April 15, 2011:NWLP
4/12/11
10:17 AM
Page 11
Listen Schrader, Wyden — jobs flee U.S. in the name of ‘free’ trade
To The Editoir:
While driving by The Heritage
House last week I was surprised to see
a large vocal demonstration against
Rep. Kurt Schrader, who was hosting a
fund raiser there. What surprised me
was that the demonstrators were
protesting his position on the Korea
Free Trade Act (he is “leaning towards
supporting” it) and I thought that issue
had been resolved last year.
So I went to a town hall meeting
hosted by the congressman the next
day and arrived just in time to pose a
question. I identified myself as a mem-
ber of the state committee of the Ore-
gon Working Families Party who
worked on the nomination’s commit-
tee last year for political candidates
seeking our party’s endorsement. Rep.
Schrader had submitted a written ques-
tionnaire in which he indicated that he
would not support the Korea Free
Trade Act as written. He took issue
with that part of the treaty relating to
“financial takings” and domestic sov-
ereignty.
As written, the Korea Free Trade
Act grants investor-to-state rights that
transcend U.S. and, for that matter, Ko-
rean laws; if a Korean investor thought
he’d sustained financial losses as a re-
sult of, say, Oregon’s land use policies,
he could seek redress from an interna-
Building Trades’ Ayers pulls no
punches blasting politicians
WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI) —
Pulling no punches, AFL-CIO Build-
ing and Construction Trades Depart-
ment President Mark Ayers blasted
politicians of both parties for not sup-
porting workers, while strongly de-
fending the Davis-Bacon Act, project
labor agreements, and other pro-
worker laws as good for workers and
the vitality of the country.
Ayers’ remarks came in a keynote
address April 4 at the Department’s
3,000-person legislative conference.
His comments were timely, as a day
later an influential group of House Re-
publicans announced an agenda for a
concerted campaign to kill laws it
deems “unconstitutional, anti-free-en-
terprise, or otherwise counter to eco-
nomic, national security, or social con-
servatism.” Atop their list was repeal of
the 80-year-old Davis-Bacon Act.
Delegates spent the last day of their
conference, April 6, lobbying lawmak-
ers to preserve Davis-Bacon and
...US Bank
(From Page 5)
“US Bank ReliaCards are a good
deal for Oregon and for Oregonians
who use them,” asserts a fact sheet put
out by Treasurer Ted Wheeler’s office
in anticipation of the demonstrations.
They may be an even better deal for US
Bank, which got access to $1.05 billion
in funds last year through the program.
In tight budget times, the state is
right to look for savings in its contracts,
Unger told the Labor Press. But if it’s
going to look at labor contracts for sav-
ings, it must also scrutinize business
contracts, Unger said.
According to the state treasurers of-
fice, US Bank was selected through a
competitive bidding process in late
2004. Contract performance is re-
viewed at least annually. The current
contract expires Dec. 31, 2011.
SEIU plans to raise the issue at an
April 18 US Bank shareholders meet-
APRIL 15, 2011
PLAs, among other issues, including
retaining regulatory powers of the Oc-
cupational Safety and Health Admin-
istration.
OSHA rules are needed, delegates
said, because construction is still one
of the most hazardous industries in the
United States, accounting for 60 per-
cent of OSHA inspections. Their leg-
islative handbook noted the average
fine when a worker is killed on the job
is $1,050. House Republicans want to
cut OSHA funding by $99 million, or
more than one-sixth.
In his speech, Ayers warned dele-
gates that the radical right of the Re-
publican Party have the political juice
to accomplish their goals.
“Anti-union conservatives have as
many elected lawmakers” at all levels
of government as they did before the
Great Depression, he said.
“The radical worldview that is hell-
bent on purging America of unions be-
lieves in individual responsibility
alone,” Ayers declared. “The radical
right does not believe government
should ever help its people ... unless of
course those citizens just happen to be
their wealthy political benefactors who
are clamoring for more subsidies or tax
cuts. But things like prevailing wage
laws, project labor agreements, trade
adjustment assistance and safety stan-
dards are on the chopping block.
Why? Because they are actually de-
signed to protect and assist middle
class working America.”
Ayers also faulted the Democrats
for not defending workers. He cited “a
sense of ambivalence” among Democ-
rats about labor’s concerns.
“Sure, they are jumping on the
bandwagon now ... But it’s fair to ask
where the hell they have been for the
last three years, not to mention the last
30 years? … In recent years, we have
been viewed by some within the Dem-
ocratic Party as nothing more than a
source of funds and votes,” Ayers said.
Those who “want to turn this nation
around must openly embrace unions as
the centerpiece of that movement.”
tional tribunal and the American tax-
payer would have to foot the bill.
When I questioned the congress-
man about this prior committment, he
said he’d been advised that that lan-
guage was no longer in the treaty. For
the record, the treaty’s original word-
ing is unchanged since President Bush
signed it three years ago; perhaps it’s
time for the congressman to take his
advisers to the woodshed.
During U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden’s re-
cent round of town hall meetings he
was repeatedly challenged for his sup-
port of Korea Free Trade Act. One time
a constituent asked the audience: “Is
there ANYBODY in the room who
thinks the North American Free Trade
Agreement and the Central American
Free Trade Agreement have been good
for America?” The silence was deafen-
ing, yet the good senator continues to
support the treaty.
The message here for both Sen.
Wyden and Congressman Schrader is
listen to your constituents. We are the
unemployed and underemployed who
have watched our jobs flee the country
in the name of “free” trade. We are the
small business owners whose commu-
nities can no longer support them. Al-
though we don’t have the money and
lobbyists to control the debate, WE are
your constituents, not the stateless
multinational corporations and their
Wall Street financiers who are the only
entities that profit from such trade
deals.
Ray Kenny
IBEW Local 48
Portland
O PEN
F ORUM
Rallies are great; next step
should be a general strike
To The Editor:
I greatly appreciate the statement by
Jeff Johnson in the April 1 Northwest
Labor Press and applaud his leadership
in bringing unions together as a fighting
force against the horrible attacks on us
made in the guise of budget cuts.
Thanks also to grassroots commu-
nity groups such as Sisters Organize for
Survival and the Olympia Fair Budget
Coalition that pushed for the huge and
invigorating community-labor rallies in
Olympia on the Days of Action.
As a next step, I’d love to see the
community-labor coalition continue by
holding public meetings where folks
can plan civil disobedience to stop the
draconian cuts in services. Building for
a general strike should be a fruitful
way to get the attention of the powers
that be in both political parties.
And, I’d like to see a constitutional
challenge to the new law requiring a
two-thirds majority to raise taxes.
Legislators are hiding behind it
rather than taxing the rich folks and
corporations.
Henry Noble
IAM 751
Retired
Seattle
Q UOTE OF THE M ONTH
“The rich are always going to
say that, you know, just give us
more money and we’ll go out and
spend more and then it will all
trickle down to the rest of you. But
that has not worked the last 10
years, and I hope the American
public is catching on.”
W ARREN B UFFETT
CEO OF B ERKSHIRE H ATHAWAY I NC .
Who’s On Our Side?
By Tom Chamberlain
M
any look at the anti-worker
agenda being advanced
throughout America in states like
Wisconsin, Ohio, Maine, and Idaho
and think that it could never happen
in Oregon.
This anti-worker agenda, which
vilifies public employees, is focused
on the elimination of worker power
and furthers an agenda that continues
to shift wealth from the poor and the
dwindling middle class to the
wealthy. Some legislation will elimi-
nate workers’ ability to band together
and bargain. Others will prohibit
unionized construction jobs. No mat-
ter what, it shifts wealth. This isn’t a
state-by-state agenda but rather a na-
tional effort funded by deep-pocketed
backers such as the Koch brothers.
These funders like to stay behind the
scenes: letting others such as the Tea
Party, Americans for Progress, Free-
dom Works, the Heritage Founda-
tion, and the American Legislative
Exchange Council form a shadow
federation of think-tanks and activist
organizations.
This shadow federation doesn’t
just develop and work to pass anti-
worker legislation but has collabo-
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
rated with the corporate media to
drive the national debate toward a
pro-corporate solution.
It isn’t a coincidence that both
federal and state deficit debates are
focused on cutting public services
that are vital to families and to the
survival of the middle class. Educa-
tion, job creation, health care, social
security, and services that provide for
the elderly and less fortunate are tar-
geted for cuts. Those who provide
such services are vilified while those
who brought about this recession that
created our current revenue crisis are
not held accountable.
The current worldwide recession
is the direct result of a corporate fi-
nancial strategy based on fraud and
abuse. In 2008, when their folly
brought the world’s economy to the
edge of an economic abyss, taxpay-
ers bailed them out. Three years af-
ter the bailout, profits are at record
highs and the stock market is close to
pre-recession levels. Isn’t it ironic
that while the deficit focuses on serv-
ice cuts and the reduction of public
employee wages and slashing of ben-
efit packages at state and federal lev-
els, billions are given away to corpo-
rate America? The media is buying
into the elite’s portrayal of this crisis
as a choice of which services to slash,
rather than holding corporations ac-
countable for the mess they have cre-
ated.
During the 2011 Oregon legisla-
tive session, anti-worker legislation
similar to Wisconsin’s has been in-
troduced. And just like Wisconsin,
the focus of our state budget debate
is on cuts while at the same time giv-
ing billions to corporations under the
guise of job creation with little guar-
antees or safeguards that jobs will ac-
tually be created. Just like Wisconsin,
Oregon’s corporate media writes sto-
ries that perpetuate a corporate
agenda. For those who think what oc-
curred in Wisconsin could never oc-
cur in Oregon, it already has begun.
And unless we stop it, the results
won’t be on our side.
Tom Chamberlain is president of
the Oregon AFL-CIO.
PAGE 11