PAGE 6 | February 20, 2015 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
LOCAL MOTION ] JANUARY 2015
Who’s on our side?
By Tom Chamberlain Oregon AFL-CIO President
Oregonian subscriber no more
I’ve been a subscriber to the Oregonian since
I was 21 years old. It’s been the first thing I
read in the morning, every day, for decades.
Newspapers are important to me: They pres-
ent the big stories that impact us and deter-
mine what we will discuss throughout our day
with co-workers, family, and friends. It’s a
timeless medium that has long served us well.
But these days not all newspapers are equal.
And it’s for that reason I am no longer a sub-
scriber to the Oregonian.
When considering who has our back, as
workers and as Oregonians, we need a
statewide newspaper that shares our vision for
Oregon’s future, one that understands that the
minimum wage is too low and that there are
serious issues when a workforce’s wages re-
quire billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies
just to make ends meet.
As reported last month in Labor Press re-
porter Don McIntosh’s article “Up is down,”
it is very troubling to see a paper like the Ore-
gonian flip-flop on a major issue within the
span of a week, especially when that issue is
a straight shot at giving thousands of Orego-
nians a better life by raising our minimum
wage.
Sadly, I’ve grown accustomed to seeing at-
tacks on workers pop up in the Oregonian, and
it’s made it quite clear whose side they are on.
Not ours. Not when ripping PERS, lobbing
rocks at our labor movement, and ignoring the
issues that Oregon’s workers really care about
is a common theme.
Newspapers are a hallmark of our society,
and we deserve a paper for Oregon’s people,
not a mouthpiece for the loud opinions of an
editorial board that just doesn’t understand the
economy that we’re all living in.
Income inequality is the defining issue of
our time. What we do to fight it — whether
that be raising wages, forming unions, or
working toward a secure retirement — will set
the stage for the next generation. I don’t want
to see my grandkids grow up in a world where
1 percent of the people can create lopsided
policies that keep them rich and the rest of us
struggling.
Based on their coverage and opinions, I’m
convinced the Oregonian doesn’t share that
perspective. That’s not the kind of newspaper
I want to read. It’s the same reason I don’t
watch Fox News. There’s just too much distor-
tion and not enough balance to their coverage.
I’m done supporting media that vilify
workers who are standing up for a fair shot.
Anytime a worker speaks out, they should be
commended for taking action, for trying to
raise the bar, and for inspiring the hopes and
dreams of everyone who works for a living.
That’s why I’m cancelling my subscription to
the Oregonian, turning off biased news pro-
grams, and seeking the truth from publications
who take their journalistic integrity seriously.
Tom Chamberlain is president of the Oregon AFL-CIO,
a 120,000-member-strong federation of labor unions.
The following are Oregon and Southwest Washington workplaces where workers are determining
whether to be represented by a union. The thumbs-up symbol means workers will be union-
represented. Thumbs-down means they’ll be on their own. Decert means a decertification
election, where union-represented workers vote whether to remain union. The information comes
from the National Labor Relations Board and the Oregon Employment Relations Board.
Election Requests
Employer (Location) Union
ABM Onsite Services (Portland International Airport) IAM District Lodge W24
■ 28 workers – baggage handlers and dispatchers
Election Results
Employer (Location) Union
Yes-No =
Curry Community Health (Gold Beach) SEIU Local 503
10-19 %
WASHINGTON
Unions want lawmakers to tie
Boeing tax breaks to jobs
A new poll shows more than
two-thirds of likely Washington
voters support a requirement
that Boeing maintain jobs and
provide living wages if it’s go-
ing to get state tax breaks.
In November 2013, a special
session of the Washington Leg-
islature extended tax cuts for
Boeing through 2040. The $8.7
billion price tag made it the
largest tax subsidy in U.S. his-
tory. Boeing started moving
work out of state soon after.
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BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Who
was Bayard Rustin?
By Kenneth Quinnell
AFL-CIO NOW blog
Bayard Rustin (1912-1987) has been referred
to as the “most important civil rights leader
you’ve never heard of.” A key mentor of Martin
Luther King, Jr., he served the trade union and
civil rights movements for decades as a theorist,
tactician and organizer. He conceived the coali-
tion of liberal, labor and religious leaders that
supported passage of the civil rights and anti-
poverty legislation of the 1960s. And as the first
executive director of the AFL-CIO’s A. Philip
Randolph Institute, he worked to ensure African
American workers’ rightful place in the House
of Labor. Rustin was also silenced, threatened,
arrested, beaten and fired from leadership posi-
tions because he was an openly gay man in a
severely homophobic era.
Rustin was tapped to organize the 1963
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,
an event for which he was posthumously
awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Organized during a two-month period, Rustin
helped create what would be the largest protest
in America’s history at that point.
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The manual that was handed out by Rustin
and other leaders of the march made it clear that
economic and workers’ rights were an integral
part of the fight for civil rights for African
Americans. The list of demands central to the
march included a massive job training and
placement program with a living wage, a na-
tional minimum wage that gave all Americans
a decent standard of living, an expanded Fair
Labor Standards Act, and a federal Fair Em-
ployment Practices Act that would prohibit dis-
crimination not only by the government, but by
employers and unions, too.
Now two unions at Boeing —
the Machinists and SPEEA —
are calling for legislation to re-
duce the tax break if in-state em-
ployment drops below certain
benchmarks, and eliminate it if
the company doesn’t pay wages
equal to the typical Washington
worker’s paycheck by year three
of employment.
The poll, conducted Feb. 2-8
by EMC Research, found that
73 percent of the public supports
tying tax breaks to jobs, and 68
percent support establishing a
wage standard for companies re-
ceiving the tax breaks.
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CLASSIFIED AD GUIDELINES
Subscribers may place one free classified ad per
issue. Ads should be 15 to 20 words, all in lower
case (NO CAPITAL LETTERS). Ads must include a
phone number, including area code, or they will
not be published. No commercial or business ads.
HOW TO SUBMIT A CLASSIFIED AD
Indicate which union you are a member of, and
send your ad to michael492@comcast.net or by
mail to PO Box 13150, Portland OR 97213. We
publish the first and third Fridays of each month,
and the deadline is one week prior to that.
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