Free work-themed comedy
show in Portland Feb. 19
Who’s On Our Side?
By Tom Chamberlain
M
any, including myself, will
look back on the compromises
made to reauthorize the Federal Avi-
ation Administration (FAA), includ-
ing a provision that makes it more
difficult for a worker to join a union,
as another example of the old idiom:
“Democrats love unions at election
time but are more than willing to
throw workers under the bus be-
tween elections.” Time after time,
some Democrats have been quick to
ignore workers and the unions that
represent them. The failure of the
U.S. Congressional Democrats to
prioritize the Employee Free Choice
Act in 2010 is the perfect example.
While many Democrats are, at
best, passive on our issues, the alter-
natives can be far worse. If you dis-
agree, you haven’t been watching
the 2012 Republican presidential de-
bates. The candidates all seem to be
running on platforms that would
decimate unions as we know them,
reminiscent of the anti-union legisla-
tion that has been passed or intro-
duced in state after state.
Given the choice between back-
ing out of the political process and
letting these candidates destroy the
middle class, I’ll take the passive
supporters.
But there is another option.
Truth be told, I don’t care about
political party. I only care whether
or not a candidate supports workers,
believes that workers have an unfet-
tered right to choose to join a union,
and understands that the wealth im-
balance between the 1% and the
99ers is destroying the middle class
and pushing the poor to the brink.
There are politicians who care.
U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-
Ore.) is one of them. When he
served in the Oregon Legislature he
not only supported workers, he was
a champion. As speaker of the Ore-
gon House in 2007, he ushered
through the most progressive work-
ers’ agenda in the nation. As a U.S.
senator, Merkley has become an
even stronger advocate for workers,
and he and his staff regularly com-
municate with workers in Oregon.
I cannot think of a major issue
that impacts workers — whether it is
trade, implementing or removing
tariffs, or the recent FAA budget,
where I haven’t received a call from
Sen. Merkley or his staff asking for
our input in his decision making
process. Congressmen Earl Blume-
nauer, Peter DeFazio and Kurt
Schrader maintain similar relation-
ships with Oregon workers.
Sen. Merkley’s honesty and re-
spect for Oregon workers is clear.
What he tells you in Oregon is re-
flected in his positions and votes in
Washington, D.C. When he voted
against the FAA budget because it
degraded workers’ rights, he went
against U.S. Senate Democratic
leadership. He went against Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid and
stood up for workers’ rights. His po-
sition took courage and a deep-
seated belief that workers aren’t bar-
gaining chips in a high stakes politi-
cal poker game.
To elect more Jeff Merkleys, we
cannot afford to endorse candidates
based solely on a political party. We
must look at candidates’ history and
their positions. When candidates re-
fuse to state, on the record, their po-
sition on workers’ issues, they do not
deserve our endorsements.
Last November I was reading
questionnaires from candidates in
House District 36. One candidate
answered the bulk of the questions
with “yes” or “no” responses. While
her responses weren’t anti-worker,
they lacked commitment. Her oppo-
nent, Jennifer Williamson, wrote
elaborate answers and committed to
sponsor key bills. Williamson’s
commitment to workers was evident.
As union members, our endorse-
ments and our political campaigns
are often the margin of victory in
close races. We must support pro-
worker candidates and hold elected
officials accountable, not just for
their votes, but for the relationships
they build with Oregon workers.
The candidates who will be on
our side will be ready to make the
extra effort.
Tom Chamberlain is president of
the Oregon AFL-CIO.
Washington State Labor Council
backs Rep. Inslee for governor
The early endorsement
comes as Republican
McKenna leads in the
polls
OLYMPIA — The Washington
State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, has
endorsed Democrats Jay Inslee for
Washington governor, Bob Ferguson
for attorney general, and Maria
Cantwell for re-election as U.S. sena-
tor.
The decision to endorse was rati-
fied by delegates to a Feb. 9 legisla-
tive conference in Olympia, and
comes quite early in the election cal-
endar: Candidates won’t officially file
for office until May 14, and the pri-
mary is not until August. Washington
has an open “top-two” primary, in
which the top two vote-getters, re-
gardless of party, advance to the No-
vember general election ballot.
Early action was taken because the
stakes are high for statewide races,
said WSLC spokesperson David
PAGE 6
Groves, and because it’s clear who
the candidates are.
State Attorney General Rob
McKenna is the only well-known Re-
publican to have announced for gov-
ernor, and several polls have shown
him to be ahead of Inslee.
Inslee, a seven-term congressman
representing the First District (North
of Seattle), has a lifetime COPE
(Committee on Political Education)
rating of 89 percent from the national
AFL-CIO. [One area of disagree-
ment: Inslee, like all of Washington’s
Congressional delegation, is a free
trader. He voted for NAFTA in 1993
and all but two NAFTA-style trade
treaties since then.] He ran for Wash-
ington governor once before, in 1996,
and came in fifth in the Democratic
primary.
Chris Gregoire, Washington’s cur-
rent governor, is not running for a
third term. Gregoire is a Democrat.
The race for Washington attorney
general will be a match between two
members of the King County Coun-
cil: Ferguson, a Democrat; and Rea-
gan Dunn, a Republican. Dunn, son
of former Washington Congress-
woman Jennifer Dunn, is named for
then-California governor Ronald Rea-
gan.
Groves said the labor movement
hasn’t always considered the attorney
general’s office as a priority, but
McKenna’s two-term tenure has
shown what a labor opponent can do
in that office: He joined a multi-state
lawsuit seeking to overturn health
care reform legislation signed into
law in 2010 by President Obama and
tried to block an automatic minimum
wage increase that voters approved.
Cantwell is not expected to have a
tough time against her opponent, a
one-term Republican state representa-
tive from Eastern Washington.
Groves said no Republican candi-
dates accepted WSLC’s invitation to
speak to delegates or returned WSLC’s
candidate questionnaire.
WSLC will decide further political
endorsements at a convention in May.
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
In coordination with the new Work
Connects Us All media campaign, the
Oregon AFL-CIO is sponsoring a free
comedy show Sunday, Feb. 19, at He-
lium Comedy Club, 1510 SE 9th Ave.,
Portland. The show starts at 7 p.m.
The national touring company
Laughing Liberally and some of Port-
land’s own local talent will joke about
work, politics (and other topics that
EE
R
F
usually make you groan).
Laughing Liberally features come-
dians from Comedy Central (Negin
Farsad), Showtime (Lee Camp), and
MSNBC (Katie Halper).
Admission is free, but you must be
21 or over to get in. Food and drinks
will be available for purchase.
For more information, call 503-232-
1195.
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FEBRUARY 17, 2012