and project labor agreements
for construction workers, hamper union dues collection, and
eliminate wage scales and seniority protections. Most of the Re-
publican governors and majority leaders didn’t campaign on
union-busting, but they’re going to extraordinary lengths to seize
this moment to weaken and destroy unions.
Here are some state-by-state highlights:
IDAHO
A bill stripping Idaho teachers of most of their collective bar-
gaining rights was signed into law March 17 by Gov. Butch Ot-
ter. The bill limits collective bargaining to compensation
(salaries and benefits), limits the length of contracts to one year,
and allows school boards to impose their terms if no agreement
is reached by mid-June. It eliminates “evergreen” clauses from
labor agreements; requires unions to document that they repre-
sent over 50 percent of employees before bargaining can begin;
requires labor negotiations to be conducted in public meetings;
eliminates continuing contracts and puts all teachers on one- or
two- year contracts; eliminates seniority as a factor in layoff de-
cisions; and requires performance evaluations to include feed-
back from parents and objective measures of growth in student
achievement. Opponents of the bill filed initial paperwork with
the secretary of state and will decide by mid-April whether to
ask voters to overturn the law via referendum.
To get on the 2012 general election ballot, they would have to
turn in petitions with signatures of 47,432 Idaho voters no more
than 60 days following the end of the legislative session. Mean-
while, other bills heading to passage would set up a teacher merit
pay program, and require districts to buy a laptop computer for
every high school student, without providing any state money
to pay for that.
MAINE
Republican Gov. Paul LePage last weekend removed a 36-
foot mural depicting the state’s labor history from the Depart-
ment of Labor headquarters. The 11-panel piece in part depicts
a 1986 paper mill strike and “Rosie the Riveter” at Bath Iron
Works. Artist Judy Taylor won a 2007 competition to create the
mural to depict the “History of Labor in the State of Maine.”
Further, the names of conference rooms are being changed to
make them more “business friendly.” One of the room names
being changed is the “Perkins Room,” named for Frances
Perkins, the first female secretary of labor and promoter of New
Deal policies that improved workers’ rights on the job. Perkins
championed labor reforms after the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire
that resulted in the deaths of 146 garment workers in New York
City. March 25 was the 100th anniversary of that tragedy.
OHIO
Republican Gov. John Kasich, elected in November with 49
percent of the vote, is pushing legislation to decimate public em-
ployee collective bargaining rights. It would end public em-
ployees’ right to negotiate pensions and health benefits. Public
worker strikes would be banned, and workers would face fines
and be docked two days pay for every day they participate in a
strike. The bill would do away with binding arbitration as alter-
native to strikes for police and firefighters. It would let elected
officials impose their contract offers when negotiations break
down. It would replace salary schedules based on step increases
(Turn to Page 4)
Buy America policy boosts manufacturing; more needed
United Streetcar production manager Skender (Skip) Nezaj (wearing hard hat), explains the production process of
the only American-made streetcar to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood during a press conference March
21 at the Clackamas, Oregon, manufacturing plant. With them to the left are Oregon Congressmen Earl Blumenauer
and Peter DeFazio. Also pictured is United Streetcar President Chandra Brown (behind Blumenauer).
Union ironworkers and electricians
at United Streetcar were in the media
spotlight March 21 as U.S. Transporta-
tion Secretary Ray LaHood stopped by
the Clackamas, Oregon, facility to pro-
mote American competitiveness and
job growth in the global transit market-
place.
“Out-innovating and out-building
the rest of the world provides a clear
path toward winning the future,” La-
Hood said. “And it’s exciting for me to
see that vision already coming to life
(here).”
About 100 people attended the me-
dia event coordinated by Apollo Al-
liance, a coalition of labor, business,
environmental, and community leaders
who promote clean energy job creation.
Among them were U.S. congressmen
Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio, and
Kurt Schrader; Portland Mayor Sam
Adams; and Oregon AFL-CIO Secre-
tary-Treasurer Barbara Byrd, who is
head of Oregon Apollo Alliance.
United Streetcar — a wholly owned
subsidiary of Oregon Iron Works, Inc.
— is the only manufacturer of modern
streetcars in the United States. Cars are
built by members of Iron Workers
Shopmen’s Local 516 and the Interna-
tional Brotherhood of Electrical Work-
ers Local 48, and are Buy America
compliant, which means at least 70 per-
cent of the components are domesti-
cally produced. The U.S. content could
soon reach 90 percent thanks to more
federal grants.
“United Streetcar is a perfect exam-
ple of how good public policy can not
only create jobs, but also re-create an
entire manufacturing sector,” said
United Streetcar President Chandra
Brown. “Our story tells exactly how the
private sector and the federal govern-
ment can partner to grow the economy
together.”
According to Apollo Alliance,
America has sent roughly $10 billion
overseas since 2005 to purchase public
transit equipment. Apollo Alliance es-
timates that $40 billion per year of fed-
eral investment in public transit and
rail, coupled with the right policies,
could create 3.7 million American jobs
— 600,000 in the manufacturing sec-
tor alone — and begin to meet the cur-
rently estimated $77 billion that is
needed just to bring existing systems
up to good repair.
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