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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 17, 2012)
Second annual clay shoot slated Oct. 27 in Gervais The Union Sports- men’s Alliance’s (USA) second annual sporting clay shoot will be held Saturday, Oct. 27, at Mitchell’s Clay Target Sports, 6181 Concomly Rd., Gervais. Awards will be given to the highest scoring teams and top in- dividual shooter. First time shooters are welcome and encouraged to partici- pate. Registration is from 8 to 9 a.m., with shooting starting at 9:30 a.m. Registra- tion includes shotgun shells (12- or 20- gauge only) and clay targets, lunch and beverages, along with awards, door prizes and premium raffle item drawings. Shooters and sponsors are still needed. Various levels of sponsorship are available. All proceeds from the event will help support the USA’s mission to unite the union community to expand and im- prove hunting and fishing access and wildlife habitat throughout North America. Contact Tim Bindl at TimB@union- sportsmen.org or Heather Tazelaar at 615-831-6779 for more information. Have a Great Labor Day Weekend! For all your hard work and dedication, Happy Labor Day to all! President SHANNON A. WALKER (IAM/W 536) Vice President JUDY KUSCHEL (WFSE 313) Secretary/Treasurer ROY JENNINGS (ATU 757) Trustees MARK RAUCHENSTEIN (PTE 17) JOHN MURPHY (BCTGM 364) KARLY EDWARDS (UNITE HERE 9) Executive Board JENNY GRAY (BCTGM 114) JOHN ORR (WSN) ROBEN WHITE (IUPAT 10) MIKE TEEFY (AFGE ) Meetings are held every fourth Thursday starting at 6 p.m. (November and December are the second Thursday) at the ILWU Local 4 Hall, 1205 Ingalls Vancouver, Washington. PAGE 22 Who’s On Our Side? By Tom Chamberlain S he makes my morning coffee. He teaches her kid math. You fix his car. And I fight the fire at your neigh- bor’s house, stopping it before your house is damaged. We’ve never met before, but through the work we all do we are closely connected. It’s been five years since the re- cession began. A year and a half later it was officially declared over, and since then we’ve been trying to find ways to create good jobs so that the rest of us see some of the economic growth that we’ve been hearing about since June 2009. It would be easy to approach this year’s Labor Day by creating an en- emy — someone not on the side of working people — to rally against. Given the pitiful economic growth we’ve seen, and the many excuses given for not creating jobs, it would be easy to find one. Identifying an “us” and a “them” gives us a purpose and a goal. But, instead, I hope that union members across Oregon use Labor Day to remember how important your work is, how important your neighbor’s work is, and to remember the value of the work that all Orego- nians do. When small businesses owners re- member that labor fought for the health care coverage they can now af- ford for their kids; when doctors re- member that small business owners pay their wages; when road crew workers remember that doctors are paid to keep their kids healthy; and when lawyers remember that the road crews get them to work safely; we’ll all be able to work together for changes that are good for working people. Work is the one thing that the vast majority of us have in common. More than we share any demo- graphic figures, hobbies, or location, we all get up and go to work most days of the week. And if it weren’t for the work done by other Oregoni- ans, we wouldn’t be able to. You may have seen ads on TV last winter showcasing workers and the ways in which they depend on each other. That ad was part of a broader campaign to remind Oregonians — union members and our nonunion neighbors alike — of the value of our work. Too many people don’t value the work they do, and too many more overlook the important work that they depend on. When we all value hard work — no matter who does it, no matter what the job title is — we won’t need to identify an enemy. Instead, we’ll be united enough and powerful enough to fight the people who don’t value work. This Labor Day, I hope you’ll add to the reminder of the value of work. When you thank the gas station at- tendant, remind that person that his or her work is important to you. When you pick up last minute sup- plies for your picnic, thank the cashier for working — especially on Labor Day. You can find postcards on our website to print out and leave with service workers, thanking them, if you’d rather not start the conversa- tion. And you can also get ideas for ways to put the “labor” back in La- bor Day this year. People who work for a living are all on the same side, no matter how much else we have (or don’t have) in common. And that should be enough to bind us together against anyone who doesn’t value the hard work that we each put in to our 40 hours a week. * For postcards and ideas to put “labor” back in your Labor Day, go to www.thanksforyourwork.org. Tom Chamberlain is president of the Oregon AFL-CIO. New ‘anxiety index’ reveals economic issues facing voters 50 and older AARP survey shows that across party lines, voters want more information on candidates’ plans for Social Security and Medicare WASHINGTON, D.C. — In the coming November elections, a key group of voters — non-retired baby boomers ages 50 to 64 — are driven by economic anxieties that extend well be- yond the single issue of jobs, according to the results of a new series of surveys by AARP. All voters age 50 and over want po- litical candidates to better explain their plans for Social Security and Medicare, which will help them determine their votes. The particular pressures facing boomer voters — across party lines — are reflected in a new “Anxiety Index,” which measures their worries on issues including prices rising faster than in- comes (75 percent worry somewhat or very often about this), health expenses NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS (62 percent), not having financial secu- rity in retirement (73 percent) and pay- ing too much in taxes (71 percent). By comparison, 32 percent of these boomer voters regularly worry about being able to find a full-time job with benefits or keep up with their mortgage or rent (30 percent), issues that are more widely discussed as leading economic issues for voters in the coming election. “We know the issue of jobs is very important to voters age 50-plus, but any meaningful discussion of the economy and this year’s election has to include the future of Social Security and Medicare,” said Nancy LeaMond, AARP executive vice president. “For these voters, ‘retirement security’ and ‘economic security’ are largely the same thing.” Non-retired boomer voters are pes- simistic about retirement. Almost three- in-four (72 percent) believe they will have to delay retirement, and almost two-in-three (65 percent) worry they won’t have enough money to retire. Half of these voters (50 percent) don’t think they'll ever be able to retire. They overwhelmingly (59 percent) believe the recent economic downturn will force them to rely more on Social Se- curity and Medicare. Anxiety about retirement security is a main driver for all voters 50-plus. Nearly seven-in-10 (69 percent) of re- tired voters 50-plus worry about prices rising faster than their incomes, and al- most half (48 percent) worry about hav- ing unaffordable health expenses, de- spite the relative security provided by Medicare. Only four-in-10 (42 percent) black voters 50-plus are confident that they will have enough money to live comfortably throughout their retire- ment. Hispanic voters 50-plus over- whelmingly say that the recent eco- nomic downturn negatively impacted their personal circumstances (84 per- cent) and will force them to rely more on Social Security and Medicare (69 percent). Economic anxieties among voters 50-plus are leading to a general dissat- isfaction with political leaders. Voters 50-plus are as likely to say that their personal economic circumstances were negatively affected by political gridlock in Washington (78 percent) as by the (Turn to Page 25) AUGUST 17, 2012
