Coalition of Labor Union Women joins
campaign to protect reproductive rights
WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI) —
The Coalition of Labor Union Women
has become a key participant in a cam-
paign by women’s rights groups to pro-
tect reproductive rights.
The Coalition to Protect Women’s
Health was created to campaign for re-
productive choice after the Obama Ad-
ministration, under pressure from
Catholic bishops, tried to “split the dif-
ference” on whether health insurers
serving religiously affiliated institu-
Job Opening
Executive Director
Portland Jobs with Justice, a 21-
year- old labor/community coalition of
over 90 member organizations, is
seeking a new Executive Director.
Women and people of color are
encouraged to apply.
Applicants must have a demon-
strated commitment to building a
social justice movement. Labor ex-
perience and deep understanding of
the labor movement are required.
Salary range is $40,000 to $45,000
depending on experience. Health
benefits and vacation are provided.
A full job description is at www.
jwjpdx.org. To apply, please send re-
sume and cover letter by April 2, 2012
to margaret@jwjpdx.org.
tions — such as hospitals and schools
— had to offer their workers access to
methods guaranteeing reproductive
choice. The Administration said the in-
surers must offer, and pay for, the cov-
erage individually to those workers,
not through the institutions.
The new health care law says such
medications and procedures are part of
the guaranteed package of benefits in-
surers must offer to all workers with-
out co-pays or deductibles. There is an
exemption for churches that oppose re-
productive choice, on principle.
But that exemption should not ex-
tend to workers at the religiously affil-
iated institutions, the Coalition to Pro-
tect Women’s Health says.
“Women need access to affordable
birth control coverage, no matter
where they work,” the Coalition’s web-
site says. “However, opponents are ac-
tively working to take away access to
preventive health care, including birth
control. This would severely under-
mine women’s health and put our
mothers, daughters, sisters and wives
at the mercy of their boss’ views.”
The Coalition cited a survey it com-
missioned showing Catholics, by 54
percent to 42 percent, want to keep ac-
cess via health plans to contraceptive
coverage. Catholic Democrats favor it
(80 percent to 17 percent), Catholic
Republicans oppose it (16 percent to
79 percent), and Catholic independents
favor it (56 percent to 38 percent).
Catholic women favored it by 18 per-
centage points.
“There are significant and immedi-
ate threats from some in Washington,
D.C., who would completely take
away access to birth control and se-
verely undermine women’s health,” the
Coalition stated.
Service Employees International
Union and the American Federation of
State, County and Municiple Employ-
ees also have joined the Coalition.
Chef Batali settles
multi-million dollar
lawsuit with servers
Food Network star and restaurateur
Mario Batali has agreed to pay $5.25
million to settle a class-action lawsuit
in which he was accused of bilking
servers out of part of their tips, as well
as failing to pay overtime and the min-
imum wage, Bloomberg News re-
ported.
Batali was sued in a New York fed-
eral court along with his business part-
ner Joseph Bastianich, the report says.
Batali co-owns 16 restaurants in
Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New
York, according to his website.
Servers at his restaurants initially
“sued in 2010 alleging their employers
violated the Fair Labor Standards Act
— in part by pocketing gratuities equal
to as much as 5 percent of nightly wine
sales,” the report says.
IN MEMORIAM
D ANIEL B ONHAM , a mem-
ber of Carpenters Local 156,
died March 3 after slipping
and falling while hiking in Sil-
ver Falls State Park. He was
56.
According to Oregon State
Police reports, Bonham, a fre-
quent visitor to the park, was
reported overdue from a hiking excur-
sion earlier in the day, March 2.
OSP troopers, state park rangers,
and Marion County Sheriffs Office
Search & Rescue responded at approx-
imately 11:15 p.m. and began search-
ing for him. At about 2:45 a.m. his
body was spotted near Winter Falls,
100 feet below the trail. Due to dark-
ness, difficult terrain, and ice and snow
on the trails, his body wasn’t recovered
until 7 a.m. on March 3.
Bonham served as executive direc-
tor of the Oregon and SW Washington
Fair Contracting Foundation from
2005 to 2010. He began working at the
labor/management-owned agency in
2001 as a compliance investigator
making sure that men and women
working on construction projects re-
ceived the full compensation to which
they were entitled.
He left to start his own private in-
vestigation agency.
An active member of Salem-based
Carpenters Local 1065, Bonham
served as recording secretary, as a del-
egate to the Pacific NW Regional
Council of Carpenters, and as chair of
the political action committee. He held
those posts until February 2011, when
the local was merged with various
other Carpenters locals to form Local
156.
At the time of his death, he also was
secretary-treasurer of the Ore-
gon Fair Trade Campaign.
He was active in the trade
justice struggle, Latin Ameri-
can solidarity, third-party poli-
tics and a host of other progres-
sive causes.
D ANIEL F RANK B ONHAM
was born Aug. 7, 1955, in Up-
land, California.
After graduating from Chaffey
High School in 1973, Bonham moved
to Rexburg, Idaho, to attend college,
followed by a two-year church mission
from 1974 to 1976 in Central America:
Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and
Honduras, where he became fluent in
Spanish. From there he went to
Brigham Young University in Utah and
studied English.
He married the late Michelle Pad-
deucci and divorced after seven years.
They had two children: Ammon, 29,
and Vanessa, 25.
He married Shalom Mueller in
1987. They had two children: Elsa, 21,
and Jacob, 18.
Bonham worked as a construction
carpenter before moving to Woodburn,
Oregon, in 2000, where he joined Lo-
cal 1065.
Bonham is survived by his wife and
four children; one grandchild; his fa-
ther, Lyle Bonham of California; step-
mother, Darlene; a sister, half-sister,
and two step-siblings.
A memorial service was held
March 10 at the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-Day Saints in Woodburn.
A memorial fund has been estab-
lished to assist the Bonham family.
Donations can be made at any West
Coast Bank to the Daniel F. Bonham
Memorial Fund.
American Air Line backs
off plan to dump pensions
By MIKE HALL
In February, American Airlines an-
nounced plans to eliminate the jobs of
13,000 workers and dump pension
plans for nearly 90,000 workers into the
federal government’s Pension Benefit
Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) as part of its
bankruptcy plan. Roughly 9,000 Trans-
port Workers (TWU) members are em-
ployed at American.
But last week, following negotia-
tions with the TWU and PBGC, Amer-
ican announced it was abandoning its
pension proposal.
Says TWU President James C. Lit-
tle: “The company initially wanted to
terminate our pension plan, shift the
cost to the government, and put our
members at risk. Our negotiating team
drew a line in the sand and said this was
totally unacceptable — and today we
are pleased to report that [American]
has informed us they are willing to ac-
cept our proposal for a freeze of the
MARCH 16, 2012
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
current pension plan.”
Meanwhile in TWU’s latest “I Sup-
port American Jobs” video, Gregg
Aponte, a fleet service clerk and mem-
ber of TWU Local 568 in Miami who
has worked at American for 15 years,
asks American management who have
demanded and won concessions from
workers over the years: “If the com-
pany’s been losing money, how can you
guys be getting bonuses?”
You can show your support for em-
ployees at American Airlines by sign-
ing TWU’s pledge to support the work-
ers by telling public officials, the news
media and community leaders that em-
ployees at American Airlines and re-
gional carrier American Eagle and all
workers dependent on these airlines
must be treated fairly.
Go on line to http://isupportameri-
canjobs.com/ to add your name to the
nearly 17,000 people who have signed
the “I Support American Jobs” pledge.
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