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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (May 20, 2011)
May 20, 2011_nWLP 5/17/11 9:34 aM Page 3 Card to lead Letter Carriers state association Portland letter carrier Kevin Card won election as president of the Na- tional Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Oregon State Association. Card, a mem- ber of NALC Branch 82, out- polled former vice president Linda Smith at KEVIN CARD the group’s April 29-30 convention. Smith also is a member of Branch 82. The state association coordinates politics and education for about 3,300 urban letter carriers in NALC locals around the state. The term of office is two years. The presidency is a less- than-part-time assignment, and Card will remain on staff as secretary treas- urer of NALC Branch 82. Card’s predecessor at the state as- sociation, Steve Devereux of Eugene- Springfield Branch 916, is retiring and did not seek re-election. Convention delegates also elected Rickie Horton of Branch 916 as vice president and Michael Parrish of Branch 82 as assistant secretary-treas- urer and newsletter editor. Card, 54, serves on the Oregon AFL-CIO Executive Board and is the Oregon coordinator for NALC’s an- nual Stamp Out Hunger food drive. Trade deficit with Mexico has cost 682,900 U.S. jobs A total of 682,900 U.S. jobs have been lost or displaced since 1994 as a result of the U.S. trade deficit with Mex- ico, a new Economic Policy Institute (EPI) study finds. All 50 states, the District of Colum- bia, and Puerto Rico have seen jobs lost or displaced to Mexico. “Heading South: U.S.-Mexico Trade and Job Displacement After NAFTA,” by EPI economist Robert Scott, finds that the 10 states that have experienced the largest share of jobs displaced by trade with Mexico are, in order: Michi- gan, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Ten- nessee, New Hampshire, Illinois, Ala- bama, Massachusetts and Texas. The 10 states that have the largest number of jobs displaced due to Mexico trade deficits are, in order: California, Texas, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Indiana and North Carolina. Oregon shed 8,700 jobs while Wash- ington lost 10,800 jobs, the report said. Most of the jobs displaced nationally — 415,000 jobs, or 60.8 percent of the total — have been in manufacturing. Most affected have been computer and electronic parts (22 percent) and motor vehicles and parts (15.8 percent). The trade deficit with Mexico, which totals $97.2 billion, developed after the North American Free Trade Agreement took effect. In 1993, the year before NAFTA was implemented, the U.S. had a $1.6 billion trade surplus with Mex- ico, which supported 29,400 U.S. jobs. Keep Social Security out of deficit talks WASHINGTON, D.C. — When they’re not busy trying to privatize So- cial Security, congressional Republi- cans clamor to cut Social Security in the name of deficit reduction. Pointing out that “Social Security is not respon- sible for the deficits we face,” Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said Social Se- curity should not be on the table in up- coming budget deficit talks. In a Senate Finance Committee hear- ing May 10, Baucus, the committee chair, said the Social Security Trust Fund has a $2.6 trillion surplus and will pay full benefits through 2037 and “even af- ter that, payroll tax revenues will be able to pay 78 percent of benefits.” Baucus said the system is not in cri- sis. “It is an issue that should be ad- dressed sooner, rather than later ... but the current situation does not necessi- tate rushed or severe action.” Nancy Altman, co-chair of the Strengthen Social Security, Don’t Cut It coalition, told the committee, “the law is clear. Social Security shall not be counted for purposes of the federal budget. The injection of Social Secu- rity into the broader deficit debate ob- scures the fact that by law, Social Se- curity lacks the authority to add to the federal deficit,” she continued. “Social Security lacks the legal authority to deficit-spend, and so, cannot run a deficit. Because it cannot run a deficit, it cannot add to the federal deficit.” April 2011 A list of Oregon and Southwest Washington workplaces deciding whether to be union-represented – as reported by the National Labor Relations Board and the Oregon Employment Relations Board. Voting in union elections Date Workplace (Location) Union 4/6 RAB Communications (Portland) IBEW Local 48 Yes No 19 49 Unionizing by majority sign-up Date Workplace (Location) Union Number of workers in unit 4/22 Portland State University Performing Arts (Portland) IATSE Local 28 8 Requesting a union election Workplace (Location) Union Number of workers in unit City of Cornelius police (Cornelius) National FOP vs. Cornelius Police Officers Association Ridgeline Montessori Public Charter School (Eugene) AFT Local 6432 DECERT Carlton Police Department (Carlton) Yamhill-Carlton Employees Assn. DECERT Providence St. Vincent postpartum nurses (Portland) Oregon Nurses Association Legacy Emanuel interpreters (Portland) SEIU Local 49 Legacy Emanuel patient access reps (Portland) SEIU Local 49 Top Notch Electric residential electricians (Portland) IBEW Local 280 DECERT Hilton Vancouver Washington (Vancouver) UNITE HERE Local 9 DECERT Rogue Ales Brewery (Newport) Teamsters Local 324 Morrison Child & Family Services (Portland) SEIU Local 503 Paragon Systems (Ore./SW Wash.) Assn. of Security Profs. vs. SPFPA 11 17 2 3 3 40 7 117 24 181 106 L EGEND : workers will be union-represented DECERT : workers will be on their own : unionized workers vote whether to go non-union “If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in the dark with a mosquito.” U NKNOWN MAY 20, 2011 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS PAGE 3
