Labor to join rally to demand
action on climate change
The Oregon AFL-CIO and other
labor organizations will take part in
Portland’s People’s Climate March
Sunday, Sept. 21, at Waterfront Park.
The march will coincide with a much
larger march in New York City, and
other demonstrations around the
world.
Organizers in New York City are
expecting the demonstration to be the
largest political rally in that city in
over a decade, and the biggest
demonstration for climate action ever
held.
The march will be notable not only
for its size, but for its diversity. More
than 1,100 organizations have en-
dorsed the march, including more
than 60 labor organizations, and six
international unions: Amalgamated
Transit Union, Communications
Workers of America (CWA), National
Education Association, National
Nurses United, Office and Profes-
sional Employees International
Union, and Service Employees Inter-
national Union. The unionists will as-
semble in a several block area next to
Central Park and march together.
Celebrities also have begun show-
ing support, including model Helena
Christensen, musician Peter Gabriel,
actor Susan Sarandon, Argentine foot-
baller Lionel Messi and actor Edward
Norton.
The New York City Council en-
dorsed the march, passing a resolu-
tion encouraging people across the
city to take part in the mobilization.
The worldwide actions will take
place just two days before President
Obama and other world leaders are
set to attend a Climate Summit at the
United Nations hosted by Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon. The summit is
designed to build momentum for na-
tional and international climate ac-
tion, including a new global climate
treaty that will be finalized in Paris
next year. March organizers say they
are looking for “action, not words” at
the summit.
“Let’s be clear, climate change is
the most important issue facing all of
us for the rest of our lives,” said John
Harrity, president of the Connecticut
State Council of Machinists, which
endorsed the march.
“Climate change is threatening our
environment and our economy, and
we must address it immediately, and
do so in a way that builds a stronger
economy and creates new jobs across
the country,” said Kim Glas, execu-
tive director of the BlueGreen Al-
liance, a national partnership of labor
unions and environmental organiza-
tion uniting nearly 16 million mem-
bers and supporters. “As world lead-
ers gather for the UN Climate
Summit, we urge immediate action to
address the threat of global climate
change.”
In Portland, organizers are ask-
ing union members to wear their
union colors and to bring their
union banners.
Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom
Chamberlain will represent organized
labor at the microphone. The Portland
march also has union endorsements
from AFSCME Local 3336, CWA
Local 7901, Musicians Local 99, Ore-
gon AFSCME Green Caucus, Ore-
gon BlueGreen Apollo Alliance and
Oregon Tradeswomen.
The labor contingent will gather at
2:45 p.m. just south of the Hawthorne
Bridge in Tom McCall Waterfront
Park. The march begins at 3 p.m.
Leading up to the Portland event,
the Labor Education and Research
Center (LERC) at the University of
Oregon will hold a two-day confer-
ence entitled “Searching for consen-
sus: The Climate Policy Debate in
Oregon.” The conference will include
workshops on economic harm from
inaction on climate change; how car-
bon taxes, cap-and-trade and other
systems operate; what Oregon union-
ists can learn from the experiences of
other states and countries; and
whether carbon pricing is feasible in
the 2015 legislative session.
It takes place at the UO Portland
White Stag building, 70 NW Couch
St. and runs from 2 to 8 p.m. Friday,
Sept. 19, and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Satur-
day, Sept. 20, just before the Portland
climate march. The conference fee is
$40. Call 503-412-3721 for more in-
formation.
After an SUV slammed into their motorcycle in the early morning of July 5,
fired phone fundraiser David Neel (right) and his fiancée Stephanie Castillo
have months of recovery ahead of them. The accident prompted Neel to settle
his National Labor Relations Board case against Fund for the Public Interest,
the non-profit fundraiser for PIRGs, which fired him in November 2012 after
he emerged as a union leader.
... PIRG settlement
1638 NE Broadway, Portland
tebrae, and head lacerations. On re-
lease, she’s in a wheelchair, and he’s
walking with a cane, and they have
months of recovery ahead of them.
Pondering medical bills and lost
wages, and with two teenage sons to
support, Neel decided to accept the set-
tlement.
The terms of the settlement, ap-
proved in mid-August by the NLRB
and CWA Local 7901, are that the
Fund pay Neel $19,088 of backpay
and interest, plus $7,000 for waiving
his right to reinstatement.
“David would be coming back to
work if it weren’t for that horrific acci-
dent,” said CWA Local 7901 President
Madelyn Elder. “The NLRB found the
Fund in the wrong. They wrongfully
fired him, and they need to stop dis-
criminating against union people.”
Low Prices!
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(From Page 1)
ancee Stephanie Castillo were heading
home on his 1982 Yamaha motorcycle
after a night out watching fireworks.
As they stopped for traffic on South-
east Milwaukie Boulevard and
Ochoco, a Ford Explorer SUV plowed
into them. Neel and Castillo survived
the crash, but suffered significant in-
juries. Castillo stayed in the hospital 10
days with a shattered pelvis, a broken
ankle, and two fractured vertebrae.
Neel was in the hospital three days
with a concussion, four fractured ver-
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PAGE 3