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AFL-CIO’s Union Summer returns to Portland
Five PSU students
take part in national
AFL-CIO’s summer
internship program
Portland has been selected one of
eight cities to host Union Summer, a
10-week national AFL-CIO internship
program for college students.
Staff of the national AFL-CIO Or-
ganizing Institute recruited 45 college
student interns, who are taking part in
local organizing campaigns in Los An-
geles, Milwaukee, Washington, D.C.,
New Orleans, Ft. Lauderdale, Charlotte,
Twin Cities, and Portland.
Their first week, June 13 to 17, was
spent in orientation in Washington,
D.C., where they met with AFL-CIO
Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler and
Washington, D.C. Central Labor Coun-
cil President Joslyn Williams and
learned about organizing and one-on-
one communication from national
AFL-CIO staff.
The interns receive a $350-a-week
stipend for participation — plus travel,
lodging, and meals while they’re in
D.C. To reduce expenses, the program
recruited interns in the cities they’ll be
working in. So recruiters from the na-
tional AFL-CIO spent a week at Port-
JULY 1, 2011
land State University, working with pro-
fessors and giving class presentations.
As a result, three PSU juniors and two
graduating seniors are taking part — Jil-
lian Balderson, Tiffany Dollar, Kelsey
Jorgenson, Lolita Lincoln, and Patrice
Mays.
Jorgensen is working with Commu-
nication Workers of America Local
7901 in its campaign to get a first con-
tract for workers at Dosha Salon Spa.
Dollar is aiding the Oregon School Em-
ployees Association in a widening dis-
pute with multinational school bus con-
tractor First Student. Balderson,
Lincoln, and Mays are helping Oregon
AFSCME on an organizing campaign.
Lincoln, a Seattle native, says the
controversies across the nation over ed-
S TAT OF THE M ONTH
How broken has the “alternative
minimum tax” become? Congress
created this tax over four decades ago
to ensure that America’s rich, after
loopholes, pay at least some of their
income in federal income tax. In
2008, new IRS data show, 10,824 tax-
payers reported over $200,000 in in-
come and paid no taxes on that in-
come either to Uncle Sam or any
other country.
ucation and teachers’ rights like the bat-
tle in Wisconsin caused her to want to
find out more about how the union
movement affects people’s daily lives.
“No matter if you’re a nurse or a
doctor or a teacher, no matter whoever
you are, we’re all just one community
and it’s important for me to be part of a
movement that empowers people,” Lin-
coln said.
On Aug. 18, the interns will return to
Washington, D.C, for a debrief.
NALC food drive collects 70.6
million pounds nationwide
The National Association of Letter
Carriers’ (NALC) annual “Stamp Out
Hunger” food drive — the biggest sin-
gle food drive in the U.S. — collected
70.6 million pounds of food nationwide
on May 14, just short of the all-time
yearly record set in 2010, the union
said.
NALC President Fredric Rolando
thanked postal customers for chipping
in so generously and his union’s mem-
bers for collecting the food. It went to
local food pantries, soup kitchens and
similar food services. Some 50 million
people, one-third of them children, de-
pend on those organizations.
“Six days a week, Letter Carriers see
first-hand the needs in communities.
We’re privileged to be able to help the
needy and to lead an effort that brings
out the best in so many Americans,”
Rolando said. “The slight downturn is
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
related to the tough economy, which
makes the drive all the more important.”
That’s especially true in summer
months, when schools are closed and
federally-provided breakfasts and
lunches are unavailable for needy chil-
dren, added NALC Community Serv-
ice Director Linda Giordano, the food
drive coordinator.
Preliminary union figures show
NALC West Coast Florida Branch 1477
led all branches, collecting 1,770,814
pounds of food. It was followed by
Branch 599 in Tampa (1,729,382
pounds), Branch 458 in Oklahoma City
(1,485,118), Branch 3 in Buffalo
(1,383,220), and Branch 1100 in Gar-
den Grove, Calif. (1,112,083). NALC
Branch 82 in Portland brought in
557,513 pounds of food. Throughout
Oregon and Southwest Washington, 1.4
million pounds of food was collected.
Motorcycle poker
run fundraiser for
Guide Dogs Aug. 27
The 5th annual Guide Dogs Dash
motorcycle poker run will be held Sat-
urday, Aug. 27. The event, sponsored
by Machinists Lodge 63, will start
from 8:30 to 10 a.m. at Pro Caliber
Motorsports, 10703 NE Fourth Plain
Road,Vancouver, and finish at Love
Leathers Outpost in Ridgefield. Riders.
Registration is $25 per rider and $10
per passenger.
All proceeds go to Guide Dogs of
America.
For more information, go on line to
www.iamll64.org.
Guide Dogs golf
tourney Sept. 12
The 23rd annual Machinists District
W24 Guide Dogs of America Golf
Tournament is slated for Monday, Sept.
12, at Heron Lakes Golf Club in Port-
land. Tee-off is at 8:30 a.m.
Corporate and union sponsorships
are available starting at $250 and top-
ping out at $1,000. Entry to the golf
tournament is $125 per golfer.
All proceeds benefit Guide Dogs of
America.
For more information, contact Dan
Sass at 503-238-5550 or John Hall at
503-449-0969.
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