Nov. 16, 2012_NWLP 10/10/17 10:52 AM Page 1
MEETING
NOTICES
Inside
See
Page 6
Volume 113
Number 22
November 16, 2012
Portland
ELECTION DAY 2012
Labor wins in Oregon, Washington, and coast to coast
The power of the people outmus-
cled the almighty dollar on Election
Day in Oregon — and elsewhere
across the nation.
Union leaders were elated by the
election results showing labor-backed
President Barack Obama’s defeat of
Republican nominee Mitt Romney,
and other wins ranging from keeping
the U.S. Senate in Democratic hands,
down to ballot measure victories in
California, Idaho, Maryland, Min-
nesota and Illinois. (See Page 4 for a
nationwide ballot measure roundup.)
“Despite the tidal wave of corporate
cash, this election proved there is no
match for the strength of grassroots
people power,” said national AFL-CIO
President Richard Trumka. And this
year, labor was able to reach beyond
union members” to other workers,
Trumka said.
An AFL-CIO poll of 812 union
members and 827 Working America
members showed two-thirds voted for
Obama. Pollster Guy Molyneux said
21 percent of all voters were union
members. In the key swing state of
Ohio, whose electoral votes clinched
Obama’s victory, unionists made up 30
percent of all voters.
Workers in general — both union
John Mohlis, executive secretary of the Oregon State Building and
Construction Trades Council (center), celebrated Tuesday night with retired
Iron Worker Jeff Carlson as television networks project the re-election of
President Barack Obama. Clapping in the background is Jeff Anderson,
secretary-treasurer of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555. To
the left is Carlson’s wife, Mary.
and nonunion — backed Obama over
Romney by a 2-to-1 ratio, the poll said.
Landslide vote for
union at TriMet Lift
Workers at contractor First Transit vote
111-31 in favor of joining ATU Local 757
A group of 160 drivers and dispatchers at TriMet Lift voted to
unionize in ballots cast Nov. 7. The tally was 111 to 31 in favor
of joining Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757, which repre-
sents transit workers around Oregon.
TriMet Lift is a federally funded paratransit service in which
senior and disabled passengers who have difficulty riding regular
mass transit can call and schedule rides. But TriMet Lift workers
aren’t TriMet employees; they work for UK-based multinational
First Transit. First Transit has contracts with TriMet to provide
service from three locations within TriMet’s service area. Workers
in Regions 1 and 2 have long been members of Local 757, but
until now, Region 3, which operates out of a TriMet yard at SE
92nd and Powell, has been nonunion despite numerous attempts
by workers to unionize.
(Turn to Page 3)
Obama captured 50.5 percent of the
popular vote and 332 electoral votes
Jim Gourley (right) of United Steelworkers Local 1189, congratulates
Brad Avakian after he was declared the winner in his re-election for
labor commissioner. Avakian trounced Republican challenger Bruce
Starr, 52.5 to 46.87 percent. Starr had advocated for a “right to work”
law and for lowering state prevailing wages.
(well above the required 270 to win).
Romney collected 48 percent of the
popular vote and 206 electoral votes.
Obama is the first Democrat since
Franklin D. Roosevelt to be elected
twice with over 50 percent of the vote.
(Turn to Page 5)
Union Cab: Dream comes true
Residents and visitors to
Portland can soon take
union-member-driven taxis
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
Following a dramatic two-hour hearing
Nov. 7, Portland City Council voted to issue
50 taxi permits to Union Cab — a newly-
formed driver-owned co-op that is affiliated
with Communications Workers of America
(CWA) Local 7901.
It took drivers three years to get there. Af-
ter bringing the gavel down on the 4-0 vote,
Mayor Sam Adams temporarily waived the
rule against applause during council pro-
ceedings. Cab drivers and their families
wearing orange Union Cab T-shirts — most
of them African immigrants — had packed
nearly every available seat in the two-story
(Turn to Page 12)
Ethiopian immigrant Kedir Wako tells Portland City Council about the
conditions that led him and fellow cab drivers to try to escape their status as
independent contractors of several Portland cab companies.