NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | February 20, 2015 | PAGE 7
Common Sense Economics introduced at Labor Law Conference
The program illustrates why
today’s economy isn’t working
for working people, and what
steps workers can take to help
create an economy that benefits
everyone
By Michael Gutwig
Editor-Manager
A capacity crowd at the annual
Labor Law Conference in Port-
land Jan. 30 was introduced to the
AFL-CIO’s latest program —
Common Sense Economics.
With America witnessing the
largest redistribution of wealth in
its history, the CSE program will
bring workers together to talk
about how it happened.
“With this information — and
knowing how we got to this
economy ‘of, by and for the 1
percent,’ we can then move peo-
ple to action to build a powerful
enough social movement that
can actually do something about
it,” said Bob Bussel, director of
the Labor Education and Re-
search Center at the University
of Oregon.
LERC is working with the
Oregon AFL-CIO to help dis-
seminate the course to workers,
unions, and community organi-
zations throughout the state.
The national AFL-CIO has a
goal to reach 1 million people.
Bussel told Labor Law Con-
ference attendees that lots of
people believe the Great Reces-
sion was accidental — the natu-
ral byproduct of a free market
society. “But this winner-take-
all politics and this winner-take-
all economy came about be-
cause of conscious political
(Photo left) Bob Bussel of LERC gives a pres-
entation of the Common Sense Economics
program. (Above) Britt Cornman of Machin-
ists District W24 looks through material at
Labor Law Conference
Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian (lower right) waits to speak at Labor Law Conference held Jan. 30 at the
IBEW Local 48 union hall in Northeast Portland. Avakian was the keynote luncheon speaker.
choices,” he said.
Bussel pointed to the indus-
trial billionaire Koch brothers
(Charles and David), who intend
to raise a staggering $889 mil-
lion from their billionaire bud-
dies to spend in the 2016 elec-
tion cycle (more than double
what they spent in 2012).
That’s about as much money
as each political party raises on
its own, Bussel said, which
makes the conservative Koch
brothers a third political party.
“And what is the Koch broth-
ers’ agenda?” he asked. “It’s an
agenda to maintain an economy
that is of, by and for the 1 per-
cent.”
CSE’s goal is to help put
workers in the driver’s seat so
they can start changing the di-
rection of the economy so that it
is an economy that works for all
workers.
Bussel said union reps from
the International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers (IBEW), the
Oregon Nurses Association,
LERC and the Oregon AFL-
CIO have been trained and are
ready to present the course.
There is a three-hour program,
one- or two-hour versions, even
20 minutes, if need be.
For more information, or to
arrange for a presentation, con-
tact Russell Sanders at the Ore-
gon AFL-CIO, russell@orafl-
cio.org.
NW labor history mini
conference March 14
bers identified Astoria as play-
ing an important role in the la-
bor history of the Beaver State,
and they wanted to know more
about it,” said Ron Verzuh of the
PNLHA. The Finnish commu-
nity of radical trade unionists is
part of the city’s heritage, as are
the histories of other ethnic
communities, Verzuh said. The
celebrated Astoria Labor Tem-
ple also speaks to the richness of
the region’s labor history.
Astoria’s vibrant and sometimes
volatile labor history will be re-
visited March 14 at a day-long
mini-conference at the Colum-
bia River Maritime Museum in
Astoria, sponsored by the Pa-
cific Northwest Labor History
Association (PNLHA).
“Several of our Oregon mem-
The Labor Law Conference
was founded in 1996 by Norm
Malbin, who retired last year as
general counsel for IBEW Local
48. It is co-sponsored by the Ore-
gon AFL-CIO, Center for Worker
Rights, Northwest Oregon Labor
Council, LERC, and the Colum-
bia Pacific and Oregon State
Building and Construction Trades
councils. Each year it sells out, at-
tracting nearly 300 union officers,
staffers, stewards and others who
participate in workshops, listen to
experts, and learn new ways to
better represent their members.
Among the plenary speakers
this year were Ronald Hooks, re-
gional director of the National La-
bor Relations Board, management
attorney Rick Liebman, labor at-
torney John Bishop, Oregon AFL-
CIO President Tom Chamberlain,
and Oregon Labor Commissioner
Brad Avakian.
Avakian reported on several
bills the Bureau of Labor and In-
dustries supports this legislative
session. There’s a bill to provide
funding for three new investiga-
tors in the Wage and Hour Divi-
sion. Avakian said he will create
a team to travel the state spot
checking prevailed projects, and
businesses with a history of
cheating workers. Two other
bills would give BOLI cease and
desist authority while investigat-
ing a wage and hour complaint,
and garnishment authority when
an employer is found to have
cheated their employees out of
wages and/or benefits.
Avakian also supports a bill
that would give BOLI the au-
thority to enforce an Oregon
statute that bans professional
strikebreakers.
“There’s a statute in Oregon
that says it’s illegal to be a pro-
fessional strikebreaker, but
there’s nobody in charge of en-
forcing the statute,” Avakian
said. “A bill this session would
give BOLI the ability to step in
the middle of professional strike-
breakers, find the businesses hir-
ing them, find the strikebreakers
that are going to cross your
picket lines, and kick them out
of our state.”
Avakian also supports a raise
in the state minimum wage, as
well as a series of bills that
would eliminate wage disparity
among workers.
Labor educator Marcus
Widenor will moderate a labor
history panel, and labor educa-
tor Bob Bussel will moderate a
low-wage panel. At the end of
the day, Pacific Northwest his-
torian and labor educator Norm
Diamond will lead a discussion
about the future of labor history
in the region.
For more information, con-
tact Verzuh at 541-852-5540, or
email him at rverzuh@shaw.ca.