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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (May 17, 2013)
More signatures needed on petition to save Post Office A “We the People” petition to the White House to “Save the Postal Serv- ice — Save American Jobs” has col- lected only 22,903 signatures (as of press time). The petition must obtain 100,000 signatures by May 24 in order to be re- viewed by officials in the Obama Ad- ministration and have an official re- sponse issued. The petition was spearheaded by Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio in conjunction with a bill — H.R. 630 — he introduced to save the Post Office. Similar legislation (S. 316) has been filed in the U.S. Senate by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont). The petition states that roughly 80 percent of USPS financial losses since 2007 are due to a Congressional man- date to prefund 75 years of future re- tiree health benefits in a 10-year pe- riod. In 2012, USPS lost a record $15.9 billion, but $11.1 billion of that loss went to prefund health care. The petition calls on USPS to main- tain six-day delivery, to re-establish overnight delivery standards to ensure the timely delivery of mail and prevent the closure of mail plants (and jobs), and to end a 2006 ban prohibiting USPS from offering new products and services. The petition asks: “Does the (Obama) Administration support HR 630 and S 316 to make these changes, save American jobs, and allow USPS to remain competitive?” Go to http://wh.gov/t95i and follow the instructions to sign the petition. (PHOTO LEFT) MDA Ambassador Emily Gallagher with her brother Caleb and mother Nina. (PHOTO RIGHT) Retired firefighter Cal Eddy and Linda Alexander pose for photo during a break in the action. Eddy was the top fundraiser. Alexander, a member of NALC Branch 82, helped coordinate the event. Union members bowl, raise cash for MDA Union members raised $12,000 at the 24th annual Muscular Dystrophy Labor Bowl. Since its inception in 1989, union members have donated $351,025.75 to MDA. Money is raised through pledges and from a silent auction and goes to buy wheelchairs and braces for chil- NW Oregon Labor Council awards dinner June 8 The Northwest Oregon Labor Council will host the 16th annual La- bor Appreciation and Recognition Night Saturday, June 8, at Milwaukie Elks Lodge, 13121 SE McLoughlin Blvd. Dinner tickets are $20 per per- son. Raffle tickets also will be sold for $1 each or seven for $5. The dinner and awards ceremony serves as a fundraiser for Labor’s Community Service Agency. The labor council is still accepting cash and prize donations for the raffle. Donations can be sent to: Northwest Oregon Labor Council, 3645 SE 32nd Avenue, Portland, Oregon, 97202- 3019. For more information or to order tickets, call 503-235-9444. dren, as well as for research and sum- mer camps. Muscular dystrophy is a hereditary condition marked by a pro- gressive weakening and wasting of the muscles over time. This year’s event, held on Sunday, April 28, at Sunset Lanes in Beaverton, attracted bowlers from 11 union locals, as well as from Northwest Priority Credit Union and American Income Life Insurance Company. The top individual fundraiser was Cal Eddy, a retired Portland firefighter and member of Local 43. Rick Brandt of Machinists Lodge 1005 captured the men’s high series trophy, and Megan Rivas of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 555 took home women’s high series hardware. A low score trophy went to Lizzeth Gongora of Northwest Priority Credit Union. Score totals were not available. Union locals represented at the MDA Bowl were National Association of Letter Carriers Branches 82 and 1104; the Northwest Oregon Labor Council; Fire Fighters Local 43; Ma- chinists Lodges 63, 1005, and 1432; UFCW Local 555; American Federa- tion of State, County, Municipal Em- ployees Local 2505; Roofers Local 49; and Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union Lo- cal 114. Appeals court tosses NLRB’s workers’ rights poster rule tive attitude’ towards setting down principles in rulemaking, rather than adjudication,” he said. The judges also slammed the NLRB’s rule as too broad. “Although section 8(c)” of the 1947 Taft Hartley Act, which rewrote labor law, “pre- cludes the board from finding non-co- ercive employer speech to be an unfair labor practice, or evidence of an unfair labor practice, the board’s rule does both,” Randolph’s ruling says. The Republican-controlled 80th Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act, essentially gutting the National Labor Relations Act, over Democratic Presi- dent Harry S. Truman’s veto, in 1947. But the judges went beyond the NLRB’s specific rule in their decision. “We are not faced with a regulation forbidding employers from dissemi- nating information someone else has created,” they declared. “Instead, the board’s rule requires employers to dis- seminate such information, upon pain of being held to have committed an un- fair labor practice. “That difference hardly ends the matter. The right to disseminate an- other’s speech necessarily includes the right to decide not to disseminate it,” the judges said. “First Amendment law acknowledges this apparent truth: ‘All speech inherently involves choices of what to say and what to leave unsaid.’ ” The ruling is the second major de- feat in five months for the NLRB in the D.C. court, often called the second- most-powerful court in the nation, be- cause it rules on the legality of agency WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI) — A federal appeals court has struck down a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rule requiring businesses to display an 11-by-17-inch poster that informs employees of their rights in the workplace, including the right to form a union. (See poster right.) The NLRB finalized the regulation in August 2011, with an effective date of April 30, 2012. But implementation was delayed by lawsuits filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Associ- ated Builders and Contractors, and other business associations. A federal district court in Washing- ton, D.C., ruled that the NLRB had the authority to require the workplace poster, but struck some of its provi- sions. However, a federal judge in South Carolina ruled the NLRB did not have the legal right to require the workplace poster. That case is still un- der appeal in the 4th Circuit. On April 17, 2012, a three-judge panel of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (all of them conservative judges appointed by a Republican president) enjoined the NLRB from enforcing the rule until it issued a decision. It finally did so May 7, 2013, determining the poster vio- lated employer free speech rights in place since the Taft-Hartley Act. Judge A. Raymond Randolph said the NLRB should never have tried writing the rule, much less proposing it. “The board’s action departs from its historic practice. From its inception in 1935, the board has exhibited a ‘nega- MAY 17, 2013 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS decisions. The prior loss was when the D.C. Circuit ruled that President Barack Obama’s 2012 recess appointments to the NLRB — and the decisions they voted on — are illegal. That leaves the board without a quorum to act and could bring it to a halt. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called the rulings “radical.” “Republican judges of the D.C. Cir- cuit continue to wreak havoc on work- ers’ rights. After attempting to render the NLRB inoperable, the D.C. Circuit once again undermined workers’ rights, this time by striking down a common-sense rule requiring employ- ers to inform workers of their rights under federal labor law,” he said. “In today’s workplace, employers are required to display posters explain- ing wage and hour rights, health and safety and discrimination laws, even emergency escape routes. The ruling suggests courts should strike down hundreds of notice requirements, not only those that inform workers about their rights and warn them of hazards, but also those on cigarette packages, in home mortgages and many other areas. “The court’s twisted logic finds that ‘freedom of speech’ precludes the gov- ernment from requiring employers to provide certain information to employ- ees. This is absurd. When workers know their rights, the laws work as in- tended,” Trumka said. The NLRB is considering whether to appeal it to the full D.C. Circuit Court or to the U.S. Supreme Court. PAGE 11
