Single-payer health
care rally draws crowd
SALEM — Advocates for single-
payer health care in Oregon made their
voices heard in Salem Feb. 4 — the
opening day of the 77th legislative ses-
sion. Among the nearly 1,000 people
gathered at the noontime rally on the
front steps of the State Capitol was
State Rep. Michael Dembrow (D-Port-
land). A member of the American Fed-
eration of Teachers, Dembrow is co-
chief sponsor of the Health Care for All
Oregon Act. The draft legislation cur-
rently has 19 co-sponsors, including
rookie state Rep. Jennifer Williamson
(D-Portland), who is co-chief sponsor.
Portland Sen. Chip Shields is co-
chief sponsor on the Senate side.
A second bill in draft form carried
by Dembrow would authorize a formal
study of the health care financing sys-
tem. “Every Oregonian has a funda-
mental right to health care. The Afford-
able Care Act and public exchanges are
not the answer,” Dembrow said.
Williamson told rallygoers that each
year 540 Oregonians die from treatable
diseases because they could not access
affordable health care. In addition,
34,000 Oregonians and 12,000 families
were forced into personal bankruptcies
last year, caused by a medical crises.
“And most had insurance when their
medical condition began. That is outra-
geous,” she said.
Dembrow said that due to language
in the federal Affordable Care Act, a
single-payer system cannot be estab-
lished before 2017. He vowed to spend
the next three years building a move-
ment to support a “health care for all”
system in Oregon.
“It won’t be solved by lawmakers or
by the governor,” Dembrow said. “It’s
going to be solved by a million people
in the state of Oregon demanding
change, organizing for change, and vot-
ing for change.”
Dembrow said his goal is to have a
ballot measure ready for the 2016 elec-
tion.
IN MEMORIAM
T OMMY ‘T EAM -
STER ’ M ALLOY , a re-
tired business agent
and lobbyist for
Teamsters
Joint
Council No. 37, died
Jan. 27 of age-related
causes at his home in
Southwest Portland.
He was 88.
T HOMAS J AMES M ALLOY was born
into a Teamsters family in Milwaukie,
Oregon, on July 24, 1924. His father,
grandfather, and five uncles were all
members of the Teamsters. Malloy,
himself, was a 54-year member, join-
ing Teamsters Local 206 after taking a
job as a warehouseman after graduat-
ing from high school.
He enlisted in the Coast Guard in
1942 and served in World War II. After
leaving the military in 1946, Malloy
was hired as an organizer for Team-
sters Cannery Local 681. He worked
as a “salt” at Libby’s cannery in Port-
land, signing up new union members.
He was fired from Libby’s when the
employer found out what he was do-
ing.
Malloy was hired by the union as a
business representative and was work-
ing for Local 681 when Dave Beck, di-
rector of the Western Conference of
Teamsters, assigned him to the Puget
Sound area as an organizer.
Beck sent Malloy back to Portland
in 1949 to take over Teamsters Auto-
motive Local 255, which had been
placed in trusteeship. He left Local 255
in 1960 to take the reins of Teamsters
and Chauffers Local 281. A short time
later he was appointed secretary-treas-
urer of the Chauffeurs Division of the
FEBRUARY 15, 2013
Western Conference of Teamsters.
Malloy was elected as a trustee on
the Executive Board of Joint Council
No. 37 in 1980. He left that post three
years later to accept an appointment as
a Joint Council representative assigned
to serve the union as its political coor-
dinator and legislative lobbyist. When
he retired from the dual post in 1987,
Malloy ranked as the longest-serving
Teamster representative in the Western
Conference, with 41 years.
After his “retirement,” Council 37
asked him to continue as its political
and legislative representative on a con-
tract basis, which he did until 2005.
Malloy’s civic endeavors included
serving as a trustee of the Oregon Mu-
seum of Science and Industry (OMSI),
and on the board of the Housing Au-
thority of Portland. The latter came via
appointments by Mayors Terry
Schrunk and Neil Goldschmidt.
On Feb. 1, 2013, Teamsters Joint
Council No. 37 announced that it was
adding Malloy’s name to the Teamsters
Clyde C. Crosby/Joseph M. Edgar Me-
morial Scholarship Fund. The program
offers scholarships to children of ac-
tive, retired, disabled, or deceased
members of a local union affiliated
with the Joint Council.
Malloy is survived by his wife of 52
years, Eleanor “Frankie”; daughters
Shelli Niiyama and Tricia Anderson;
son Steven; five grandchildren, and
four great-grandchildren. He was pre-
ceded in death by son Michael
“Mickey.”
Services were arranged by
Riverview Abbey, a Teamster-repre-
sented funeral home located in South-
west Portland.
State Rep. Michael Dembrow addresses a crowd of nearly 1,000 people gathered at the State Capitol Feb. 4 for a rally
for a single-payer health care system in Oregon. Ten buses delivered people from as far away as La Grande and
Bandon, Ashland and Prineville for the noon rally organized by Health Care for All Oregon.
Austerity plans and ‘Bowles-Simpson’ are
bad policies for the economy and workers
By JACKIE TORTORA
Working families aren’t fooled.
There’s nothing “fair and balanced”
about the Bowles-Simpson budget plan
that would ultimately increase unem-
ployment, cut Social Security benefits,
tax workers’ health benefits, and scape-
goat federal employees while giving
more tax breaks for sending jobs over-
seas and lowering tax rates for Wall
Street and the wealthiest 2 percent.
On Feb. 7, U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader
(D-Ore.) introduced an amendment
that would direct President Obama to
follow the budget recommendations of
OSU research assistants
to vote on unionization
CORVALLIS, Ore. (PAI) — The
Oregon Employee Relations Board
(ERB) ruled on Jan. 4 that 680 research
assistants (RAs) at Oregon State Uni-
versity in Corvallis can belong to a
union. The board said RAs, like their
fellow teaching assistants, are public
employees and have the right to organ-
ize and bargain collectively.
The RAs petitioned the board last
June for recognition with the Coalition
of Graduate Employees Local 6069, an
affiliate of the American Federation of
Teachers (AFT)-Oregon. Local 6069
already represents some 900 teaching
assistants at the university.
OSU objected, arguing that the RAs
were not employees.
ERB will mail ballots Feb. 21. The
ballot will have two options: “Local
6069” or “No representation.” Ballots
must be received (not postmarked) by
March 7.
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson,
known as the Bowles-Simpson plan.
Last year, 350 economists wrote a
letter explaining that austerity meas-
ures, like the Bowles-Simpson plan,
are the exact opposite actions needed
to take in order to get people back to
work. Not to mention that all these aus-
terity plans being floated target Social
Security, Medicare, and Medicaid ben-
eficiaries for benefit cuts while hypo-
critically showering the wealthy and
corporations with more tax breaks they
don’t need.
Republicans in Congress are threat-
ening to shut down the government in
March so they can get their way and
enact the same economic agenda vot-
ers overwhelmingly rejected in the last
election. The Republican ransom de-
mands are the same as always: cuts to
Social Security, Medicare and Medi-
caid benefits; tax cuts for the wealthy
and Wall Street; and budget austerity
for the rest of Americans, which is al-
ready causing the economy to sputter.
The AFL-CIO is asking union
members to call their lawmakers in
Congress at 888-659-9401 and urge
them to reject austerity plans like
Schrader’s amendment.
(Editor’s Note: Jackie Tortora
writes for the AFL-CIO NOW blog.)
Labor, women’s groups celebrate 20th
anniversary of Family Medical Leave Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI) —
Unionists and women’s leaders cele-
brated the 20th anniversary of the Fam-
ily and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in
early February. FMLA gives workers
in firms with at least 50 employees six
weeks of unpaid leave yearly to care
for ill family members, newborns or
themselves with the guarantee they can
return to their old jobs.
President Bill Clinton signed the
Act on Feb. 5, 1993.
The Labor Department marked the
milestone by issuing a final rule that
extends the same job protections to
families of military service members
and to airline personnel and flight
crews.
The Association of Flight Atten-
dants, an affiliate of Communications
Workers of America, which lobbied for
the change for years, cheered. “It’s an
exciting day” that gives flight atten-
dants “peace of mind,” union President
Veda Shook said.
Carol Rosenblatt, director of the
Coalition of Labor Union Women
(CLUW), said even though passage of
FMLA was a landmark victory, it
should be expanded to be paid leave
and cover more workers, including
part-time employees.
“It is time these holes be fixed,” she
said.
An effort to expand the Act in the
last Congress was stopped by a Re-
publican filibuster in the Senate.
For more information about FMLA,
go on line to http://www.dol.gov/
whd/fmla/2013rule.
PAGE 5