Who’s On Our Side?
By Tom Chamberlain
T
he June 30th Harris v Quinn
decision by the U.S. Supreme
Court is one more step down the
path of an activist court that contin-
ues to march towards increased
corporate power.
While some will argue that the
decision — which allows union-
represented workers the option of
becoming freeloaders, with all the
rights and benefits of a union con-
tract — could have been worse. This
conclusion ignores the full context of
the decisions this court has made on
the march to increase corporate
power at the expense of the power of
middle- and low-wage workers.
A little bit on this decision:
When I worked for Gov. Ted
Kulongoski in 2004-05, home care
workers were collectively fighting
for wages, health care and workers’
compensation coverage. I’ll admit
that there was some skepticism
around the office because we as-
sumed that the bulk of these work-
ers were family members of the pa-
tient. Today, I know from
experience that home care workers
more likely than not are not family
members, but professionals who
take care of the daily needs of their
patients.
This is a difficult job. Making
sure the patient is fed and taking
their medication; getting patients to
appointments with doctors, physi-
cal therapists, and a list of other
professionals; taking care of the pa-
tient’s most intimate daily needs.
In many cases, on top of all this,
a home care worker is a patient’s
closest confidant.
Understand, too, home care is
cheaper for taxpayers and better
than placing patients in institutions.
Home care workers have a bet-
ter life since they joined the Service
Employees International Union
(SEIU) — better wages, health
care, workers’ comp insurance and
increased training opportunities.
Their patients are now better off as
well. The training home care work-
ers receive has led to higher qual-
ity care for patients and a corre-
sponding reduction in trips to the
emergency room. Increases in pay
and benefits has also reduced
turnover.
Unionization of home care
workers has professionalized the
occupation, gaining better out-
comes for patients and lower costs
for taxpayers. This is the good stuff
that only happens when workers
have a voice.
Now, back to the Supreme
Court’s slow march.
The U.S. Supreme Court is part
of a methodical march toward “cor-
poratization” of America. It is a
long-term strategy where victory is
measured in inches. But those
inches are adding up. This march
began with President Ronald Rea-
gan, whose actions against the Pro-
fessional Air Traffic Controllers
Organization (PATCO) and whose
administration’s disdain for the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board em-
boldened corporatists to take on our
workers’ movement.
We have witnessed the rise of
corporate campaigns fueled by
consultants and attorneys who
bully and frighten workers. Couple
that with our outdated labor laws,
and it makes forming a union ex-
tremely difficult.
After four decades of a shrink-
ing labor movement — which
tracks point by point with the de-
cline of workers’ wages and in-
creased wage disparity — you
would think Democrats would be
laser-focused on rebalancing the
power dynamic between workers
and Corporate America. Sadly, that
has not been the case.
What is exciting about the home
care, child care and domestic
worker organizing we’ve seen over
the past 10 years is that it is the best
example of the union movement
not only being innovative to meet
the needs of workers in an evolving
economy, but it directly betters the
living standards of some of our
lowest wage workers.
Harris v Quinn will not stop our
union movement from evolving to
meet the needs of workers in the
21st Century. It will not stop the
unprecedented coalescing of a
worldwide workers’ movement. It
will not stop the need for workers’
collective voice on the job. It will
not stop the courage and boldness
of workers who fight every day for
a better life.
They took another inch. But we
can still regain workers’ power.
Tom Chamberlain is president of
the Oregon AFL-CIO.
...Longshore
bargaining
(From Page 1)
in Sydney, Australia, were notified
they’d be laid off after their employer
deploys driverless robots to take over
cargo handling.
ILWU has grappled before with the
challenge of technology: Starting in the
1960s, containerization diminished the
need for ILWU members’ labor. The
union responded by negotiating its
Mechanization and Modernization
Agreement in 1960, in which employ-
ers committed to give displaced mem-
bers the work of maintaining and re-
pairing the technologies that replaced
them. Along similar lines, the 2002
ILWU contract opened the docks to bar
scanners, automated manifest systems
and GPS technology. The 2008 agree-
ment permitted automated stacking
cranes. In each case, maintenance and
repair work was assigned to ILWU
EE
R
F
BARGAIN COUNTER
Free classified ads to subscribers
DEADLINE: Friday prior to publication
Published 1st and 3rd Fridays
Now accepting e-mails
Send to: Michael492@comcast.net
Mail to: NWLP, PO Box 13150, Portland OR 97213
(Please include union affiliation)
• 15-20 words • No commercial or business ads • 1 ad per issue
• All lower case (NO CAPITAL LETTERS, PLEASE) •
Ads MUST include area code or they will not be published
A UTOMOTIVE
’01 vw golf, race/show car, 18k on mo-
tor, all trick, clean, lots of new and custom,
real looker, $8,500 obo 503-922-9502
4 Matching chrysler goodyear
P215/65R17 tires on 5-hole rims, like new
condition. 503-799-1715
2 6.5 chEv DiESEl turbos, $100 each.
503-630-4177
H OUSING
RocKawaY BEach rental, 3 bed, 2 bth,
sleeps 10, Jacuzzi, 5 min to beach/
shops.vacationhomerentals.com/43026
RocKawaY ocean front, 503-777-5076,
5 bdrms/2ba, call for fisherman’s Special,
http://rockawaybeachfrontrental.com
6 acRES with 30’ x 48’ shop, water, power
and new septic, $125,000. 360-577-5231
100 acRES, trees, wildlife, will carry con-
tract, Spray oregon, $750 per acre oBo.
541-468-2961
W ANTED
olD wooDwoRKing tools, planes, lev-
els, chisels, handsaws, slicks, adzes,
wrenches, folding rulers, axes, hatchets,
leather tools, tool chests. 503-659-0009
BUYing US & world coins to add to col-
lection, paying fairly, any amount wel-
come. 503-939-8835
collEctoR, cash paid, old fishing
tackle, wood plugs, reels, creels, salmon
fishing photos, etc. 503-775-4166
collEctoR PaYS cash for older toys,
oil paintings, american art pottery, and
PAGE 6
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
members to offset the job losses from
new technologies, with some excep-
tions: The contract agreed that a num-
ber of terminals would be “red-circled,”
meaning ILWU members would not do
the work of maintaining and repairing
cargo-handling equipment there. The
arrangement sometimes put ILWU in
competition with other unions. ILWU
cited jurisdictional disputes as a pri-
mary factor in its decision to disaffili-
ate from the AFL-CIO in August 2013.
Preserving health insurance is an-
other big priority. PMA’s health plan is
one of the last of the good union health
plans, with the employer picking up
substantially all health care costs for
employees and their dependents, and
patients paying just $1 for prescrip-
tions. But starting in 2018, under the
2010 Affordable Care Act (also re-
ferred to as Obamacare), employers
would have to pay a 40 percent excise
tax on the amount over $27,500 a year
for family coverage. To avoid that dra-
conian tax, employers around the coun-
try are seeking to make benefits less
generous, shifting costs to workers.
costume jewelry. 503 703-5952
1947 fRanKlin high School yearbook.
503-522-6542
MotoRcYclES, boat, tractors, trailers,
cars, trucks, riding lawn mowers, guitars
cash paid. 503-880-8183
M ISCELLANEOUS
wooD BURning tEnt StovE, new,
$190 (tony). 503-830-8313
7/8 Pool taBlE with balls, cues, rack
and chalk, $100. 503-348-5106
wURlitZER wD-2 electronic piano, ex-
cellent cond, various effects/functions, incl
demo button, $495 oBo. 503-982-5540
S PORTING G OODS
S&w MoDEl 66, 4” barrel, stainless steel
revolver, 357 magnum, niB condition with
box, $795 obo. 503-366-0218
16 ga. SPRingfiElD single shot shot-
gun, tenite stock, 28” barrel, pre-1948, ex-
cellent bore, $125.503-286-5901
.22 winchEStER RiMfiRE (wRf) 1925
hex barrel, model 90 winchester pump ri-
fle, $300. 503-341-5749
attEntion BowhUntERS, camou-
flage clothing, large size, everything you
would need. 503-652-8590
F OR THE H OME
BlUE RocKER recliner, paid $1,050, sell
$150; rocking chair, $75. 503-490-2390 or
503-490-2221
JULY 18, 2014