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Who’s On Our Side?
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By Tom Chamberlain
I
have run, paraded and marched
countless times on the streets of
Portland. I have marched against
wars and for jobs. But never have I
experienced the interaction between
those marching and those in stalled
cars, watching from parking garages,
doorways, and apartment balconies
as I did on Oct. 6, when I joined
10,000 Oregonians marching down
those familiar Portland streets.
Bystanders in Portland always
cheer a parade or demonstration, but
not to the level they did on the 6th.
Those folks were and are engaged.
They are paying attention to what is
and isn’t happening in Washington,
D.C., and on Wall Street. They un-
derstand that our nation’s high unem-
ployment is tied directly to tax cuts
for the top 1 percent of Americans.
They know that millionaires and bil-
lionaires who refuse to pay their fair
share are blocking programs that
could not only put millions of Amer-
ican’s back to work, but at the same
time update our crumbling infra-
structure and make America more
competitive in global markets.
The 99ers aren’t a rag-tag move-
ment without a message as portrayed
by the corporate media. Their mes-
sage is simple: 1 percent of Ameri-
cans have too much wealth, and 99
percent don’t have enough. It is an
economic message that seems to res-
onate with millions of Americans
who have believed for too long that
the dream of a middle-class lifestyle
is like a fading vision from the rear
window of America — a vision of
owning a home and a car; a vision of
spending time with your family, who
were clothed and fed; a vision of sav-
ing for college, for your children’s fu-
ture or for a much needed vacation.
The 99ers give us hope. The
99ers give us a vehicle to vent our
rage against a government that has
turned its back on the poor and mid-
dle class in order to advance a politi-
cal agenda that will keep politicians
in power.
It is so easy to be fooled by the
media. They’d like us to believe that
the 99ers are limited to those few
tens, hundreds or thousands who are
sleeping in tents throughout our na-
tion. But we are the 99ers, we and
our families and friends who are los-
ing economic ground each day. The
99ers give us a chance to join what
could be a transformational move-
ment. It’s a movement that is apolit-
ical, a movement that brings attention
to the plight of shrinking middle
class. It shines a spotlight on unem-
ployment, lack of healthcare, and
homelessness. It concentrates our
anger on financial institutions whose
focus on making the quick buck has
put our people on the path of ruina-
tion.
For poor and middle class Orego-
nians and Americans, now is the time
to engage. Now is the time to lend
our support to those 99ers who oc-
cupy our cities and have the corpo-
ratist elite shaking in their boots.
Without our help, in a few days or
weeks this movement may end. The
status quo will force the 99 army
from our streets in hopes of stopping
a movement that may well be our
best chance to create a balanced eco-
nomic system that rebuilds the mid-
dle class.
By the time this article is pub-
lished, placards and signs will be
printed and distributed to show the
depth of support for the 99ers in our
community. Tune into the various
union and occupy Portland websites
for updates. As the media attempts
to destroy this movement by focus-
ing on their lack of message, under-
stand that there is a message — an
economic message about sharing the
wealth that too few enjoy, putting
Americans back to work, and hold-
ing our financial institutions account-
able for the recession they created.
We are the 99. We are the ones
who have lost the America dream and
are willing to fight to get it back.
Tom Chamberlain is president of
the Oregon AFL-CIO.
NLRB postpones final rule for
posting notice of employees’ rights
The National Labor Relations
Board (NLRB) has postponed the im-
plementation date for its new rule re-
quiring all private-sector employers to
display an 11-by-17-inch poster in-
forming workers of their rights under
the National Labor Relations Act, in-
cluding the right to unionize.
The rule was set to take effect on
Nov. 14, 2011. However, the NLRB
pushed it back by two months — to
Jan. 31, 2012 — “in order to allow for
enhanced education and outreach to
employers, particularly small and
medium sized businesses.”
As reported in the Sept. 2 Labor
Day edition of the Northwest Labor
Press, the business world flipped out
after the NLRB made the proposal,
claiming the federal agency was un-
fairly promoting unionization. The
U.S. Chamber of Commerce went so
far as to file a lawsuits seeking to block
it, alleging it oversteps the NLRB’s au-
thority.
Said AFL-CIO President Richard
Trumka: “Just as employers are re-
quired to notify their employees of
PAGE 10
their rights around health and safety,
wages and discrimination on the job,
this rule gives clear information to em-
ployees about their rights under this
fundamental labor law so that workers
are better equipped to exercise and en-
force them.”
It’s just a poster — similar to the
ones the U.S. Department of Labor re-
quires the thousands and thousands of
federal contractors to post.
Employers will not be required to
distribute the notice via e-mail, voice
mail, text messaging or related elec-
tronic communications. They simply
have to hang the poster (provided for
free of charge by the NLRB) where
they usually post notices to let workers
know what’s going on.
The NLRB says the decision to ex-
tend the rollout period followed
queries from businesses and trade or-
ganizations indicating uncertainty
about which businesses fall under the
Board’s jurisdiction, and was made “in
the interest of ensuring broad voluntary
compliance.” No other changes in the
rule, or in the form or content of the
BARGAIN COUNTER
notice, will be made.
But since establishing the new reg-
ulation, NLRB Chairwoman Wilma
Liebman departed after her term ex-
pired Aug. 27. Liebman served on the
Board for nearly 14 years under an ap-
pointment from President Clinton.
Board member Craig Becker’s term
expires at the end of this year. The for-
mer union attorney is serving under a
recess appointment from President
Obama. Republicans in the U.S. Sen-
ate have refused to confirm Becker’s
appointment.
There is one other Board nomina-
tion currently pending before the Sen-
ate for Terence F. Flynn. Another seat
is vacant with no pending nomination.
In addition to Becker, the other
Board members are Chairman Mark
Pearce, and Brian Hayes.
Without new appointees to fill those
seats, the five-member Board will be
down to just two — which does not
represent a sufficient quorum to decide
disputed cases, according to a 5-4 U.S.
Supreme Court ruling in 2010.
DEADLINE: Friday prior to publication
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NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Mon-Fri 10-7:30 Sat 10-5:30 Sun 12-6
OCTOBER 21, 2011