Labor Council calls on congressional
delegation to oppose fast-tracking TPP
Allen Brennan is a new staffperson at the Oregon AFL-CIO. He will assist
laid-off workers get benefits they’re entitled to. Photo by Russell Sanders.
Allen Brennan joins AFL-CIO
to help assist laid off workers
The Oregon AFL-CIO has a new
staffperson to help laid-off workers
get benefits they’re entitled to.
Allen Brennan — who was himself
laid off from a pulp mill in Camas,
Washington — springs into action
whenever local union employers an-
nounce mass layoffs. Beyond unem-
ployment insurance, laid off workers
are entitled to dislocated worker assis-
tance if their skills aren’t in demand,
and even more generous benefits if
Moro elected to
VP post at NOLC
Everice Moro of
Oregon School Em-
ployees Association
(OSEA) Local 6732
was elected second
vice president of the
Northwest Oregon La-
bor Council. She suc-
ceeds Teamsters mem-
EVERICE
ber Lynn Lehrbach,
MORO
who retired.
Moro ran unopposed, winning the
seat by acclamation.
NOLC is the largest central labor
council in the state, representing more
than 48,000 members of 108 unions in
Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas,
and Columbia counties.
Jenny Gray, a member of Bakers
Local 114, was elected by acclamation
as reading clerk.
Both Gray and Moro will be sworn
in at the next delegates’ meeting July
22. Terms are for three years.
PAGE 4
offshoring or foreign competition con-
tributed to their job loss. The benefits
can include career counseling, trade
school tuition, relocation assistance,
and extended unemployment benefits
that allow the recipient to attend
school while collecting unemploy-
ment.
In 2007, Brennan was laid off from
his job as an electrical equipment op-
erator at the Camas pulp and paper
mill now owned by Georgia-Pacific.
Then vice president of Association of
Western Pulp and Paper Workers
(AWPPW) Local 5, he went to work
as a peer advocate helping his fellow
laid-off union members with paper-
work to apply for benefits. When that
was done, he attended college classes
at Clark Community College and
Washington State University, and
went to work helping unemployed
workers as a case manager at Vancou-
ver Worksource.
The Oregon AFL-CIO position is
funded through the federal Workforce
Investment Act. Brannan began March
6 and replaces Mark Warne, who left
to work on a union pre-apprenticeship
program for state prison inmates.
Sadly, Brennan will be keeping
busy this summer. Umatilla Chemical
Depot, which is winding down a
multi-year decommissioning project,
laid off 136 union members June 26.
CenturyLink is closing its Hood River
call center Aug. 2 and laying off 51
union members. And Georgia-Pacific
expects to lay off 100 workers starting
Aug. 2 at its paper mill in Halsey,
Oregon.
Delegates to the Northwest Oregon
Labor Council (NOLC) voted unani-
mously June 24 to send a letter to
Oregon’s Democratic Congressional
delegation expressing concern about
the ongoing lack of transparency in
the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
free trade negotiations and its poten-
tial negative impact on jobs in the
state. The labor council also is asking
that they oppose fast-track “trade pro-
motion authority,” which only allows
for an up or down vote, with no
changes to the treaty.
The NAFTA-style trade agreement
with 11 Pacific Rim countries is en-
route to completion. At the end of a
May 15-24 session in Peru, trade ne-
gotiators said they expect the treaty to
be concluded in October. The next
meeting takes place July 15-25 in
Malaysia, with a final meeting slated
in September.
The participating countries are
Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile,
Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand,
Peru, Singapore, the United States,
and Vietnam. About half the countries
already have trade agreements with
the United States.
“Oregonians deserve the right to
know what has been proposed in our
names and to be able to comment on
specific draft texts prior to negotia-
tions being concluded,” wrote NOLC
Executive Secretary Bob Tackett. “Of-
fering Congress only a take-it-or-
leave-it vote on a package that the
public is unable to review until after
the pact is signed and negotiations
completed is a completely inappropri-
ate way to create public policy that af-
fects so many aspects of our economy
and society.”
The letter continued:
“In December, Senators Ron
Wyden and Jeff Merkley wrote to the
President suggesting a number of
commonsense measures that could
help transform the TPP into a tool for
net export growth and job creation. We
ask that you please use whatever ac-
cess you have to draft TPP negotiating
texts to answer questions about the is-
sues they raised six months ago:
“Does the TPP’s government pro-
curement chapter in any way restrict
“Buy American” and “Buy Local”
public procurement policies at the fed-
eral or sub-federal level, or otherwise
restrict efforts to use taxpayer funds to
prioritize job creation in our state?
“Is there an across-the-board Rule
of Origin requirement for the TPP, and
if not, at what levels have Rules of
Origin been set for various products of
particular concern to our state, such as
electronic integrated circuits, proces-
sors and controllers; photovoltaic
cells; trucks; and civilian aircraft? And
how do these levels compare with the
Rules of Origin already found in the
North American Free Trade Agree-
ment (NAFTA), Australia Free Trade
Agreement, Chile Free Trade Agree-
ment, Singapore Free Trade Agree-
ment, and Peru Free Trade Agreement,
to which certain TPP partners are al-
ready a party?
“What safeguards have been in-
cluded in the TPP to safeguard against
currency manipulation?
“What have countries like Vietnam,
Brunei and Malaysia — and, for that
matter, the United States — agreed to
in terms of enforceable labor rights
standards? Does the TPP’s labor
chapter enable enforcement of the
core International Labor Organization
(ILO) Conventions, with all their
specificity and jurisprudence, or is it
based instead upon the much more
vague ILO Declaration?
“Does the TPP include investor-
state dispute resolution, which acts as
an additional incentive for companies
to locate employment overseas? How
are the terms ‘investment’ and ‘expro-
priation’ defined?
“Does the TPP’s financial service
chapter in any way handcuff the fed-
eral government’s ability or the State
of Oregon’s ability to implement reg-
ulations designed to reign in abuses
by the financial sector?
“These are among the questions
about the TPP that our members are
asking, and feel we are entitled to re-
view text on before negotiations con-
clude and changes become all but im-
possible. We look forward to your
best answers on these questions, and
on our request that you please oppose
Fast Track legislation.”
K NOW Y OUR R IGHTS
Y ou can win a penaltY
from an insurer if it is
proven that the workers ’
compensation claim denial
was unreasonable .
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
JULY 5, 2013