...ELECTION RESULTS: Bonamici wins primary
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Workers, Musicians, and Heat & Frost
Insulators. Witt, a former Oregon AFL-
CIO secretary-treasurer, listed support
from Machinists, Steelworkers,
Roofers, Bricklayers, Carpenters, Pulp
and Paper Workers, Amalgamated
Transit Union, Office and Professional
Employees, Stage Employees, and
UFCW Local 555. The Oregon AFL-
CIO stayed out of the primary after no
candidate was able to get a two-thirds
backing at a September convention.
Bonamici will face Republican Rob
Cornilles in a Jan. 31, 2012, special
election to replace Democrat David
Wu, who resigned mid-term.
Days after the election, both Witt
and Avakian endorsed Bonamici, with
Witt calling on organized labor to do
the same.
“It is imperative that this Congres-
sional District continues to be repre-
sented by a Democrat — and that De-
mocrat is Suzanne Bonamici. I spent
over three months campaigning with
Sen. Bonamici as an opponent in this
special primary election, and while we
may not agree on every issue and may
AFSCME backs Oregon City commissioner
The union that represents Oregon
City public employees wants to retain
Jim Nicita as a city commissioner.
Nicita is facing a recall effort
spurred by his opposition to the pro-
posed The Rivers mall in Oregon City.
“Jim Nicita has always been a
champion for fair labor negotiations
with our city’s workers, so of course
we commend that,” said Jake Ashen-
berner, president of AFSCME Local
350-2, which represents 70 city em-
ployees.
“Jim has shown to be a person of in-
tegrity and a watchdog for the public’s
interest — and the public’s money.
Those are the two qualities we say we
want in elected officials, so this is no
time to throw the baby out with the
bathwater over a single issue, despite
emotions running high on both sides,”
Ashenberner said.
differ in style, in my opinion, she is the
clear choice. I wholeheartedly support
and endorse her.”
On Nov. 14, the Northwest Oregon
Labor Council (NOLC) Executive
Board voted to recommend to the Ore-
gon AFL-CIO endorsing Bonamici.
In Clackamas County, labor-
backed Measure 3-388 passed by a sig-
nificant margin, but the measure won’t
become law because a competing
measure — 3-386 — received more
votes.
Measure 3-386 requires a county-
wide vote before any new urban re-
newal areas may be created in unincor-
porated parts of the county. The
Clackamas County Commission re-
ferred an alternative measure to voters,
which would have put any new urban
renewal areas before local voters (not
the entire county). The Columbia Pa-
cific Building and Construction Trades
Council and NOLC endorsed the local
vote measure.
With the vast majority of votes
counted, 51,483 voters supported
Measure 3-386, and 47,029 voters sup-
ported Measure 3-388.
Mark your calendar now for labor law conference
Mark your calendars for Friday, Jan.
27, date of the 16th annual Oregon La-
bor Law Conference.
The conference is for business man-
agers, business agents and union offi-
cers. The goal is to provide information
that will help them do their jobs better
and to help avoid legal liability.
The focus this year is on the basic
mechanics of running a union. There
will be classes on arbitration, collective
bargaining, the National Labor Rela-
tions Board, the Oregon Employment
Relations Board; classes on how to
conduct union elections and required
recordkeeping; a class on the world af-
ter Wisconsin; and classes on workers’
compensation and Social Security.
The conference is sponsored by
IBEW Local 48, Oregon AFL-CIO,
Northwest Oregon Labor Council, the
Labor Education and Research Center
of the University of Oregon, the Ore-
gon and Columbia Pacific building and
construction trades councils, and the
Center for Worker Rights.
For registration information, go to
www.laborlawconference.com or con-
tact Norman Malbin by email at Nor-
man@ IBEW48.com, or call 503 889-
3669; or Kristi Straight by email at
Kristi@IBEW48.com, or call 503-889-
3660.
Voters did approve renewal of a la-
bor-backed public safety levy funding
the Clackamas County Sheriff’s office,
and a union-supported bond measure to
raise $8.5 million to build a new police
station in West Linn.
A labor-endorsed five-year local op-
tion levy to support Beaverton schools
was narrowly rejected by voters.
O HIO ‘ CITIZEN ’ S VETO ’
Ohio voters resoundingly over-
turned a law that stripped public em-
ployees of collective bargaining rights:
2,145,042 Ohioans (61.33 percent)
voted against Senate Bill 5, while
1,352,366 voted for it.
SB 5, which passed the Ohio Senate
by a single vote in March, eliminated
the collective bargaining rights of some
350,000 public employees. Massive
crowds turned out to oppose the law,
which was a priority for Republican
Gov. John Kasich. A union-backed
coalition then collected 1.3 million sig-
natures to refer the law to voters, and
mounted a massive campaign against it.
“Ohio sent a message to every
politician out there: Go in and make
war on your employees rather than
make jobs with your employees, and
you do so at your own peril,” said AFL-
CIO President Richard Trumka. “[This]
victory represents a turning point in our
collective work to protect good jobs,
working families, and workplace rights.
But it’s more than that. It’s a long-over-
due return to common sense.”
‘Holiday Party’
Dec. 3 in Salem
SALEM —The 71st annual “Holi-
day Party for Children” will be held at
Saturday, Dec. 3, at the Elsinore The-
atre, 170 High St. SE, Salem.
The free event, sponsored by the
Marion, Polk, Yamhill Counties Labor
Council, will feature holiday songs by
Norman Sylvester and Friends, a show-
ing of the movie Rio, a visit from Santa
Claus, and a free goody bag. Sylvester
recently was inducted into the Oregon
Music Hall of Fame. He is a longtime
member of Musicians Local 99 and a
retired Teamster.
Doors open at 9:45 a.m.,
LCSA’s Yule party
slated for Dec. 17
Labor’s Community Service Agency
(LCSA) and the Northwest Oregon La-
bor Council will hold their 15th annual
Presents from Partners Holiday Toy
Party Saturday, Dec. 17, at Sheet Metal
Workers Local 16 Training Center,
2379 NE 178th Ave., Portland.
Admission is by ticket only. Forms
will be available for union locals to fill
out referrals to the party. LCSA then
will send out tickets.
A toy drive is currently under way to
collect toys for distribution at the party.
Toys will accepted now through Dec.
15.
Call LCSA at 503-231-4962 to
make arrangements for drop off.
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NOVEMBER 18, 2011
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