Coors is no friend of working families
To The Editor:
Hats off to Bob Tackett, his staff,
and the volunteers of the Northwest
Oregon Labor Council for the Labor
Appreciation Dinner. It was my first
time attending, and I really enjoyed the
camaraderie and fellowship. It’s always
good when we recognize our brothers
and sisters in the labor movement and
thank them for the tireless work they
have given on behalf of the cause.
I was, however, shocked by the
amount of Coors beer consumed by at-
tendees. Some were union members,
some were union representatives, some
were representatives of our labor-
friendly elected officials, and some
were invited guests.
I’ll admit that some of these folks
may not know the history of how Coors
broke the back of the Brewery Workers
Union out of its Golden, Colorado
brewery in 1977; how Coors moved its
porcelain manufacturing facility to
Brazil long before offshoring became
popular among corporations to cut
wages and benefits; how Coors has
fought every progressive movement to
help society out of the dark ages in the
past 35 years. The then-president of
Coors Brewery, Joe Coors, was a well-
known backer of right-wing causes
such as the John Birch Society; a
founder of a conservative think-tank,
the Heritage Foundation; and a mem-
ber of President Ronald Reagan’s so-
called “Kitchen Cabinet.”
Yes, the boycott of Coors ended in
1987, but that has not stopped the
To all union members in the Pacific
NW — appreciate what you have
To The Editor:
My husband and I are longtime
union members. My husband, Robert,
is a retired member of Plumbers & Pip-
efitters Local 290. I was a member of
the Portland Association of Teachers
and my father was in the bus drivers’
union. So you can see, we are very pro-
union.
We read every issue of the Labor
Press, and have noticed increasing neg-
ativity toward union membership.
Maybe this is true in every area of the
U.S., but it has got be the worst in the
South. We retired in Florida in 2003.
We were shocked at the working con-
dition of construction workers when we
were having a house built in central
Florida. The plumber we spoke with
was from New York and said that he
would be going back because foreign
workers were taking over and undercut-
ting wages in order to get jobs.
An article in The Orlando Sentinel, a
right-wing leaning newspaper, tells the
typical Southern political attitude to-
ward unions.
Recently, the Florida House of Rep-
resentatives introduced an amendment
to a bill that limited proposed tax breaks
only to businesses that DO NOT em-
ploy union workers. Our governor, Rick
Scott, ultimately signed the bill.
Workers do not make a living wage
here as it is. Experienced welders make
$10 an hour. Teachers scrape by on very
little, and most have second jobs if they
can find them. But in spite of that,
everyone in the South hates unions.
They are not certain why, but they hate
them.
This is a right-to-work, at-will em-
ployment state (sounds pretty good,
doesn’t it?). This means workers don’t
have to belong to a union, even if a ma-
jority of workers at a company vote for
one, and that employers can fire any
worker at any time, without provoca-
tion.
My neighbor works for the devel-
oper of a retirement community here.
She worked with a real estate sales per-
son who developed breast cancer. The
woman had no sick leave, and as an in-
dependent agent selling real estate, no
vacation time. She worked during her
chemo treatment, but when the devel-
oper decided she had missed too many
days, she was fired. There she was with
no insurance and no means of income.
She died soon after.
Another neighbor, the wife of an
East Coast pipefitter, worked for a very
short time for Wynn-Dixie grocery. She
mentioned union affiliation as a way to
enjoy better wages and working condi-
tions. Word got back to her supervisor,
who told her she would be fired if she
ever mentioned the word “union” again.
She quit.
Every union member in the Pacific
Northwest should be very appreciative
that the political climate is pro-union,
for the most part. They should also be
thankful that they are able to earn a liv-
ing wage and have benefits, which are
non-existent in the South, for the most
part.
I will continue reading and enjoying
the Labor Press.
Pat and Robert Wilson
Portland Association of Teachers/
UA Local 290
The Villages, Florida
Coors political machine from marching
onward. The Coors family, through its
political operations, uses its share of the
profits from beer sales to perpetuate
and encourage regressive governmen-
tal and social policies, serving only the
narrow interests of a handful of the
very wealthy 1% in this country.
Ironically, the Coors family derives
the bulk of its wealth from working
middle-class people —like those at-
tending the Labor Appreciation Night
Dinner who purchased Coors beer
products.
Some may ask, “Why was Coors
even sold at this labor event?” The truth
of the matter is that this was held at a
private facility at a cash bar. This is
O PEN
F ORUM
how a private enterprise makes money.
It has a right to sell whatever beer it
likes. We as labor, friends of labor, and
labor representatives need to practice
due diligence and not purchase it, re-
gardless of where we are.
Please think twice next time you are
ordering a beer. The money you spend
is used against you when you purchase
Coors. Let Coors make their money
elsewhere, not at union functions.
Mark Warne
IBEW Local 48
Salem
Thanks to all who supported
labor agency at special dinner
To The Editor:
The labor movement builds strong
communities, and there is no greater
example of this than the Northwest
Oregon Labor Council’s annual Labor
Appreciation and Recognition Night, a
fundraiser for Labor’s Community
Service Agency on June 2.
The roaring standing ovations given
to Verna Porter and Nellie Fox-Ed-
wards as they were awarded the NOLC
Heritage Award were heart pulling,
along with the much deserving Lee and
Kathy Duncan who received the Del
Ricks Award for their tireless work
with the Unions For Kids charity, a
fundraiser for Doernbecher Children’s
Hospital. An additional 14 other
awards were given to union members
and staff for their dedication through-
out the year. After the awards were
given, a fun competitive spirit filled the
room as raffle numbers were called out
for the dozens of donated items given
to the Northwest Oregon Labor Coun-
cil to help raise funds for Labor’s Com-
munity Service Agency.
The evening raised over $2,700 for
the Helping Hands program due in no
small part to the Northwest Oregon La-
bor Council and its affiliates. This
money will go to union brothers and
sisters in need to help pay rent, keep the
lights on and feed their families.
I’d like to extend a heartfelt thank
you to the evening’s planning commit-
tee, speakers, presenters, volunteers,
raffle donors and members of our
strong labor movement for contributing
generously to Labor’s Community
Service Agency, Inc.
My sincerest thanks to all of you.
Vickie Burns
Executive Director, LCSA
Portland
Merkley co-sponsors FOREWARN Act in U. S. Senate
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), is
co-sponsoring legislation that gives
workers and communities advanced no-
tice of mass layoffs or plant closings.
The Federal Oversight, Reform, and
Enforcement of the WARN (FORE-
WARN) Act would strengthen enforce-
ment of current law and close loopholes
in the current Worker Adjustment and
Retraining Notification (WARN) Act,
which became law in 1988.
The FOREWARN Act was origi-
nally introduced in June 2009 by Sen.
Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). It died in
committee without any action.
Brown reintroduced the bill June 14
with co-sponsors Merkley and Sen.
John Kerry (D-Mass.). The bill is
S.3297.
“Too often over the last few decades
workers have been sent home with
JULY 6, 2012
barely a moment’s notice when their
factory abruptly closed down,” Merkley
said. “We need to give both workers and
communities advanced warning when
they are at risk of mass layoffs. This bill
will ensure that they have time to pre-
pare and also that back pay gets to the
worker in a timely manner. In Oregon,
we know this problem all too well. The
workers at the Blue Heron paper mill,
laid off almost one and a half years ago,
still have not seen a dime of their back
pay. That is just wrong.”
The Blue Heron paper mill closed in
February 2011. The laid-off workers,
members of the Association of Western
Pulp and Paper Workers, have had to
hire an attorney to fight for the back
pay they are owed by law because Con-
gress never provided the U.S. Depart-
ment of Labor with enforcement re-
sponsibility.
Congress passed the WARN Act in
1988 to give workers and communities
60 days advance notice to adjust to an
impending “plant closing” or “mass
layoff.” It has been demonstrated that
retraining and other readjustment ef-
forts have the greatest success when ad-
vance notice is provided.
But the WARN Act’s effectiveness
has been undermined by loopholes and
weak enforcement. According to a
2003 General Accounting Office report
that studied layoffs in 2001, only about
24 percent of mass layoffs and plant
closures were covered by the statute.
One reason the percentage is so low is
that the WARN Act protections are
only triggered when a “mass layoff”
occurs if at least 33 percent of the em-
ployer’s workforce — up to 499 work-
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
ers — is laid off. This means that a
large employer can terminate 499
workers without providing any notice.
The report also found that employ-
ers failed to provide notice to employ-
ees in almost two-thirds of the layoffs
and closures where the WARN Act oth-
erwise would apply because of excep-
tions that employers can invoke. The
WARN Act currently requires violating
employers to pay an employee a day’s
pay for every day of notice not pro-
vided, but does not provide any agency
with responsibility for enforcing work-
ers’ rights.
The new FOREWARN Act would
give the U.S. Department of Labor the
authority to investigate complaints and
enforce the WARN Act when employ-
ers fail to comply with the law. The bill
would also increase penalties from up
to 60 days’ worth of back pay to up to
90 days’ worth of double-back pay.
In addition, it would require mass
layoffs of 25 or more employees to be
covered by the statute and cover em-
ployers with 75 or more full-time
workers. The bill would also lengthen
the notification period from 60 to 90
days and require employers to provide
written notification to the Department
of Labor that includes the reason for
the plant closing or mass layoff,
whether the employer has jobs else-
where, and a statement of each em-
ployee’s right to wages and benefits.
The bill would also expand recipi-
ents of notification to the secretary of
labor, elected officials, including the
governor, members of Congress, and
state representatives, and the appropri-
ate labor unions when applicable.
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