Inside
Meeting Notices
See
Page 6
Volume 113
Number 1
Jan. 6, 2012
Portland, Oregon
YEAR IN REVIEW:
Top labor stories of 2011
Some of the more than three dozen volunteers at the Presents for
Partners holiday party included from left to right: NOLC secretary
Karen Carlson, LCSA Executive Director Vickie Burns, Santa Claus
(played by Dave Williams of IBEW Local 48), Gina Whitlow of the
IBEW and United Workers Federal Credit Union, and Thea Stayton
and Becky Wright of the Portland Federation of School Professionals
Local 111. The kids are Stirling and Vida Walker.
Labor’s ‘Presents from Partners’
brightens the holidays for hundreds
Labor’s Community Service
Agency (LCSA) and the Northwest
Oregon Labor Council held their an-
nual “Presents from Partners” holi-
day party for children of out-of-
work union members Dec. 17 at the
Sheet Metal Workers union hall in
Northeast Portland.
More than 300 kids — boys,
girls, tweens, teens, and toddlers —
participated, with each receiving
four toys each, including some bicy-
cles. Families also enjoyed a catered
lunch and pictures with Santa Claus.
Union organizations, members,
unionized businesses and profes-
sionals that work with unions do-
nated toys and cash for the event,
said LCSA Executive Director
Mayda Mosqueda, 8, gets ready
Vickie Burns.
“The outpouring of support this to ride off on her new bicycle. She
holiday season was a gift from and is the daughter of Javier
for working people and organized Mosqueda, a member of Glass
labor,” Burns said. “It was a display Workers Local 740.
of solidarity, an inspiration, and a re-
sounding success.”
Leftover toys were donated to Toy & Joy and went to out-of-work mil-
itary families. Those arrangements were made through LCSA’s contacts
with Hire Oregon Vets and Oregon National Guard.
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
2011 was Year Three of the Great
Recession, but it may be remembered
as Year One of the Great Fightback by
working people.
On Feb. 15 — four days after peace-
ful demonstrations in Cairo toppled a
dictator — an America uprising began,
with mass protests at state capitols,
starting in Madison, Wisconsin. On
Sept. 17, the movement re-erupted, with
an “Occupy Wall Street” protest in New
York City that within two weeks had
spread worldwide.
If the mood is surlier than ever, it
may be because the economy isn’t
working out for working people. In the
United States, official unemployment
was at 8.6 percent in November, down
just 1.2 percentage points from a year
before. Bankers binged on mortgage-
backed securities, but workers have suf-
fered the resulting hangover.
Continued U.S. joblessness is also
brought on by a long-term offshoring of
production. America’s trade deficit was
topping $540 billion by year’s end —
$40 billion more than 2010 — and polls
say a majority of Americans think U.S.
trade policy is broken. But Congress
ratified three more NAFTA-style trade
deals in October — with Korea,
Panama, and Colombia. The treaties,
negotiated in the Bush years, were
pushed to a vote by President Obama.
Meanwhile, wages are stagnant, reg-
ular unleaded is selling for $3.25 a gal-
lon, and health care is more expensive
The “Spirit of Wisconsin” spread nationally, including this rally in Portland
on Feb. 25, as workers fought to maintain their right to collective bargaining.
than ever: Average annual premiums for
employer-provided full family health
insurance passed the $15,000 mark in
2011.
Still, for organized labor, 2011 was a
vindication. In Wisconsin, teachers
struck, Democratic legislators fled, and
crowds of up to 100,000 turned out —
all to oppose a Republican governor’s
plan to strip public workers of their
union rights. “Collective bargaining”
might have seemed an unlikely cause a
year before, but by the end of February,
pollsters were finding that 77 percent of
Americans think public employees
should have the same union rights as
private sector workers. In a matter of
weeks, the “Spirit of Wisconsin” spread
to every state capitol, as Americans,
mostly nonunion, turned out in solidar-
ity with beleaguered unionists under the
slogan “We are One” and “We are all
Wisconsin.”
By late October, “I am the 99 per-
cent” had replaced those slogans as the
mantra of a popular movement, and
even tiny Mosier, Oregon, population
421, had an “occupation.” Campers
around the country were mostly rousted
by local police, but participants demon-
strated a new appetite for disrupting
(Turn to Page 9)
AFL-CIO supports Bonamici in CD #1
Votes for early
endorsement of
Brad Avakian for
labor commissioner
Suzanne Bonamici, Democratic
nominee in the special election con-
gressional race in Oregon’s 1st District,
has added several labor organizations
to her list of endorsers. The special
election to succeed Democrat David
Wu, who resigned mid-term, is Jan. 31.
Her opponent is tea party Republican
Rob Cornilles.
Bonamici’s latest labor endorsement
came Dec. 16 from the Oregon AFL-
CIO Committee on Political Education
(COPE). The state labor federation rep-
resents over 225,000 workers in Ore-
gon, with 15,000 affiliated union mem-
bers in the 1st District.
Bonamici, a state senator from
Beaverton, was the top vote-getter in a
special primary election held last
month. Her primary opponents were
State Rep. Brad Witt and Labor Com-
missioner Brad Avakian. Witt is a for-
mer secretary-treasurer of the Oregon
AFL-CIO and current union rep for
United Food and Commercial Workers
Local 555. Both Brads have since en-
dorsed Bonamici.
AFL-CIO unions backing Bonam-
ici include the Oregon State Fire Fight-
ers Council; Oregon Nurses Associa-
tion; Oregon School Employees
Association (OSEA)-American Feder-
ation of Teachers (AFT); Oregon AF-
SCME Council 75; OSEA-AFT Local
(Turn to Page 4)